FUNKOSOL: Fresh Beats Vol. 2 (2013)

It’s whole lotta bumps time from Chudy‘s Funkosol label already as Fresh Beats Vol. 2 delivers a slew of ghetto funky edits and mash-ups from one of the scene’s newest labels. The Man From DelMonty says ‘yes’ to a Ghetto Funk Icons-style edit of The Spin Doctors’ Two Princes, Robinson Grooves moves your feet with the sort of bass-heavy rework of early nineties style house-y soul that has been a feature of 2013 and Azzar‘s Discogirls is hammering disco boogie camper than a …READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

EWAN HOOZAMI: Skin Too Deep (2013)

Skin too deep? Leave the old flesh and get your robot on, then. Say hello, once again this month, to Ewan Hoozami who gives further clues to the nature of his forthcoming Robot Soul LP with lead single Skin Too Deep on which he ventures far into the faintly neon-lit synth murk of eighties disco-funk and rocks his own vocals with such aplomb that he’s in imminent danger of invading Planet Pop. If you want a visual metaphor for this number you’ll find it in the cover art which features an …READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

DISCOSOCKS: Sock Drawer Secrets #1 (2013) Free download

Sock drawer secrets eh? A mankini that you were ‘forced’ to wear on that stag do, gents? Mr Buzzy, ladies? A Swedish penis pump? A pussy whip? A crusty old ‘Er – how did that get in there? Don’t recognise that at all, it’s not mine, no!’ single sock? How about three pumping edits of lesser known disco-funk bangers? In the case of Heavy Disco label signing Discosocks – it’s the latter: a revitalised Rock Don’t Stop and Save Me Your Love…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

MARTA REN & THE GROOVELVETS: 2 Kinds Of Men/ Summer’s Gone (2013) + video

“So Marta – what type of music do you and the band play?” “Oh both kinds – funk and soul.” ‘Nuff said as Record Kicks‘ latest find is Portuguese crew Marta Ren & The Groovelvets – an outfit who supplement super-tight arrangements with powerful soul vocals from Ren of whom it must be said: ‘girl got a voice!’ I hadn’t heard anything on the contemporary soul scene to approach The Excitements’ Koko-Jean Davis or …READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

MR BIRD: Know Your Rodents (2013)

No smelling a rat here as one of the UK’s most proficient sampledelic producers, ex-pat Mr Bird, re-releases his second LP from 2006 Know Your Rodents which is sixteen tracks of the sort of thing that were Ninjatune’s bread and butter back in the day. Put another way, this collection provides the sort of sample-rich instrumental breakbeats that have been tarred with all genre brushes from ‘trip-hop’ to ‘cinematic’. Either way (or indeed, any which way) the gloom which sometimes pervades music …READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

LAZY HABITS: Even Out (Ewan Hoozami remix) (2013) Free download

Bristol bass don Ewan Hoozami grabs London-based hip-hop/ 8 piece brass outfit Lazy Habits’ funky cautionary tale by the horns (see what I did there) and transmutes it into something a little more 21st century. Subtly mind – different break and some moody synth – oh and a lovely stompy bridge. Plus it’s free for you to download – which is nice. Don’t forget to say thanks. I should point out that this did …READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

‘BIZARRE RIDE II THE PHARCYDE’ Live: Europe tour dates (2013)

It’s got all the potential to be a massive clusterfuck of hasbeens and assorted hangers-on trading on past glories to make some cold cash money hasn’t it? A tour where two members of The Pharcyde (who, along with fellow rappers Imani and Booty Brown and producer J-Swift assured their place in hip-hop history with their glorious jazz-hip-hop psychedelia of their 1992 debut Bizarre Ride II The …READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

VOODOOCUTS: Juice Vol. 2 (2013)

Five stars on MB, in case you hadn’t worked it out yet, is for shit that gets the heaviest rotation on the stereo (and usually the decks) at MB Towers. And there’s no doubt that two of the tracks on Voodoocuts latest three track set, Juice Vol. 2, are precisely the type of inspired mash-up party breaks edit thingies that get heavy MB rotation. Take the utter bigness of pumping soul-jazzy breaks number The Breakmaker for example. It’s a banger, plain and simple, and you will see it feature high in the …READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

BLEND MISHKIN feat. MC JAMALSKI: We Are Roots (Remixes) (2013)

Clearly a case of ‘Oh shit – that was good enough to make a bit of money with – what were we thinking with the free download?’ Blend Mishkin‘s hip-hop riddim-powered reggae number featuring MC Jamalski, We Are Roots, now gets the full four-track remix treatment package. And guess what? It’s not just the original that was good enough to make a bit of money with. The ‘exclusive…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

HARVEY K-TEL & SNORKIE: ‘Babylon Bop’ video (dir. DJ Tanner) (2013)

Ponder for a minute the way the net works. By net-work. Last year Harvey K-Tel and Snorkie produce Babylon Bop (genius reggae edit of The Ramones’ Blitzkrieg Bop) which gets blogged by the monkey. Then The Allergies produce dope Salt N Pepa mashup Pick Up Lines for which Canadian DJ Tanner made a fresh accompanying video. Both of which get blogged by the monkey in a post which later gets read by DJ Tanner who starts to follow the monkey who puts…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM