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T HE SORCERERS - Summoning The Monkey God (ATA) Taken from the upcoming LP 'In Search of The Lost City of The Monkey God', 'Summoning The Monkey God' covers a wide range of influences: Ethiopiques Ethio-Jazz rubs up against European library music of the 60s and 70s. The Sorcerers seamlessly blend these disparate elements into one cohesive sound. Based in ATA Records' home of Leeds, The Sorcerers form the backbone of the ATA Records house band including drummer Joost Hendrickx (Kefaya, Shatner's Bassoon, Abstract Orchestra) and ATA label heads Neil Innes (Bass & Guitar) and Pete Williams (Woodwinds & Percussion). Bass clarinets, flutes, and esoteric percussion that sit alongside bass, guitar and drums are essential to The Sorcerers sound providing cinematic textures on top of a solid rhythmic foundation. 'Summoning the Monkey God' is an edit of a track from their forthcoming 2nd LP. Hypnotic bass and ominous vibraphone set the stage for cre...

BOBBY BOYD - Love Goddess (Athens Of The North) Athens Of The North have worked with some OGs and veterans in their time but Bobby Boyd is by far one of the biggest and influential. Cutting his teeth in the Lafayette Afro Rock Band before going solo, he recorded a whole host of material that remained unreleased. Until now. "Love Goddess" kicks off the collection with a northern soul stomp, big harmonies backed by a tight, slippery funk groove while "Good News" is golden era Boyd funk with its bright horn work, positive sentiment and driving soul energy. This is an amazing piece of investigatory work by Fryer and co. And there's more, too... Love Goddess / Bad News by Bobby Boyd

VARIOUS - Napoli Segreta Vol 1: Hidden Gems From The Bowels Of Versuvius ( Early Sounds Italy ) First volume of Napoli Segreta, a meticulous selection of the rarest and most sought after compositions of the 70's and 80's Napolitan disco and funk scene." Recommended!

THE SCORPIOS - Mashena (Afro7) Hot in the slipstream of last year's self-titled debut album comes two brand new adventures from the London-based Sudan-exiled troupe. Both cuts recorded in Abbey Road Studios, both led and characterised by singer Regia Ishag's breath taking vocals; "Mashena" packs a vibrant punch with triumphant horns and insistent, urgent vocal repetition while "Samha" is a much deeper blues piece where Regia's Sudanese vocals take on a rhythmic pattern of their own over a dreamy, star-gazing setting.

GUELEWAR - Touki Ba Banjul: Acid Trip From Banjul To Dakar ( Kindred Spirits Holland ) Comentários: ouki Ba Banjul is a compilation of the Gambian psych sensation Guelewar who played a major part in the development of the Afro Manding sound. From 1979-1982 the band released four albums, featuring some of Gambia's best funk tunes. This official first time ever reissue features the highlights of their career. Before Guelewar, Laaye N’Gorn, the lead singer of the band, was already one of Gambia’s most celebrated artists. He was the centre figure in The Supreme Eagles, with whom he played as the main act in one of Gambia’s succesful clubs ‘The Bambo No.1 Night Club’. In return for the succes the clubmanager offered them instruments, after which they renamed their band to the Super Alligators. Due to the mixture of western influences such as soul and funk with traditional and regional rhythms like boogaraboo and sawrouba, The Super Alligators had a unique sound. The result of this ble...

Matthew LARKIN CASSELL - The Complete Works (Stones Throw US) Comentários: San Francisco's Matthew Larkin Cassell presents his '...Complete Works' for Stones Throw. As the story goes... Larkin happened to notice a sample of his music in the Madvillainy Remixes set and promptly contacted the label. The outcome of that exchange is this LP, compiling each of his three DIY-produced and self-released records. He name checks the Sons of Champlin, Tower of Power, Paul Simon, Steely Dan, and Laura Nyro as his influences and that's clearly evident in his soulful mixture of rock, jazz and pop. Original copies of those fateful records now sell for stupid money and Cassell is now producing new material. LP is housed in full colour gatefold sleeve with original artwork by the artist. in boomkat [ Para Ouvir/Samples ]

