MONKEYBOXING EMPIRE MUSIC CHART - FEB. 08

Lost the funk? Check these out...

1. (NEW) Duffy – Mercy – Single (Polydor)
Giant crossover retro-soul bomb!
Listen myspace - Read review

2. (NEW) Atmosphere – Strictly Leakage – LP (Rhymesayers)
Minneapolis’ finest drop butter slick b-lines and leftfield party rhymes – and you can download the whole thing for free!
Listen and download FREE mp3 - Read review

3. (NEW) The Cool Kids – 88 - Unreleased
The title ‘88’ says it all – it’s Run DMC / The Beasties rebooted. Works for the monkey though.
Listen myspace

4. (2) Stoned Soul Picnic – One Dollar Hotel – 7” Single
Filthy low-slung instrumental funk from the Hammond heroes.
Listen mp3 - Read review

5. (3) Nice Up – Old School/ Virgo - 7” Single
Two super-heavy mash-ups: more old-school breaks bolted onto Dizzee than you can shake a fat-lace at, while Nas gets grafted onto the Tommy McCook / Supersonics loop that Lily Allen used on LDN.
Listen mp3

6. (NEW) Rex Rey – The Raw Deal Vol. 1 - LP
Rey rips it up with instrumentalist breaks and dope atmospherics.
Listen mp3 - Read review

7. (NEW) The Soul Investigators – Pretty Women Part 2– 7” Single
Nicole Willis’s homies deliver this wah-wah-led instrumental that bowls lazily along wearing a hopelessly stoned grin.
Listen mp3

8. (1) The Sweet Divines – Honeythistle - Unreleased
Vintage-sounding breakbeat sister-soul from New York.
Listen myspace - Read feature

9. (7) Sober & Dribbla – Grenades - Unreleased
S & D bring the dark once more having wilfully and maliciously exposed their hip-hop to the hardcore old-skool rave virus.
Listen myspace

10. (NEW) The Gutter Twins – Idle Hands - Saturnalia LP (Unreleased)
Brooding and super-heavy noise from grunge veterans Mark Lanegan and Greg Dulli.
Listen myspace - Read feature

PREVIOUS CHARTS
Jan. 2008 chart
MONKEYBOXING EMPIRE Top ten 2007 albums chart
MONKEYBOXING EMPIRE Top ten 2007 tracks chart
Nov. 2007 chart
Oct. 2007 chart
Sept. 2007 chart
Aug. 2007 chart
MONKEYBOXING EMPIRE Top ten 2006 albums chart

GNARLS BARKLEY - Listen to new track - RUN

GNARLS BARKLEY - new track RUN - Listen mp3
The monkey caught wind of leaked new track Run via (of all sources) a Myspace bulletin from DangerDoom (i.e. a collaboration between MF Doom and - you guessed it - Gnarls Barkley DJ/Producer Dangermouse). So that wasn't suspicious at all. With the news spreading round the internet faster than an infection in a brothel, the cyber police had it pulled swiftly although it has now officially been released on iTunes. Have the band successfully turned the tables on the source of the leak by releasing the track and turning into the first single off the new LP? Was it really a leak in the first place or another instance of viral marketing? Does anyone give a shit? Basically a (speed) nu-soul number (and not a bad one at that) with psychedelic rock stylings, it is, according to at least one source, one of 50 or so tracks from which the new LP The Odd Couple's track list will be picked. Rolling Stone published further info. on the upcoming The Odd Couple LP due in April. Check the links for more!
RELATED LINKS
Listen to Gnarls Barkley - new track - RUN on mp3
Gnarls Barkley - Myspace
gnarlsbarkley.com

REX REY - The Raw Deal Volume 1 - 2008 - Album review

REX REY – The Raw Deal Volume 1 – 2008 – Album review
HIGHLIGHTS: Me Castiga – Turn Of The Century – Super Duper
SOUNDBITE: It’s instrumental folks!
RATING: 4/5
Coffeetablists unite once more! This is 18 tracks of atmospheric instrumentals that means you can all put DJ Shadow’s hyphy-flavoured ‘midlife-crisis’ and RJD2’s rejection of sampling behind you for Rex Rey is here! But why should the rest of us give a shit? Well - it must be because it’s easily the equal of anything else that's out there instrumental hip-hop-wise and the better of most – just as well for a man whose nom-de-plume is basically the word ‘king’ twice. The whole thing has ‘dusty groove’ written all over it and it’s Californian creator has clearly spent more time than is healthy crate-digging in obscure record shop basements and then hiding away in his own - and that’s if he’s not roping in mates (or indeed himself) to provide additional sounds. Rey manages to maintain avoid the pitfalls of instrumental tedium by the range and schizophrenic nature of his beatmaking and, at less than 40 mins long, he isn’t imposing on your time either - although (it has to be admitted) occasionally you are itching to hear a rapper flip the script over some of the beats – first track proper - Ode To Bacholy - is calling out for MF Doom for example. Me Castiga’s fat break is continually chopped with scattershot fills that provide a neat counterpoint to a mournful 1940s non-verbal vocal loop and the Latin guitar picking. The track may be intended to evoke punishment but your ears won't be suffering. Admittedly Ghosts Of Other People’s Memories veers close to instrumental prog-hop but at two minutes long you’re not in any real danger. Track titles are a different matter however but while Non-Topical Geography might again hint at the creeping menace of prog it kicks off with a drum and bass break and a sprinkling of a piano tinkle. Ah – ‘jazz n bass’ you might be thinking – I don’t go there! Well maybe not, but the rock guitar gives it an edge that might change your mind. Turn Of The Century pulls out a far eastern cello sound to which director Zhang Zhimou is fond of choreographing fight scenes and is all the better for it, while Super Duper’s decidedly funky break and electric guitar lick combo livens things up after the snoozy jazz-cigarette atmospherics of the preceding track. Overall it’s not as depressing as Shadow and more esoteric that RJD2 – so don’t expect the over-indulgent introspective gloom of Endtroducing but don’t expect an excess of instrumental block party hooks either. Face it - 80s retro is on the way out - there’s a recession on the way and as sure as day follows night a 90s instrumentalist revival must be on the cards soon. Doubtless this will initiate an onslaught of millions of dull-as-shit ‘Mo Wax’-style mogadon beats and lazy sampling combos with all the originality of a colour-photocopied banknote. Why not get on the revival early and look cool with some real shit?
Out now.
RELATED LINKS
Listen to Rex Rey – The Raw Deal Volume 1
Rex Rey - Myspace
SEARCH MONKEYBOXING EMPIRE REVIEWS

DUFFY – Mercy – 2008 – Single review

DUFFY – Mercy – 2008 – Single review
RATING: 5/5
Less a nod to, than an athletic and sustained piece of how’s-your-father with, sixties soul, the hype surrounding this would be disappearing up it’s own arse by now were it not for the fact that this is a bomb track pure and simple. Comparisons with Amy Wino have been flying around for quite some time as have those with sixties icon (post-Memphis) Dusty Springfield, partly because Duffy has an amazing soul voice - although having platinum blonde hair kind of helps too. However, whereas, recently, people like Winehouse, Ronson and Gnarls Barkley have been pussy-footing around with retro stylings, this takes the full authentic route. It opens with some “Yeah, yeah, yeahs” from Duffy, chucks in a vintage organ sound, a nice shimmying beat, adds some strings, and then our heroine steams in with a tale about being seduced by someone while seeing someone else before finally blowing up into a soaring chorus that’ll have everyone dancing like a northern soul boy. I dunno what the album will turn out like but this is fucking giant! And she’s quite fit.
Released 25 Feb on Polydor.
RELATED LINKS
Listen to Duffy - Mercy
Watch Duffy - Mercy video (scroll down when you get there)
Watch Duffy perform Mercy live on Jools Holland
Duffy - Myspace
iamduffy.com
SEARCH MONKEYBOXING EMPIRE REVIEWS

