A really cool collection of cuts that were originally issued as 7" singles in recent years, but which work perfectly together here as a full length set that introduces the world to the deeply funky talents of Kevin Finigier! Kevin hails from Argentina, but has a deep love of American soul and funk, particularly the 60s variant that was big in the UK mod scene – and here, he serves up some wicked grooves that may well be some of the best contemporary work in this mode we've heard for years! The production is nice and gritty – really back at the level of the indie funky 45 scene from back in the day – and the set mixes instrumental numbers that have a wicked sharp explosion of sounds with some heavy vocal tracks that are equally nice. The Kevin Fingier Collective deliver the cuts "Addis Ababa", "Sunglasses After Dark", "El Basement", "Latin Dynamite", and "Cocktail De Medianoche" – and other tracks include "I Love Without A Love" by Jo Ann Hamilton, "Why Don't You Go Home" by Diane Ward, "Um Brilho Novo" by Josi Dias, "Kairo Bancou Moulu" by Abdoulaye Badiane, and "Don't Wanna Cry No More" by Gerri Granger. CD

Mindblowing work from one of the greatest new groups we've heard in years – Michigan's mighty Nomo, easily one of the greatest Afro Funk combos going! Nomo's got a tightness that surpasses most other heirs to Fela's throne – an intensely focused energy that's really tremendous – and which soars out with some jazzy touches on the horns that move the group into deeply soulful territory! There's way more going on here than just guitar riffing, percussion, and blasting horns – as Nomo's musical vision is really expansive, and often echoes with cosmic touches you never would have heard back in 70s Ethiopia! Electric instruments are used subtly, but really effectively – so that keyboards are matched with weird guitar parts and some especially great electrified gamelan and kalimba lines, the last of which are almost worth the price of the record alone. The whole thing's great – classic in its roots, but creative enough to have a boldly strong voice of its own – and our hats are off to Nomo for blowing us away even more here than with their already-great debut! Titles include "We Do We Go", "Nutones", "Hand & Mouth", "Fourth Ward", "Reasons", "New Song", "Divisions", "Sarvodaya", and "Book Of Right On". (Global Grooves, Deep Funk) CD

Excellent work from one of the funkiest steel bands around – a totally hip combo who just seem to be getting better and better with each new release! This time around, they've stepped up the beats even more than before – mixing their 70s funk and steel drum work with just a slight current from hip hop production – all of which almost makes you feel like Wu-Tang made a trip to the Caribbean, then came back with these tapes as a result! There's also some additionally cool touches in the horns – used with maybe some slight Ethio jazz inflections at points – alongside other elements that really help move the Bacao aesthetic forward in a mighty nice way. Titles include "Hotline Bling", "Grilled", "How We Do", "Hazy Memories", "In The Crosshairs", "The Champion's Walk", and a very cool take on the "Stranger Things Theme"! (Global Grooves, Deep Funk) CD

Excellent work from one of the funkiest steel bands around – a totally hip combo who just seem to be getting better and better with each new release! This time around, they've stepped up the beats even more than before – mixing their 70s funk and steel drum work with just a slight current from hip hop production – all of which almost makes you feel like Wu-Tang made a trip to the Caribbean, then came back with these tapes as a result! There's also some additionally cool touches in the horns – used with maybe some slight Ethio jazz inflections at points – alongside other elements that really help move the Bacao aesthetic forward in a mighty nice way. Titles include "Hotline Bling", "Grilled", "How We Do", "Hazy Memories", "In The Crosshairs", "The Champion's Walk", and a very cool take on the "Stranger Things Theme"! (Global Grooves, Deep Funk) LP, Vinyl record album

Maybe the coolest set so far from this excellent combo – a record that infuses their unique blend of Afro Funk with some slightly psychedelic currents – as you might guess from the cover! The record's not entirely in the territory of a group like the Heliocentrics, but there's certainly more fuzz than before – yet always balanced with the forward-moving rhythms that the group does so well, plus plenty of that soaring brass work that graces their name – horn lines that are in a fantastic tradition that includes both styles from New Orleans and Nigeria! Titles include "The Pit", "But At What Cost", "Aethervision", "Little Ghosts", "Hox C", "Echo AD", "A Web A Knot A Tangle", and "Doom Country". (Global Grooves, Deep Funk) CD