BROOKS, Roy & THE ARTISTIC TRUTH - Ethnic Expressions (Jazzman) Comentários: Amazing sounds from drummer Roy Brooks -- very spiritual work that's quite a change from his straighter soul jazz of the 60s! The album's right up there with Roy's better-known (though still rare) live performance at Town Hall -- or his classic Free Slave session -- and like those records, this one explodes with a raw power that's really amazing -- heavy drums from Brooks, driving a collective of righteous musicians that really stretch out in the free space of the recording! The lineup shifts a bit from track to track, but there's a cohesive spirit to the record that comes from Brooks' bold spirit -- a joyous, soulful, post-Coltrane sort of energy -- let loose in the lead, to guide the talents of players who include John Stubblefield on tenor, Sonny Fortune on alto, Olu Dara and Cecil Bridgewater on trumpets, Hamiet Bluiett on baritone sax, Joe Bonner on piano, and Reggie Workman o...

JAZZ CHRONICLES - Jazz Chronicles ( DDCK Japan ) Comentários: "JAZZ CHRONICLES IS A PROJECT BY FUTURISTICA MUSIC'S SIMON S WHICH IS HEAVILY INFLUENCED BY HIS LOVE OF CLASSIC ERA HIP HOP AND SPIRITUAL JAZZ. " [ Para Ouvir/Samples ]

J DILLA - Originals: A Continuous Mix Of Funk & Soul As Sampled By J Dilla ( Boom Box ) Comentários: New digipack with "a continuous mix of funk & soul as sampled by J DILLA". So this isn't a mix by J DILLA, but rather a mix of tracks that J DILLA has sampled and used. A dope blend of 23 old soul ballads & funk tracks with some offbeat drop ins and scratches. Cool. No tracklisting. in undergroundhiphop.com [ Para Ouvir/Samples ]

McKAY, Stephanie - Tell It Like It Is ( Muthas Of Invention ) Comentários: STEPHANIE MCKAY’s new album ‘Tell It Like It Is’ sees the Bronx-born singer/songwriter work with local musicians to produce an album that wraps up classic soul, seventies funk-rock and old-school hip hop influences into one vibrant outpouring. Sometimes romantic and at others acutely topical, ‘Tell It Like It Is’ is an album full of strong performances and great song-writing.The album is packed with classic gems from the feel-good joy of the KATAYST produced lead single “Jackson Avenue”, to the outrageously funky, hornfired groove of “Kinky”. The hip hop influenced “Oh Yeah” is a wind-in-the hair celebration with a cool groove, while a newly-incarnated version of the KATALYST co-written “Say What You Feel” appears in all its glory. R&B sensation ANTHONY HAMILTON appears on the smooth but perfectly pitched duet “Where Did Our Love Go?” resulting in an absolute gem of a ballad, while the album finishes with ...

FORCE OF NATURE - III (Mule Musiq Japan) Comentários: Big new Force Of Nature which is a sampler to the European CD release of their III album. "I-ight" is a Moroder-esque disco house bomb while "Kontinents" is in their typical cosmic style sounding like Vangelis, Tangerine dream on a dancefloor trip. Recommended. [cosmic-disco-house] in flexx [ Para Ouvir/Samples ]

VARIOUS - Lagos Shake: A Tony Allen Chop Up (Honest Jon's) Comentários: After 18 months of 12" releases that completely blew our minds, Honest Jons finally compile their amazing lineup of Tony Allen remixes for this one mighty cd package. Reworkings from Basic Channel's Mark Ernestus and Mauritz Von Oswald head the lineup, with Mauritz delivering a Ten and a half minute basic channel classic, a mighty Steppers version that unfolds in textbook Rhythm & Sound style, using the deepest tools imaginable within that impossibly spacious, fuzzed-out environment that only Basic Channel ever seem to produce so effortlessly. Carl Craig, meanwhile, utilises all the dancefloor savvy and careful vocal manipulations marked out on his finest and most sought after remixes of the last few years, delivering a fierce drum edit as good as his classic remix for The Congos a few years back. We have a mighty soft spot for the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble reworking that's also featured here, w...

