The debut of the J Davis Trio – Chicago's wholly unique late night jazz, spacey funk, leftfield live hip hop crew! The J Davis Trio combines some stripped down 70s soul jazz with a skewed, slightly sinister sense of humor – and can reference Roy Ayers and the Dead Milkmen on the same record – no mean feat. This Debut is a strong one! Tracks include "Bitchin Corrolla", "Keys To The Kingdom", "Car Talk", "Bossa Nova", "Thumb Piano", "Story, "Harmonics 5", 'Everythang'sEverythang" and more. (Hip Hop, Deep Funk) CD

Funky jazz nuggets with a mighty nice lineup – one that features plenty of vibes next to the keyboards, all resonating strongly over tight rhythms on acoustic bass and drums! There's almost a sunshiney vibe to the music at times that fits the image on the cover – not polished or slick, but this sort of shimmering quality that really lets you bathe in the warmth of the music – especially as the grooves are often laidback, yet still plenty darn funky! The drums are great, and the way they kick in with the vibes is wonderful – on titles that include "Estinto Omicida", "Hydromiel 2022", "Orso Pacifico", "Bourguignon", and "Saint Emilion". LP, Vinyl record album

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

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

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

Johnny Benavidez hits it right on the money here – serving up a set of laidback soul that feels like the classic material that would play big on the scene in East LA – music that's heartbreaking, but deep at the same time – graced with these very personal vocals from Johnny, and given just the right sort of backing from Cold Diamond & Mink! The whole thing is nice and easygoing – sweet soul, of the variety that you'd be more likely to hear from a harmony group, but with Benavidez giving a lead presence that's a bit like Joe Bataan in a similar mode – which makes for the kind of record that's perfect to put on late into the night, windows open, breeze blowing in, when you just want to kick back and turn down. Titles include "Playing The Fool", "Dedicated To You", "Somebody Cares", "Your Last Song", "Let's Get Together", "Do What You Wanna Do", "My Echo Shadow & Me", and "Tell Me That You Love Me". CD

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

Beautifully heavy sounds from Black Market Brass – a group who started out with more of a global funk approach, but who emerge here with the intensity of some lost funky soundtrack – all with the sort of edge you might expect from the cover! The style here is really revolutionary – unlike anything else we've ever heard from a group with "brass" in their name – in part because the group has some very cool distortion on the keyboards and guitar, which gives those electric elements a very sinister sound next to the straight ahead fire of the horns – served up with really hard-driving rhythms throughout, in a way that seems to pull together older traditions of Afro Funk, Nola Brass, and even some of the southern college bands – but all with a very 21st Century vision. Titles include "So Who (parts 1 & 2)", "Into The Thick", "War Room", "Cheat & Start A Fight", "Undying Thirst", and "NBT". (Global Grooves, Deep Funk) LP, Vinyl record album