One of the greatest albums ever from Booker T & The MGs – and very different than their early work! The record has Book & Co taking off with a stretched-out jazzy sound – carving expanded grooves that are filled with sweet organ solos, choppy guitar riffs, and some incredibly tight rhythm lines – more than enough to make this set a standout in the collection of any beat digger! Includes the massive "Melting Pot" – an oft-sampled jam that runs for over 8 minutes long – plus "LA Jazz Song", which features amazingly tight guitar work from Steve Cropper, and the nice cuts "Fuquawi" and "Chicken Pox". Other titles include "Back Home", "Sunny Monday", and "Hi Ride". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the greatest albums ever from Booker T & The MGs – and very different than their early work! The record has Book & Co taking off with a stretched-out jazzy sound – carving expanded grooves that are filled with sweet organ solos, choppy guitar riffs, and some incredibly tight rhythm lines – more than enough to make this set a standout in the collection of any beat digger! Includes the massive "Melting Pot" – an oft-sampled jam that runs for over 8 minutes long – plus "LA Jazz Song", which features amazingly tight guitar work from Steve Cropper, and the nice cuts "Fuquawi" and "Chicken Pox". Other titles include "Back Home", "Sunny Monday", and "Hi Ride". LP, Vinyl record album

... 12-inch, Vinyl record

A timeless, crackling soul and west coast funk-inspired hip hop instrumentals set from Melting Pot Music supergroup Betty Ford Boys – the triple threat production trio of Suff Daddy, Dexter and Brenk Sinatra! Each one manages to serve up what we've dug to date from their earlier, separate productions – from the Moog-flavored funk of Suff Daddy, to the classic G-Funk-inspired funk of Brenk Sinatra, to the hip hop funk electicism of Dexter – and it's all held together nicely thanks the intoxicating concept and the thematic vocal samples. Includes "The Time Has Come (4 Us To Be One)", "Hero Heroin", "Icky", "Papa Was ( A Junky), Too", "Everyday", "Tell Her", "Sippin'", "Legalize Every MF Thing", "Hold Up", "Making Love Good", "Coco Puffs", "I Need A 40", "Snow Soul", "Till The Wheels Fall Off", "Drinkin' Hennessy" and more. CD

Funky hip hop beatcraft laced with far out psychedelic samples from German producer Dexter – and it's a trip, alright – a far out funky one at that! Dexter lays down a thick layer of hypnotic beats underneath a sprawling batch of sampled sounds from the psychedelic area and beyond, but Dex's craft is at the forefront. This is a compelling batch of (mostly) instrumental tracks that blend timelessly tripped out hip hop, heavy jazz, funk and psych samples – particularly the wild bits psych era bits of film dialogue! Includes "Once Gain Back (Tune In)", "San Francisco" with DJ Adlib, "Walk With Us", "Psychedelic Club Scene", "Rainbow Flight", "Teenage Mother", "With Ease", "Hippie Revolt (Turn On)", "You & I", "Dexy Lovecraft", "Acido (Heavyyy)", "Never Knew", "Pictures" featuringJosa Peit, "Summerdays (Drop Out)" and more. CD

Bubbling funky beats and cosmically soaring soundscapes from Karlmarx – New Zealand duo of Isaac Aesili and Mark McNeill – boundless, headnodding grooves! The duo bring together spacey hip hop beats, unpredictable swirls of keyboards, soul Euro electro and more into consistent groove, but it's still nicely tripped out. More good stuff for beatheads on Melting Pot! Includes "Kiss A Girl", "Leaning Shadows", "Mists", "Anti Gravity", "Osc", "Ares", "Futuro", "Higgs", "Insomnia", "The Conversation", "Guilt", "Transform", "Wakatipu" and more. 14 tracks on the vinyl version. LP, Vinyl record album

