Lee Fields & The The Expressions – Special Night

It’s hard to find another active singer today that has the background Lee Fields does: a first release in 1969, records on thirteen different labels, and close to 47 years of music making, touring and recording. Backed by The Expressions and their incomparable soul-sound musicianship, Lee Fields will release his latest album “Special Night” on November 4 via Big Crown Records.
Before the album drops, Fields has released the title track on 7″ single, splitting the epic 6 minute song over both sides it makes for a classic slice of timeless soul. Grad it now from Big Crown Records.

Controller 7 – Scraps: outtakes, demos, ideas 2000​-​2014

For those who know Controller 7 from his releases on Bully Records, will be excited to hear this new mix of unused tracks. As the man says himself –
“As I was trying to finish up Right Handed Straw, I had a bunch of stuff that didn’t make the cut or had been sitting on my computer forever. Some are finished beats that people rapped on, some are just ideas, some are things that just didn’t really work out. Instead of just leaving them all on the computer to die, I threw them all together in this mix. Its a little over an hour of hits and misses.”

Peter Thomas & Mocambo Astronautic Sound Orchestra – Space Patrol

SPACE PATROL (“Raumpatrouille – Die phantastischen Abenteuer des Raumschiffes Orion”) was the first German science fiction television series. Its seven episodes were broadcast by ARD TV, the first episode being aired on September 17th of 1966. Being a huge success with audience ratings up to 56%, the series acquired a distinct cult status in Germany and worldwide.
Peter Thomas composed and recorded the original score, which has become a soundtrack classic and collector’s item among rare groove afficionados since its original release on Philips. The music, floating between avantgarde jazz, big band beat and spaced-out psychedelia, set a new benchmark in the history of film music and science fiction scores and became one of Thomas’ best known works. The title theme is the first known piece of music in pop history to feature a vocoder, a device that until then had exclusively been used for voice encoding in military warfare. Peter Thomas borrowed a device from the Siemens factory to process his voice for the recording of the countdown.
The composer remembers: “When producing the score, I had complete creative freedom. No one had ever been into space, so no one would dare to tell me how the music should sound like.”
Now, 50 years on, The Mighty Mocambos teamed up with the legendary musical mastermind a recorded an up to date, truly global and funky 2016 version in tribute of the original theme. “Space Patrol (Raumpatrouille)” is the only official recording of the track released for this anniversary and authorized by Peter Thomas, who even plays on it himself. To give this 50 years version a new twist, the specially formed Mocambo Astronautic Sound Orchestra adds steel band orchestration to the massive brass and funky rhythm section.
Orion 2016 is available as a 7inch single in a deluxe picture sleeve on Mocambo Records and as a digital download on Légère Recordings.

Algernon Cornelius – Botanical

Algernon Cornelius is back with his new album, “Botanical”.
Botanical tells the story of a journey into the cerebellum of rural Jamaica in search of a supposed ancestral past which unexpectedly leads down a dark path of surreal revelations and hypermagic discoveries. Algernon Cornelius excites sub-frequencies, summons insectile glitches and sketches rhizome beats to paint a twisted allegory of transcendence; inspired by Jamaican bass culture, tropical plant life and the fact that the island has more churches per people that any other country in the world.
So if you like glitchy, trippy, electronic beats of the experimental kind, you need to grab this album now!

Renegades Of Jazz – Moyo Wangu

Renegades Of Jazz are back with a super fresh, super funky new album. “Moyo Mangu” (Swahili for ‘my heart’) is heavily influenced by Renegades Of Jazz aka David Hanke’s time spent as a child living in Tanzania. Hanke has taken the African influence to create a modern take on afrobeat, afrofunk.
Personally I think it works perfectly, every track has that real authentic afrobeat sound and feel underpinned with modern, slightly dancey, funk production, as you would expect from ROJ. I would go as far to say this is ROJ’s finest offering to date, I challenge you to play this album and not want to move. Jammed packed with modern afrofunk anthems, everyone should own a copy, it will make your life better and put a smile on your face!
Sadly the vinyl is sold out on the bandcamp page, however you can still get the CD and the download.

Diesler – Repeat This Moment / Cavador

Diesler is back with a new single, “Repeat This Moment” backed with “Cavador”. “Repeat This Moment” see’s Diesler re-united with vocalist Double Yellow, creating an infectious mix of funk, electro and indie that is bound to make any dancefloor move. “Cavador” is another instrumental party banger that veers more towards the funk and nu-jazz side of things. Definitely one for all who like things funky, but with a modern twist. Out now!

 

The Natural Curriculum – The Best Fertiliser Is The Gardener’s Shadow

Manchester’s hip hop collective The Natural Curriculum are set to release their new album, “The Best Fertiliser Is The Gardener’s Shadow” on September 12th. The 10 track long player features the vocal talents of Chalk, Bill Sykes and Aver holds down vocals as well as all the production.
Those familiar with the crews previous release, and there are many all well worth checking out, will know how well the crew blend on point rhymes with funky, head nodding, slightly off kilter hip hop beats.  I for one am definitely looking forward to hearing what the album has in store, the more I hear from TNC the more interested and the more I want to hear. Definitely not one to sleep on, pre-order the album now and check out the video for “Middle”.

 

Naik – Canyon/Chasm

Australian producer Naik returns with a new single, “Canyon” backed with “Chasm”. If don’t know, Naik create awesome psychedelic beats, mixing live instrumentation with samples to create a real fresh sound. This isn’t hip hop, nor is it psychedelic rock or electronic but the perfect infusion of them all. This is single is definitely worth grabbing, especially as it’s up for name your price release, you will not regret it!

Dr Syntax & Pete Cannon – The Tonic EP

Dr Syntax and Pete Cannon have teamed up once again for their new release, “The Tonic EP”. After 2014’s excellent “Killer Combo” album, they have returned with more of their super funky, upbeat, tongue in cheek hip hop sound.
Touching on elements of ska, rock, disco and of course heavy boom bap beats, this is a must for any hip hoppers out their who want a release from the hum drum and darker side of UK hip hop. Put on your dancing shoes and party trousers and pump “The Tonic” up loud, its just the, erm, tonic! Buy it now on CD and download, check out the video for “Downtime” while you’re at it.

 

Mohawkestra – Paint It Black

Coming straight out of Bristol, Mohawkestra release their awesome cover version of the Rolling Stones “Paint It Black”. This super funky, monster of a single is backed with “Green Manalishi” and is up for pre-order now on Reed Records.