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

A pretty full-on group from the Virginia scene – one that comes on strong with a mix of funky drums, fuzzy guitar, bumping bass, and some great work on trumpet and keyboards! The groove here is almost a psychedelic take on jazz funk from years back – filtered into a very contemporary space, too – almost post-Medeski Martin & Wood, although nothing like that group at all – just in the kind of space that the new freedoms of recent years have opened up! In other words, these guys are pretty funky, but also not slavishly so – especially in any sort of retro mode – and although they're playing live here, there's an electric crackle to the whole proceedings that further ties their collaborative energy together. Titles include "Tunnelvision", "Moses", "Cairo", "Tomahawk", "Lysol", and "Forest 2.0". CD

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". CD

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 set that's almost a back to basics effort for the Du-Rites – one that makes the best use of the massively funky drums of Jay Mumford and fast-riffing guitar of Pablo Martin – as the duo augment their groove with some additional work on bass, percussion, and keyboards too! Yet there's not much else going on here besides the drums and guitar – which is great, as that brings a focus to the funky energy that some other groups have lost along the way – almost in break record territory at times, but with a fuller feeling in the grooves – on instrumentals that include "Tioli", "Du-Bo", "Bay B MoMa", "Hole In The Wall", "The Sun", "Asbestos", and "Can I Get Intuit". LP, Vinyl record album

A new kind of love, and a new kind of groove from Ghost Funk Orchestra – one that's deeper than ever before, even though the group is really just the efforts of producer/instrumentalist Seth Applebaum! Yet this time around, he's also got some great female vocals at a few points – bringing a soulful focus to the energy that spins out at other points in a more instrumental mode – funky but moody at the same time, with a richness in sonic territory that takes the whole thing way past the early funky 45s that first bore the Ghost Funk name. Titles include "A Song For Pearl", "Bluebell", "Rooted", "Quiet Places", "Scatter", "Why", Your Man's No Good", and "A New Kind Of Love (parts 1 & 2)". LP, Vinyl record album

The Great Revivers are especially great here – really building off the sort of energy we love on their funky 45s, as they serve up great goods over the course of this full length album! There's a slight psychedelic edge to the music – not as tripped-out as a Malcolm Catto production might be, but with occasional fuzz in just the right places – both on guitars, and keyboard lines – the latter of which sound especially great with a bit of distortion! Drums are nice and heavy, and really great at slow funk steppers – on titles that include "The Worst", "Adventures Begin", "Taiga", "Seek & Destroy", "Russian Steps", "Evil's Nest", "From Darkness To Light", "Estrellas", and "Cowboy's Walk". LP, Vinyl record album

A moody little funk track from the production genius of Misha Panfilov – whose work seems to be moving more and more into a category of its own! "The Rays" has a strange, spare vocal chorus that's abstracted and echoed in the production – used wordlessly alongside an echoey guitar line and a very moogy keyboard – all grounded with romping drums! The drums romp even more on the flipside – moving quickly to keep the energy up – while the guitar and other elements seem to get even weirder and waterier in the mix! (Funky 45's, Deep Funk) 7-inch, Vinyl record

There's plenty of drums and percussion on this sweet set of funky instrumentals – played both by Dan Hastie and Terin Ector, who also each handle bass, guitar, and keyboards too – an approach that makes for a very tight, wonderfully unified vibe on the set! The only other instrumentation is a bit of light strings added by Thomas Lea – who uses those elements in a great way, just to touch up the funky energy at the core – maybe inflecting things with a slight cinematic vibe, but never in a way that's overwhelming or too rich at all. The whole thing's nice and funky, yet also has a standout vibe from others in this Madlib sound library series – with titles that include "Mirage", "Timeless Tales", "Dorado", "Deep Waters", "Telescopics", "Better Days", "Blue Shade", "Vision", "When I Go", and "Streetwise". (Sound Library, Deep Funk) 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

Kiefer's one of those artists that we sometimes forget about, then fall in love all over again when we drop the needle on a record – which is definitely the case this time around, as Kiefer seems to be more on top of his game and focused than ever! As before, there's a mix of piano/keyboards and percussion that dominates the sound – sometimes live drums, sometimes programmed – delivered with a warmth that really makes the spare elements resonate with a lot more soulful power than you might expect – almost as if Kiefer listened to some of the more soulful, subtle keyboardists in the 70s fusion generation, but found a way to transform their energy to a 21st Century setting – transforming the world of beats and keys in the process. Titles include "I Wish I Wasn't Me", "My Disorder", "Panic", "High", "Dreamer", "Head Trip", "I Could Cry", "August Again", "Forgetting U", and "I Was Foolish I Guess". (Jazz, Deep Funk) CD

Kiefer's one of those artists that we sometimes forget about, then fall in love all over again when we drop the needle on a record – which is definitely the case this time around, as Kiefer seems to be more on top of his game and focused than ever! As before, there's a mix of piano/keyboards and percussion that dominates the sound – sometimes live drums, sometimes programmed – delivered with a warmth that really makes the spare elements resonate with a lot more soulful power than you might expect – almost as if Kiefer listened to some of the more soulful, subtle keyboardists in the 70s fusion generation, but found a way to transform their energy to a 21st Century setting – transforming the world of beats and keys in the process. Titles include "I Wish I Wasn't Me", "My Disorder", "Panic", "High", "Dreamer", "Head Trip", "I Could Cry", "August Again", "Forgetting U", and "I Was Foolish I Guess". (Jazz, 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

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

There's a pile of vinyl on the cover of this album from Japanese trio Nautilus – and that's maybe a good way to get at the sound of their style – as the group work heavily from an old school mode, while still pushing things into some more contemporary rhythmic territory too! The approach is somewhere between old school jazz trio work and some of the choppier styles of the young generation of Japanese trios – yet still with a lot more focus on the solo side of things, which some of those other groups are lacking! Much of the energy of the record comes from the piano and keyboard work of Mariko Nakabayashi, next to the bass of Shigeki Umezawa and drums of Toshiyuki Sasaki – on titles that include vocal appearances from Hanah Spring on "I Want You" and "It's A Shame", Ayaca on "Part Time Lover", and Kei Owada on "Empty Faces" – plus a nice take on the classic "Little B's Poem", and the cuts "The Eye Of The Hurricane", "Sweet Love Of Mine", and "Nebulosa". CD