Really fantastic sounds from Butcher Brown – a group who just seem to leap forward more and more with each new release – and who've really hit their groove with this well-recorded performance! The album was recorded live to disc in London – with a superb sound that only further emphasizes the sharp instrumentation that make these guys way more than just another funky combo – the fluid blend of heavy drums, warm keyboards, rich bass, and great interplay between guitar, trumpet, and occasional tenor – handled with the dexterity of a 70s jazz funk supergroup, but with all the lean energy of a funky 45! The tunes are all originals, all nice and long, and wonderfully soulful – and titles include "918", "Camden Square", "Street Pharmacy", and "Fiat". CD

The group's no ensemble, but they're definitely analog – as the one-man combo Charif Megarbane handles a whole host of cool electric sources for the music – a mix of mellotron, Rhodes, Wurlitzer, Farfisa, Moog, and other keys – mixed with an electric koto, flute, vibes, theremin, and field recordings too! There's also key use of acoustic guitar, which warms up and humanizes the sound wonderfully – as do the French vocals, which appear from time to time, and make the whole thing sparkle like some underground Parisian project from years back – almost building a bridge from the 70s Saravah scene forward to the music of Stereolab and Laetitia Sadier. The album's every bit as great as those two references would imply – and titles include "The Patterns Of A Hand", "Ainsi Souffle Le Vent", "Sens Dessus Dessous", "Passe Compose", "Les Orpailleurs", and "Octopolis". (New Grooves, Deep Funk) LP, Vinyl record album

The True Tones provide soul singer Michelle David with some great backings here – a romping sort of groove on most tracks, and one that bristles with plenty of old school instrumental touches that seem to really spur the vocalist forward! Michelle's got a dynamic style that owes a lot to late 60s funk diva styles – a power and focus that really provides some great energy at the top of the group, and a vocal range that really crackles over the top when she lets loose! Titles include "Let Me Tell It", "Karma", "Peace", "Cold Cold World", "Little Girl", "That Is You", "Brothers & Sisters", "If You Don't Try", "More Grace", and "PUSH". LP, Vinyl record album

A heavy-duty combo from the Chicago scene – and one who've got some mighty deep roots in the city, which they use to serve up a unique blend of funk, soul, rock, and roots – all topped with lead vocals from soul music journalist James Porter! James has a really striking approach, and really infuses the songs with a lot of power and energy – driven by harmonica, drums, bass, and plenty of electric piano and organ used in lean and powerful ways! Titles include "Chatham Ain't Chatham", "Riverbound", "Blunt", "No Way No How", "Backwards In Time", and "Did You Forget My Name". (Rock, Deep Funk) CD

A fantastic album from Mourning A BLKstar – even more powerful than their set dedicated to Eric Garner, and a batch of material that really gets at the righteous energy of this Cleveland combo! The group see themselves as part of the James Baldwin tradition of the artist bearing witness – and their genre-bending, gender non-confirming style really pushes forward the energy of underground soul music – as they worked together in an empty storefront in Cleveland to craft this beautiful cycle of songs initial sketches they all fleshed out together – in a mix of shifting vocal leads, heavy drums, dark guitar lines, and proud horn parts. Titles include "Sense Of An Ending", "Something JD Said", "Been Around", "Devil Get Behind Me", "Whom The Bell Tolls", "The Wants", "Deluze (Solange say rmx)", "So Young So", "The Box", and "4 Days". (Neo Soul, Deep Funk) CD

An incredible leap forward for Antibalas – a record filled with bolder sounds and deeper grooves than ever before – and one that even tops the already-great sound of their previous albums! The mix of modes here is really amazing – some of the group's familiar Afro-Funk at the core, but also a much wider range of influences too – bits of dub, choppy Latin guitar, Sun Ra-like organ lines, and gamelon-styled metal bits – all wrapped together in a groove that has some particularly hypnotic undertones! The set was produced by John McIntire, who's no doubt a big influence on the sound here – and the record really shatters any expectations you might have from the group – proof that they're way more than just another Afro Funk combo. Titles include "Beaten Metal", "Filibuster X", "Sanctuary", "Hilo", "War Hero", "ICE", and "Age". (Global Grooves, Deep Funk) CD

