J Dilla's brother Illa J collaborates with the departed Dilla for the Yancey Boys album – produced with a batch of Jay Dee beats! This album could have gone wrong in a number of ways for a number of reasons – but truth be told it's a quality record that's actually worth checking out! Most importantly, Illa J's is a genuine talent – rolling with a mix of singing and rhyming is really unique – and the bright, spacey funk beats by Dilla are naturally top notch & timeless. Tracks include "Timeless", "We Here", "R U Listenin'" feat Guilty Simpson, "All Good", "Swagger", "Illasoul", "Air Signs" and more. LP, Vinyl record album

A little bit funk, a little bit soul – Mickey Murray was one of the underrated talents working in the SSS label during the company's glory years, and had a sock-hard southern soul style that was really outta site! Mickey first hit big with the tune "Shout Bamalama" – originally recorded by Otis Redding in his earliest years in the studio, but pushed to much bigger fame by Mickey with his classic late 60s recording. This tasty little set is done in a great mix of upbeat sockin-soul and mellower southern burners – all carried off with a depth and level of quality that should have made Mickey a bigger star at the time! Titles include the massively funky "Hit Record", plus "How many Breaks Can One Heart Take", "Got You On My Mind", and the eerie "Lonely Room". LP, Vinyl record album

What we once thought might've been a short-lived, if rewarding east coast team up of Wu Tang's Inspectah Deck and Boston heroes 7L & Esoteric has gone on to be one of the longest running later career supergroups this side of Run The Jewels! Old and mid school styled funky/sci-fi/vintage comic book style like we haven't heard since Doom left us, paired with some icey cool bits of synth and other and fresh touches on the production side. Includes "Czarchimedes' Death Day", "Blast Off", "All That For A Drop Of Blood", "Mama's Basement", "Frenzy In A Far Off Land", "Czarsenic", "Gate Crasher","Sirens" and "Helicopter". LP, Vinyl record album

Formative Madlib beatcraft – music made by 'Lib from 1990-2000 – crafted into a tight full length album that feels as fresh as ever! History Of The Loop Digga features funky hip hop instrumentals made at a time when he was producing underground beat tapes for himself and the Crate Diggas Palace crew of MCs. Raw Madlib hip hop beats from the early days with spackled with bits of vocals from Madlib & his Quasimoto alter ego, Declaime and others, plus mad vocal samples. At the core, it's excellent leftfield hip hop productions that aptly predicts for the unbridled genius to come, mixed in 2010 and feeling very much of the here and now. 34 shortish tracks on the 2LP version for more than an hour of modern vintage Madlib. Titles include "Static Invazion", "Stakeout", "Rapper X Radio", "Last Day's Music", "Nothing For Nothing", "Live From Outer Space", "Further Adventures Of Walkman Flavor", "Real Days" "CDP Assassins" (Pts 1-6) and a slew of untitled episodes. LP, Vinyl record album

Sly's leaping into the air on the cover of this one – and for good reason too, given the overall groove of the set! The album's a bit more stripped-down and upbeat than the previous few – almost more of a return to the simple funky style of the first albums, but with a slightly more electric sound than before – especially in the keyboards, which almost slide into the mix here with a Stevie Wonder-like quality. The electricity bubbles and brews wonderfully at the bottom of the rhythms – charging things up a bit, but still hanging back with a super-cool, laidback quality that few other groups could muster! There's a great sense of balance here that's brilliant – and which makes the album one of Sly's undisputed masterpieces from the Columbia years. Titles include the incredible "If You Want Me To Stay" – one of our favorite Sly Stone cuts ever – plus "Keep on Dancin", "Babies Making Babies", "Que Sera Sera", "If It Were Left Up To Me", "In Time", and "Let Me Have It All". LP, Vinyl record album

A long-overdue second full length albums from the SSS International years of the great Johnny Adams – tracks that were mostly issued as singles by the label, and which come together here with a punch that's even harder than the work on his Heart & Soul album from the time! Adams has a voice that's definitely trained in the deep soul modes of the south, but also gets some groovier help that's more in keeping with the SSS approach – a bit funky at times, nicely gritty at others – on titles that include "South Side Of Soul Street", "Give Me A Chance", "Release Me", "Proud Woman", "I Won't Cry", "In A Moment Of Weakness", "You Made A New Man Out Of Me", "I've Got Too Much To Lose", and "Living On Your Love". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the all-time classics from Jr Walker & The All Stars – key proof that Motown could groove even when nobody was laying down vocals! As you might guess from the title, the album features the group's huge hit "Shotgun", plus lots of other cool funky little tracks like "Cleo's Back", "Tune Up", "Monkey Jump", "Do The Boomerang", "Shake & Fingerpop", "Shoot Your Shot", and lots more! The album's one of the group's strongest for Motown – and features that tight snapping groove that helped Jr take the tenor out of the R&B sound of the 50s, and place it into a whole new mode for the soulful 60s! LP, Vinyl record album

A real lost chapter in the career of the great Don Covay – material done after his original funky soul on 60s Atlantic Records, and before his return to fame in the early 70s on Mercury – done in a raw vibe that has a lot more grit than you might expect! There's touches of psychedelic blues in the instrumentation, which was recorded both in Memphis and Muscle Shoals – even though the record comes across with a vibe that's unlike any of the big hits recorded in those scenes at the time! Definitely a standout in the world of soul in the early 70s – with titles that include "Standing In the Grits Line", "Sweet Thang", "Stop By", "Bad Luck", "Hitching a Ride", and "What's In the Headlines". LP, Vinyl record album