BADU, Erykah - New Amerykah Part One (4th World War) (Universal Mowtown) Comentários: What's the freakquency, Erykah? The five years since her last album, Worldwide Underground (make that last EP, so more like eight years since her last proper album), make clear that her release frequency lags about as far behind as you could expect from a one-woman jam band at the forefront of a head collective. But the freakquency? That's pitched as high as a kite, now more than ever. Badu's intense New AmErykah: Part One (4th World War), the opening salvo of a promised two-disc series (three if you count a live album Universal is promising in late 2008), is as sonically ambitious as anything she's done to date. It's sort of the flip to Worldwide Underground in that both albums are so diffuse as to seem careless and haphazard to some listeners. But whereas the earlier album maintained a laidback, even keel (held together under the influence of the Mizell brothers), New AmErykah i...

SA RA CREATIVE PARTNERS, The - Sonic Seduction Vol 2 (Jazzy Sport Japan) Comentários: Incredible new Sa-Ra on the japanese Jazzy Sport label. 5 tracks of instrumental futuristic funk/soul drenched hiphop & beyond. This sh*t is so heavy... Again, like the first one, real nice artwork/packaging - so a big up to the Jazzy Sport atelier guys for that! Huge tip! in rushhour [ Para Ouvir/Samples ]

VA - Droppin Science - Greatest Samples From The Blue Note Lab (Blue Note) Comentários: At least in its presentation, Droppin' Science: Greatest Samples From the Blue Note Lab suggests yet another appeal to hip-hop genealogists, the kind of people who obsess over The-Breaks.com and are diligent readers of Oliver Wang's blog . But this is not your run-of-the-mill "roots of rap" or "best breakbeats" compilation, and not just because you won't find "Impeach the President" (which has been, according to The-Breaks, sampled in 116 different rap songs) or James Brown's "Funky Drummer" (181 songs). A few songs on the album have been tapped for use only once, and more than half of these songs bear relevance solely to the early-'90s conscious-rap movement and groups like De La Soul and A Tribe Called Quest. The people who put together the compilation seem to be aware that the greatest samples often don't come from the greatest song...

SINGER, Hal/JEF GILSON - Soul Of Africa (Kindred Spirits Holland) Comentários: Following up the recent 10", Kindred Spirits now releases the reissue of the sought after birth act of the Afro- / Jazz-Parisian scene that fascinated so many musicians and music fans throughout the 70s and 80s. 'Hal Singer & Jef Gilson - Soul Of Africa' will be reissued for the first time ever on CD. Release comes with 2 special bonus tracks from the rare "Jef Gilson septet avec Lloyd Miller"10" released on Jef Gilson's own label Spirit Jazz." A very big tip! in rushhour [ Para Ouvir/Samples ]

VARIOUS - Sister Funk 2: The Sound Of The Unknown Soul Sisters (Jazzman) Comentários: Jazzman Records proudly presents "Sister Funk Volume Two". A full five years in the making, the follow up to the hugely popular first volume finally sees the light of day, bearing with it the fruits of compiler Ian Wright's inexhaustible quest to unearth some of the world's toughest, most elusive and undeniably funky female 45s. nota do editor [ Para Ouvir ]

MF DOOM - Project Jazz / Garbage Day (Instrumentals) Comentários: Killer limited edition 45 with two new MF Doom instrumentals. A-side beats come from the latest Hell Razah album, while the original vocal version of the flip an be found on KMD's classic 'Black Bastards'. Big hole, plain white sleeve, not cheap, 1000 only. in boomkat [ Buy Here ] [ Myspace ]

BEGGAR & CO feat THE FUNK JAZZ COLLECTIVE - Brass Strings N Things (JAZZ COLLECTIVE) Comentários: The original founder members of Light Of The World and pioneers of UK funk/dance come together once again as Beggar & Co with a talented array of top class musicians under the mantle of The Funk Jazz Collective. Kenny Wellington, Breeze McGrath, Jean Paul 'Blue' Mau nick, David Baptist and Peter Hinds are joined on this reunion by Blue's Incognito horn men Kevin Robinson and Fayez Virji. Noel McKoy of JTQ fame is also on alongside members of Central Line and former Steve Arrington drummer Billy Osborne. Top keyboards man Toby Baker and vibraphone player Orphy Robinson is also along for this funky musical journey. Camelle Hinds is also there on bass and vocals.As members of LOTW and Beggar & Co the musicians enjoyed National chart success with 'Time/I'm So Happy and London Town as well as (Somebody) Help Me Out and Mule Chant No 2. Bluey is of course renown ...