Badbadnotgood have always been pretty damn great, actually – and never better than on album IV – a remarkable step forward for the group! As ever, they take inspiration from some of the best prog, jazz, funk (and proggy jazz funk...they blend) of the 70s and beyond, but weave it into fairly distinctive and genuinely fun modern sound. It's built to last, too –we're sure be able to come back to their work in a couple decades and it'll still work! IV finds them with the confidence to trade in some fairly subtle, smoothed out moments between to more boisterous ones, and they're more dexterous in the instrumentation – especially in the horns, keys and percussion – but some great vibes, strings, flute and more when the mood calls. Includes the great vocal track "Time Moves Slow" with Sam Herring of Future Islands, "And That, Too", "Lavender", "IV", "Chompy's Paradise", "Structure No. 3", "Cashmere", "Hyssops Of Love" and more. (New Grooves, Deep Funk) LP, Vinyl record album

A set that's got all the classic soul vibe you might guess from the title and the cover, but one that's also got some more contemporary elements too – as Bella Brown and the group weave together strands of soulful influences from many decades – all with the feeling as if a 60s act on Atlantic Records were brought forward in time to hear a bit of Afro Funk from the 70s, Brand New Heavies from the late 80s, and other sweet bits which they then brought back to influence their sound! Bella's a very strong singer in the lead, able to shift things into her own mode way past standard retro soul approaches – and titles include "Bang Bang Bang", "Lady Time", "What Will You Leave Behind", "Soul Clap", "There Is Love", and "Fast As Lighting". LP, Vinyl record album

If this is reality, lead us onward – as the set is a mindblowing batch of trippy psych-funk from The Heliocentrics – even more offbeat and experimental than before, in ways that make the combo the true heirs to the legacy first begun by Stark Reality! The album's definitely funky at the core, but it's also filled with loads of amazing sounds – instruments tuned weirdly, played weirdly, and produced weirdly – so that over the heavy drums, there's often lots of freaky, fuzzy bits and tripped-out sounds – in ways that make the record feel like some lost acid trip outtakes from the Westbound studios of the early 70s – or like some obscure funk band that dropped acid at Andy Warhol's loft! The packaging offers up a visual example of what your ears will be going through when you tune into the music – and titles include "Mysterious Ways", "Collateral Damage", "Black Sky", "Calabash", "Path Of The Black Sun", "Mr Owusu I Presume", "Eastern Begena", and loads of cool interlude tracks too. CD

The first new music we've heard in years from Afro Funk giant Orlando Julius – wonderfully paired here with the always-great Heliocentrics! Orlando's definitely in the lead here – singing, playing tenor, and contributing percussion to the overall groove of the group – which leans a bit more towards a 70s African vibe than some of their other releases, yet still retains all their wonderful style of psychedelic funk! Some of the rhythms have an Ethiopian sense of slinkiness, while others hit more of a full-on Nigerian groove – and the whole thing's never forced, never gimmicky, and instead just the right sort of setting for Julius to re-emerge as a true giant of his generation. Titles include "Buje Buje", "Love Thy Neighbor", "Aseni", "Sangodele", "Jaiyede Afro", "Omo Oba Blues", "In The Middle", and "Be Counted". (Global Grooves, Deep Funk) LP, Vinyl record album

A hell of a live set from Sonny Knight & The Lakers – a record that's twice as long as the group's studio session, and maybe twice as smoking as well! Sonny's an older soul singer from years back, but he's never sounded better than working here with funky backings from The Lakers – a combo who've fused a style with the singer that few other groups can match – one of those rare cases where an older artist can find a really fresh breath of life while still moving forward, and where the younger talents seem to really hit a level of mature focus in the presence of the older artist. The recording quality is great – very sharp and on point – at a level that captures all the spontaneous energy of the group as they really stretch out and do their thing! Some tracks are nice and long – and titles include "Juicy Lucy", "Get Up And Dance", "Through With You", "Sonny's Boogaloo", "Where Did You Sleep Last Night", "Day Tripper", "Baby Baby Baby", "It's You For Me", "Sock A Poo Poo", "When You're Gone", "Cave Man", "I'm Still Here" (parts 1 & 2), "Sugar Man", and "Hey Girl". LP, Vinyl record album