A contemporary riff on benchmark 70s soul jazz and funky fusion from French producer Medline – who reimagines classics by Roy Ayers, Lonnie Liston Smith, Joe Henderson, Freddie Hubbard and others! It's good, solid stuff – reinterpreting the material in a way that's very mindful of its influence on classic hip hop – with some tighter beats and other nods to classic 90s hip hop production – but it's done with an emphasis on live instrumentation that's pretty great! Medline plays most of the instruments himself, with lots of Afro percussion and jazzy flute – with guest vocals on a number of tunes by Roni Alkekengi. Includes "A New Day", "People Make The World Go Round", "Wind Parade","Expansion" and "Everybody Love The Sunshine" with Roni Alkekengi, "Eboness", "Red Clay" and more. CD

The keyboards of C Tappin are a fantastic element here – used to create warmth and flow throughout this album of understated majesty! The set draws equal inspiration from a journey to Kilimanjaro, and a recent live set by D'Angelo – produced and mixed by Slim in his studio, with lyrics by C Tappin and Turt – always aglow next to the keys. Titles include "Uhuru", "Dusk To Dawn", "Good Times", "Shades Of Green", "Slim Pickins", "Call It Love", "Sonrise", "The Season", and "Keep Up". LP, Vinyl record album

Jazzy hip hop from German producer FloFilz – and by describing it as jazzy hip hop, we mean that for real, it's genuinely inspired by classic and contemporary UK club and soul jazz while still being pretty firmly rooted timeless, latenight vibe hip hop. Hypnotic beats and loping atmosphere built on jazz centric keys, bass and strings – with vocals on a handful of tunes, but based strongly in the atmospheric hip hop production. Includes "Checkinthru", "Larcade" feat Alfa Mist, "Lanai Gardens", "Ramen For Breakfast", "Tgelegraph Hill Park", "Bad Self", "Tube Trouble", "Lucid Daze, "Inside Put" feat Biig Piig, "Montclare St", "Jacamar", "Far Off" and more. LP, Vinyl record album

What can we say? Booker T and crew are always tops in our book – and this album's as strong a batch of their classic singles as you'll ever find! Book's organ is the sound of a generation, and Steve Cropper's sinister vamping on guitar gives even the poppier tracks a hard edge that still sends shivers down our spine! The set's got 16 tracks than run the gamut of the group's years at Stax – including "Green Onions", "Soul Dressing", "Boot-Leg", "Hip Hug Her", "Mo Onions", "Soul Limbo", "My Sweet Potato", "Slim Jenkins Place", "Time Is Tight", "Slum Baby", and the amazing jazzer "Melting Pot". CD

Damn! Orgone just keep getting better and better – to the point where we might almost say that there's no difference between the strength of the group's sound and all the funky 70s acts that have inspired their music! The instrumentation and production are right on the money throughout – and speaking of inspiration, the group pay tribute to some of their heroes – by taking on tunes by The Meters, Funkadelic, Rufus Thomas, Booker T & The MGs, and many others – but all at a level that makes the tunes completely their own. With Colemine on hand to co-present the record, there's a definite love of heavy funk in the whole production – both on the soulful vocal cuts, and the album's great instrumentals. Titles include "The Black Five", "Cynthy-Ruth", "Think", "Nobody's Fault But Mine", "Breakdown", "Melting Pot", "It's Serious", "It Ain't No Use", "Cosmic Slop", and "Let Me Be Your Love Maker". CD

Damn! Orgone just keep getting better and better – to the point where we might almost say that there's no difference between the strength of the group's sound and all the funky 70s acts that have inspired their music! The instrumentation and production are right on the money throughout – and speaking of inspiration, the group pay tribute to some of their heroes – by taking on tunes by The Meters, Funkadelic, Rufus Thomas, Booker T & The MGs, and many others – but all at a level that makes the tunes completely their own. With Colemine on hand to co-present the record, there's a definite love of heavy funk in the whole production – both on the soulful vocal cuts, and the album's great instrumentals. Titles include "The Black Five", "Cynthy-Ruth", "Think", "Nobody's Fault But Mine", "Breakdown", "Melting Pot", "It's Serious", "It Ain't No Use", "Cosmic Slop", and "Let Me Be Your Love Maker". LP, Vinyl record album

