AQUASKY feat. THE RAGGA TWINS: Living Legends/Raggatron – 2010

AQUASKY feat. THE RAGGA TWINS: Living Legends/Raggatron – 2010
Christ! I got knackered just listening to this. Normally, long-serving breakbeat terrorists Aquasky would be too ‘core to feature on monkeyboxing and – er- they still are. On Living Legends they supply an approximately 135 bpm breakbeat and a loop that sounds suspiciously like it came from the Blues Brothers soundtrack then race ‘do-what-it-says-on-their-tin’ vocalists The Ragga Twins to the finish. If that doesn’t finish you off…READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

THE SOUL BROTHERS INC: The Story Of The Soul Brothers Inc.

THE SOUL BROS. INC: The Story Of The Soul Brothers Inc. TITLE – 2010 – Album review
HIGHLIGHTS: African Slide/ Git It/ The Devil Made Me Do It/ Girl In The Hot Pants
SOUNDBITE: “God told me to take it easy –‘Are you gonna go before your time’? But if good-looking women in hot pants kill me, I don’t mind dyin’!”
RATING: 5/5
Just when you were thinking there couldn’t possibly be any more grade-A dusty old funky-soul cuts lying around from the late sixties/ early seventies that hadn’t already been re-released, re-packaged and generally given the widespread reverence they missed out on forty-odd years ago, German label Tramp Records drops this thirteen-track collection from Texan outfit The Soul Bros. Inc. It kind of reminds me of that Dyke & The Blazers package BGP put out a couple of years ago – which was also funk-soul gold from start to finish although this, if the truth be told, is probably more accessible than Dyke. The story is an old one but familiar: a group of struggling young black musicians put out a couple of funk soul seven inches over a short few years around the tail end of the sixties and after brief, mostly localised, success they fade into obscurity in the early seventies. Forty years on, original band member Henry Boatwright has a phone conversation with Tramp Records and the blinding thirteen-track LP, every one a stone classic, The Story Of The Soul Bros. Inc. is the result. Big-sounding…READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

SPACE INVADAS - 'Done It Again' - Video

SPACE INVADAS - 'Done It Again' - Video
These two might look like they’ve just parked a white Ferrari Testarossa on Biscayne Boulevard on their way to a drug bust but they’re actually rather big down under. Space Invadas have blown up way huge over there and on the strength of stuff like this (see vid. for Done It Again below)
…READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

MR BLENND: Ante Sensi – Free download

MR BLENND: Ante Sensi – Free download
A thinly-disguised remixer/ producer spreads more peace and dub with this free download that splices M.O.P’s Ante Up beat with a not unknown ragga vocal by one Mr Vegas. It’s a pairing that may be familiar to followers of the Nice Up! crew since Shepdog and Tony Midget dropped the equally bassbin-shaking…READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

DANCEFLOOR OUTLAWS: Panda Style video + Dancefloor Outlaws EP – 2010

DANCEFLOOR OUTLAWS: Panda Style video + Disco Cakes Vol. 1 EP – 2010
This was actually in the inbox last week but got overlooked. You wouldn’t think it would be possible to overlook a video featuring an uprocking panda but that’s because you don’t live at Monkeyboxing Towers. I won’t go into exactly how weird living here must be for an uprocking panda to go unnoticed because the king of the potato people just told me everyone would think Iwas weird one. I don’t know if Dancefloor Outlaws are weird or not but they’ve certainly rustled up some nu-funk/ ghettofunk craziness in the form of Disco Cakes: Vol. 1 on the spanking new Disco Cakes imprint. Anyway - listen below and see Pandas doing pretty much anything except eating bamboo and refusing to mate below that – though it has to be said – I’m not sure they’re all real pandas…Gotta dash – everything just…READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

DOUBLE DOSE: A New Hope – Free download

DOUBLE DOSE: A New Hope – Free download
This sterling collabo between Brooklyn emcee Double Dose and producer Basmatibeats (a cohort of funky breakbeat commandos Mash & Munkee) should have gone up last week but sometimes the monkey’s web gimp is a bit slack. A brief spell in the house of pain (or maybe it was a brief spell of ‘having to listen to’ The House Of Pain) produced instant results from the gimp, however, and hearing A New Hope should convince you that late is better than never. You’ll find Double Dose dropping some chilli-hot rhymes (“History, epitome of victory/ Lyrically you couldn’t even diss my Mini-me/ And then a cat who really rap, God - you can have Lil Wayne, but please bring Biggie back.” while Basmatibeats has…READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