ATMOSPHERE - Strictly Leakage LP - 2008 - Album review

ATMOSPHERE – Strictly Leakage – 2007 – Album review
HIGHLIGHTS: Little Math You - The Things That Hate Us – Domestic Dog – Crewed Up – You Played Yourself
SOUNDBITE: “Unprotected sex with that one you just met?/ You ain’t even got all your hep-shots yet!”
RATING: 5/5
The ‘Angstie Boys’ are back and bizarrely (because I would far more happily have paid for this than other releases that I have actually bought) this entirely free downloadable LP is their sunniest and most consistent yet. Indeed, as far as angst goes there’s very little on the LP at all - the text that accompanies the free download links on label Rhymesayers’ site pretty much sums it up - “It is a party album. You are a party animal.” The last thing I bought by the band was You Can’t Imagine How Much Fun We’re Having - a predictably miserable affair which lacked the flashes of brilliance on the last thing I actually enjoyed by Slug and Ant - the inconsistent but occasionally brilliant Seven’s Travels where tracks like Reflection and Shoes start what Strictly Leakage finishes off. Ok, the skipping break of Little Math You belies the fact that this is one of the few tracks with even a vague sense of Atmosphere ‘knowing your pain’ – in this case the pain of suburban white boys who find identity in a culture (hip-hop) which some feel they’ve borrowed. Not Slug though. His point – fuck what anyone else thinks – “I don’t give a fuck where you grew up or where you live’. Elsewhere, for the most part, the MC’s sense of humour is to the fore and often when he’s exercising himself on the topic of the opposite sex – especially with regard to pulling them. On Domestic Dog the sexually frustrated refrain is, “Women at the bar, wanna be a star/ Stop her on the street, she thinks you a freak/ It’s illegal to flirt, when we at work/…” so where does this resourceful man try his luck? That’s right, “So nowadays I score at the grocery store”. Myriad comedic examples of male attempts at flirting and checking women out in said store ensue – and if a male audience are laughing with these, they’re also joining the women in laughing at them. Slug gets a little more caustic on You Played Yourself’s recounting of the sorts of encounters he gets at gigs – over-familiar wannabes thrusting demos at him, a drunken fool complaining about Atmosphere’s use of a live band at an NYC gig “Who you think you are? The Roots?” (Slug stops the bouncers beating the kid up and runs outside to give him his money back) and turning down the advances of (overly) available (and drunk) groupies, “I’m getting to old for the trap/ Go wiggle that cleavage at the…[no doubt grateful]…opening act” whilst pointing out that he can “Actually see your clitoris through your jeans.” Mind you he does spoil it slightly with classy lines like “I would never put my meat sauce up in that pasta”. The humour is at it’s sharpest on The Things That Hate Us - which could equally have been called The Things I Hate U.S. a dig at all vices American over a woozy sun-drenched soul loop, “America the beautiful, that’s how she played us/ Wasn’t that cute, it must have been her make-up”. Opener YGM (Young, gifted and mixed) underlines the fact that Slug is in fact mixed-race – something that has escaped many ‘fans’, Full Moon manages to make looking forward to a gig sound like a monthly lycanthropic awakening and Get It To Get Her rips into loser mates who seem to feel the world owes them something – especially a girlfriend. I could go on but I must have said enough by now. So there you have it: Strictly Leakage - 13 heavy buttered-soul flavoured bumps topped with rhymes that have a pleasantly lingering after-taste. There’s lots of boom and quite a bit of bap. Don’t sit there gawping – if you still haven’t – go and download it. Out now on Rhymesayers.
RELATED LINKS
Listen to Atmosphere – Strictly Leakage
Download Atmosphere – Strictly Leakage for free!
Atmosphere - Myspace
Rhymesayers
SEARCH MONKEYBOXING EMPIRE REVIEWS

ATMOSPHERE - Strictly Leakage LP - 2008 - Free download still available!

ATMOSPHERE - Strictly Leakage - Free LP download still available!
Yeah - so just in case you a) missed Atmosphere's last two myspace blogs b) missed any of the other numerous blog posts abounding with news of this free download or c) have a life - the Minneapolis hip-hoppers still have a complete free album to download with no strings attached. Sounds like the best thing they've dropped since Seven's Travels - or as they put it "It is a party album. You are a party animal." I'm not disagreeing. Get it here:
Download Atmosphere Strictly Leakage FREE
New LP When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold is out April 22 2008 on Rhymesayers. Some people never stop do they?
LINKS
Atmosphere - Myspace
rhymesayers.com

New FOREIGN LEGION Album due March 2008

Night Moves LP update

New FOREIGN LEGION Album due March 2008
Yo! West Coast old-school party hip-hoppers Foreign Legion drop their third full-length LP (follow-up to the wicked Playtight from 2003) according to a recent myspace bulletin from rapper Prozack Turner who says the new album will be out in March. Mind you - he also said they needed a manager. The band, made up of Turner, fellow rapper Marc Stretch and DJ Design have been kicking it live for ages although they first hit big around 2000 with snappily titled debut LP Kidnapper Van: Beats To rock While Bike Stealing featuring the massive underground banger Full-Time B-Boy. Keep checking back with the monkey for updates.
RELATED LINKS
Prozack Turner - myspace
Marc Stretch - myspace
DJ Design - myspace

THE GUTTER TWINS - Free Download

THE GUTTER TWINS - Free Download
The Gutter Twins - that'll be Mark Lanegan of The Screaming Trees and Greg Dulli of The Afghan Whigs then. They've got an LP, Saturnalia, in the offing which is due for release on March 4 on Sub Pop and you can download taster track Idle Hands from their myspace page until midnight on Sunday (although that'll depend what time zone you're in) - it's worth it just to hear Lanegan's legendary tortured gravel-blues voice (recently heard on Queens Of The Stone Age and Soulsavers albums) again. They describe it as 'Gothic Blues'...let's just put it this way - it's heavy, it's grungey and it's a bit dark...
RELATED LINKS
The Gutter Twins - myspace
subpop.com

BLACK KEYS new LP Attack & Release due APRIL 2008

BLACK KEYS new LP Attack & Release due APRIL 2008
Head's up! The Black Keys follow up 2006's Magic Potion album with the Dangermouse produced Attack & Release in April this year which is good news for fans of fat electric blues riffs. Pitchfork done got the scoop so if you want more info follow this link - More info. on The Black Keys new LP Attack & Release Guess Ike Turner won't be appearing on it though since he selfishly decided to die earlier this year...
RELATED LINKS
The Black Keys - myspace

MONKEYBOXING EMPIRE MUSIC CHART - JAN. 08

Lost the funk? Check these out...

1. (NEW) The Sweet Divines – Honeythistle - Unreleased
Vintage-sounding breakbeat sister-soul from New York.
Listen - Read feature

2. (NEW) Stoned Soul Picnic – One Dollar Hotel – 7” Single
Filthy low-slung instrumental funk from the Hammond heroes.
Listen mp3 - Read review

3. (NEW) Nice Up – Old School/ Virgo - 7” Single
Two super-heavy mash-ups: more old-school breaks bolted onto Dizzee than you can shake a fat-lace at, while Nas gets grafted onto the Tommy McCook / Supersonics loop that Lily Allen used on LDN.
Listen mp3

4. (NEW) Percee P – The Hand That Leads – 7” Single
Slow-rollin’, fat-saxin’, beats and rhymes. Been out a while but well-limited!
Listen mp3

5. (NEW) Orgone - Sophisticated Honky – (Killion LP)
One word. Sultry and sexy. Alright that’s three words.
Listen mp3

6. (NEW) Percussion Junction - Bust Down Brown -
A super-funky jam from Oz - complete with Latin rapper.
Listen and/ or DOWNLOAD mp3 for FREE

7. (NEW) Sober & Dribbla – Grenades - Unreleased
S & D bring the dark once more having wilfully and maliciously exposed their hip-hop to the hardcore rave virus.
Listen myspace

8. (1) The Nouvellas – Satisfied – Unreleased track
Raw funky soul like they used to do. Do I ever get bored of listening to this stuff? Nope.
Listen myspace - Read feature

9. (6) Tame Impala – Skeleton Tiger – Unreleased track
Proto-metal heavy psychedelia. These guys party like it’s 1969 and none of them were even born then. Far out!
Listen myspace

10. (4) Diplomats of Solid Sound feat. The Diplomettes – Come In My Kitchen - Unreleased
Even more raw funky soul like they used to do.
Listen mp3

PREVIOUS CHARTS
MONKEYBOXING EMPIRE Top ten 2007 albums chart
MONKEYBOXING EMPIRE Top ten 2007 tracks chart
Nov. 2007 chart
Oct. 2007 chart
Sept. 2007 chart
Aug. 2007 chart
MONKEYBOXING EMPIRE Top ten 2006 albums chart

FREE SWEET DIVINES mp3 listen/download from MONKEYBOXING EMPIRE!

Free! SWEET DIVINES mp3! Listen/download from MONKEYBOXING EMPIRE! - sorry this link has now been disabled
Yo! Frequent visitors know it's always funk o'clock at MonkeyBoxing Empire and what better way to see in the new year (as indeed we saw out the old) but with a...
Free mp3 download - THE SWEET DIVINES - Honeythistle - (Sorry this link has now expired!)
This is a super-tight sister-soul cut in the classic mold, further evidence - if it were needed that the retro funky-soul scene in NYC is thriving and stretches far beyond the ramparts of Daptone Towers. What are you waiting for? Get downloading and remember the monkey!
RELATED LINKS:
The Sweet Divines - Myspace
thesweetdivines.com
SEARCH MONKEYBOXING EMPIRE REVIEWS