A very cool document of New York in the 50s! Tony Schwartz turns the Folkways ethnographic microphone to the streets of the city – and comes up with amazing sounds and audio documents of life in the Big Apple – specifically, all material recorded in postal zone 19 – hence the title of the album! There's a fair bit of unusual things going on here – spoken bits, sound effects, and a variety of music from different sources – street preachers, jukeboxes, corner instrumentalists, and even some work by the legendary Moondog – who was maybe more of a figure on the New York streets of the 50s than he was a force in the concert halls and recording studios! Schwartz really gets at the cultural melting pot of the city over the course of the record – weaving together elements of Puerto Rican, Italian, Romanian, Jewish, Nigerian, and other cultures. CD

A monumental collection of work by the legendary Booker T & The MGs – one that features a huge amount of the group's best recordings – mostly pulled from their early years at Stax Records, and including some rare album tracks, b-sides, and other nice bits! Memphis soul expert Robert Bowman put the package together and also provides a great set of notes – and the whole thing features a whopping 65 tracks that include "Heads Or Tails", "Be Young Be Foolish Be Happy", "Chicken Pox", "Melting Pot", "Gotta Serve Somebody", "Hole In The Wall", "Terrible Thing", "MG Party", "Booker's Theme", "Meditation", "Sarasota Sunset", "Soul Dressing", "Be My Lady", "My Sweet Potato", "Booker's Notion", "I Can Dig", "Never My Love", "Blue On Green", "Ode To Billie Joe", and "Hip Hug Her". CD

Live band Latin hip hop with soulful and timely lyricism – and steeped in an inventive blend of cumbia, Tejano funk and the all around diverse touch of producer Adrian Quesada! Adrian brings the melting pot of Latin, funk and soul eclecticism he's renowned for with the groups Brownout, Grupo Fantasma, Black Pumas and various production gigs, but Mexstep is such a culturally forceful project on the lyrical side, thanks largely to vocalist Marco Cervantes chronicling the indigenous pride and the urgent politics of the Mexican & US border, there's a compelling edge here that puts it in a new light. Even when it's built around just some beatsm strings, bass and keys, it's got a stylistically expansive feel. Titles include "With Us", "Clear", "Dios Mio", "Tejano Summer", "Mal De Ojo", "Crooked", "Labeled Enemy", "Mixed Up" and "Steel". CD

Live band Latin hip hop with soulful and timely lyricism – and steeped in an inventive blend of cumbia, Tejano funk and the all around diverse touch of producer Adrian Quesada! Adrian brings the melting pot of Latin, funk and soul eclecticism he's renowned for with the groups Brownout, Grupo Fantasma, Black Pumas and various production gigs, but Mexstep is such a culturally forceful project on the lyrical side, thanks largely to vocalist Marco Cervantes chronicling the indigenous pride and the urgent politics of the Mexican & US border, there's a compelling edge here that puts it in a new light. Even when it's built around just some beats, strings, bass and keys, it's got a stylistically expansive feel. Titles include "With Us", "Clear", "Dios Mio", "Tejano Summer", "Mal De Ojo", "Crooked", "Labeled Enemy", "Mixed Up" and "Steel". LP, Vinyl record album

Blinding! This is the second volume to Soul Jazz's much acclaimed 100% Dynamite compilation of rare Jamaican soul and rocksteady – and it's every bit as great as the first! The set's boiling over with great tracks that we'll never ever find in the original, and as usual, it's packaged with exquisite care by the folks at the label. Titles include "Heatwave" by Tommy Cook, "Tom Drunk" by U Roy, "Sit & Wonder" by Prince Buster, "Hot Reggae" by Byron Lee, "Melting Pot" by Boris Gardner, "Sounds & Pressure" by Hopeton Lewis, and "Are You There" by Dawn Penn. Great stuff, with 17 tracks in all, and a very cool-looking cover! CD