EWAN HOOZAMI: Wildebeats LP - 2010

EWAN HOOZAMI: Wildebeats LP - 2010
It’s ‘next generation’ time for the Bristol sound as rising producer Ewan Hoozami, (like Parker before him) batters on the genre’s door with his refix of the mild, mild west’s beats n’ bass heavy sonic template for the dubstep and nufunk/ ghettofunk era. Basically that means tempos are up, percussive patterns are a little more detailed, basslines go wonky and the dancefloor is invaded more times in one album than in Massive Attack’s entire back catalogue.…READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

TENSEI & THE PRIMERIDIAN (feat. Mike Flo): Full Throttle – Free download

TENSEI & THE PRIMERIDIAN (feat. Mike Flo): Full Throttle – Free download
If you caught Herma Puma’s super-chilled hip-hop LP Synchromystic earlier this year this may appeal since producer Simple X of Herma Puma is also part of Tensei. I have it on good authority that Full Throttle is a taster of a forthcoming project with Chicago’s Primeridian crew who I last heard on one of the monkey’s all time hip-hop LPs – All Natural’s Second Nature. If anything it’s a little grittier and darker than anything on Synchromystic but retains…READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

DELTRON 3030: Deltron Event II – 2010 release? – Listen to new track

DELTRON 3030: Deltron Event II – 2010 release? – Listen to new track
As previously reported on monkeyboxing, the sequel to Del The Funky Homosapien, Dan The Automator and Kid Koala’s massive underground LP, 2000’s Deltron 3030 was (in time-honoured hip-hop fashion), due out some time ago. And there still isn’t a release date. But the monkey tirelessly searches the web so you don’t have to which is why we can reliably inform you that…READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

MANMADE RECORDS: Gold Edition - 2010

MANMADE RECORDS: Gold Edition - 2010
Old funk, nufunk, ghettofunk, blue funk – Dr Seuss would have a field day as we live through the most amusing genre-name wars since the old trip-hop vs. blunted beats conflict of the mid-nineties. All that aside, Manmade celebrate their tenth release with some 24 carat action in the form of a double vinyl EP – you know that’ll be cut loud …READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

THE FUNK LEAGUE: Why You? - 2010 – Single review

THE FUNK LEAGUE: Why You? - 2010 – Single review
RATING: 5/5
Here we go – this is exactly what’s been missing – at least until the next Ugly Duckling album arrives early next year. I’ll explain, since the simple recipe seems to have become something like an elephant in the living room. Take one funky track, chop out a two-bar break and loop. Add massive drums and rappers with a rhyme that’s fly. Take to party, play loud – observe as room goes off. Christ! It’s not hard is it? The original b-boy spirit of…READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

PETE ROCK & CL SMOOTH: Win tickets to exclusive London show 12 December 2010

PETE ROCK & CL SMOOTH: Win tickets to exclusive London show 12 December 2010
I’m all about living the good life but don’t you just hate it when you go to buy tickets for a gig and they’re all sold out. I think the main ingredient of success here is to either be all over that shit the minute it comes out or to have some other kind of ‘in’. It could be that you’re on the guest list, for example. Then again – it could be that you just happen to know the answer to the question below…READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

PARRIS & VANUCCI: ‘Disco Of Love’ (The Loveboot Edit) – Free download

PARRIS & VANUCCI: ‘Disco Of Love’ (The Loveboot Edit) – Free download
By way of a post script to last week’s post about Parris & Vanucci’s forthcoming lady killer, nufunk/ disco-monster Disco Of Love EP (full details here), I feel duty bound to inform you that the boys have done a cheeky rerub of their own title track as an EP taster. Should
…READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

SAVANT of RAREBREED: The Delayed Entry EP - 2010 – Free download

SAVANT of RAREBREED: The Delayed Entry EP - 2010 – Free download
Hip-hop, hip-hop where ya been? (And when I say hip-hop, I’m referring to quality breakbeats and rhymes not some moron babbling inanities through a vocoder over what sounds a lot like a Euro-house from 1999). Well, here’s a man who knows and his name, appropriately enough, is Savant. A microphone fiend since 1999 (having been inspired by Mos Def), Savant’s The Delayed Entry EP is his debut and the evidence suggests that while he might have arrived at the party late he came correct.…READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM