RAY HARRIS & THE FUSION EXPERIENCE: ‘Scaramunga’ Remix competition

RAY HARRIS & THE FUSION EXPERIENCE: ‘Scaramunga’ Remix competition
Yes, this is the second slice of jazzy action this week on monkeyboxing.com. Don’t worry - we haven’t come over all contrapuntal – this is simply a means of pointing out a way to remedy the nigh omnipresent ‘j’ word this week – to wit – supercool Italian label Record Kicks are running a remix competition. Now’s your chance to do the decent thing with Ray Harris’s Scaramunga - details below. If it was up to me I’d …READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

LOUIS LOGIC: ‘Me & Everyone You Know’ album release details + tracklist

LOUIS LOGIC: ‘Me & Everyone You Know’ album release details + tracklist
Louis Logic? I know that name – he was one half of the Odd Couple with Jay Love a few years ago. Alright…it was eight years ago. I bought a 12” by them - Pimp Shit. It was dope – let’s hope this LP kicks it like that…


(PRESS RELEASE) Underground extraordinaire, Louis Logic, returns in 2010 with a brand new full length release. After successful solo albums, "Sin-A-Matic" and "Misery Loves Comedy", the infamous 'Drunken Dragon' brings a project consisting of unadulterated and creative hip hop excursions. This 11 track album showcases
…READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

LACK OF AFRO: Special Baby 12” release details

LACK OF AFRO: Special Baby 12” release details
The Lack is back with the jazz-funkiest of cuts and I have to say I’m feeling the re-rubs a bit more as Funkshone’s Mike Bandoni adds some Hammond flourishes and P-Funky bass to the Blue Note-iness of the Special Baby original cut while DJ Flevans gets his disco on with the late-bar jazziness of Flip Beautiful Here. Even so, it’s still all a bit too jazzbo for me. Then again, I’m not a jazzbo…READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

ADIDAS: Skateboarding – Summer shoes 2010

ADIDAS: Skateboarding – Summer shoes 2010
…Well, I presume they’re the summer range anyway for, despite being in the same hemisphere as monkeyboxing, Adidas’ notion of the seasons seems a bit out of kilter with…well…with anyone else’s as they’re always a season ahead. Not that I’m complaining you understand…READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

K-OS: I Wish I Knew Natalie Portman – 2010 – Single review

K-OS: I Wish I Knew Natalie Portman – 2010 – Single review
RATING: 1/5
For the last half decade the faithful have wandered (and wondered) lost through the sterile, largely funk-free desert which the realm of hip-hop has become, beset by the evil ketamine-fed dubstep hordes and occasionally crossing paths with isolated and dwindling numbers of defenders of the truly phat flame. Sadly…READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

DEEP STREET SOUL: Straighten Out feat. Randa Khamis 12” – 2010 – Single review

DEEP STREET SOUL: Straighten Out feat. Randa Khamis 12” – 2010 – Single review
RATING: 4/5
Australia’s garage funkers take the final cut from recent LP Deep Street Soul (which comes on like a kind like a garage-ey Meters) and invite Randa Khamis (of Randa And The Soul Kingdom fame) to get all vocal on their ass. There’s no doubting that Ms Khamis’ pipes are in full working order and she’s got all the requisite scream and power although…READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

THE BLACK KEYS: Brothers LP release details + tracklist + listen to ‘Tighten Up’

THE BLACK KEYS: Brothers LP release details + tracklist + listen to ‘Tighten Up’
Scuzzy, groovy blues rock on the way alert! Despite the apparent lack of an official internet press release, the last few weeks have seen details trickling out about a new Black Keys LP and then suddenly this week, Zane Lowe gets his hands on album track Tighten Up…LISTEN/ READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

PHAROAHE MONCH: W.A.R. LP to get summer 2010 release

PHAROAHE MONCH: W.A.R. LP to get summer 2010 release
Elsewhere, Monch has described the forthcoming WAR as, “a throw back to 1993, 94 hip hop.” Let’s hope that means along the lines of his solo debut Internal Affairs and less like the disorganised confusion of styles on last LP Desire which mixed up the odd banger with tedious rnb folly…READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

INNEREYEFULL: Blunted Soul EP - Free download

INNEREYEFULL: Blunted Soul EP
Innereyefull isn’t on Mo Wax but he would have been if he’d made this in 1994. The Blunted Soul EP finds Inneryefull dropping grooves like Krush (as in DJ) rather than krush-groovin’ like say, Kurtis Blow. For the uninitiated that means the breaks for rolling rather than breaks for breaking – if you catch my drift. Reminds me of relaxing in the sun back in the day when there were proper summers – y’know – a time before DJ Shadow was well-known and Massive Attack made good music.…READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

QUASAMODO: Bollywood Man EP feat. MC Coppa – 2010 – EP review

QUASAMODO: Bollywood Man EP feat. MC Coppa – 2010 – EP review
RATING: 5/5
The funky breaks scene has been getting so cheesy recently you could serve it up on crackers at the end of a dinner party - so it’s Quasamodo and MC Coppa to the rescue with a little help from Basement Freaks new label Bombastic Jam with the Bollywood Man EP. Despite Coppa’s claiming “I’m a Bollywood man with Bollywood plans/ Got Bollywood fans who do the weird dancing with their hands” the EP, perhaps unexpectedly, is not a cue for loads of bhangra-fuelled antics but an excuse to offload the biggest funky breaks banger so far this year. The wah-wah toting original mix would take the gold medal were it not topped by the Basement Freaks remix horns-fest which doesn’t so much strike you as a good track as prance around shouting “Get me - I’m the shit!’ With considerable justification. Yep it’s yet another full marks - looks like this spring is better than last for beats and rhymes. I know how my next set’s going to finish.
(Out 16 March on Bombastic Jam)
…READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

FUNKSHONE: Soul Survivor – 2010 – Single review
RATING: 5/5
Funkshone (ably assisted by singer Chris Wilson’s authentic 24 carat vocals) here deliver an impression of soulful seventies funk so convincing that it could easily be mistaken for a long slept-on 45 from Atlantic Records’ basement. It’s not of course and despite…READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

SWOLLEN MEMBERS: European Tour dates announced and Greatest Hits Video Blog released

SWOLLEN MEMBERS: European Tour dates announced and Greatest Hits Video Blog released
Yes – you can now watch the best bits of Swollen Members on video. This is obviously not a porn reference - please note the use of a proper noun indicated by the capital S and M. Actually, on reflection taking careful note of S and M makes things sound worse rather than better. Fuck it - watch all the S& M and porn that you like – or go really large and watch S&M porn for all I care – just take note that Vancouver’s biggest hip-hop act have got new shit going on…READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

EASTER SUNDAY BASS FESTIVAL: Feat. Nightmares On Wax + The Trojan Sound System – WIN FREE ENTRY FOR 2

EASTER SUNDAY BASS FESTIVAL: Feat. Nightmares On Wax + The Trojan Sound System – WIN FREE ENTRY FOR 2
You know that feeling when there’s a proper bass-y sound system going off and you’re all a bit – “Damn! I can feel that in my chest! Look at those parked cars moving down the road because of the vibration?” Yeah? Just wanted to check because that’s what’s on offer here and you can get your bad ass (and someone else of your choice’s bad ass) in for free at Camden’s Koko to see Nightmares On Wax, The Trojan Sound System, Dub Pistols and Smerins Anti-Social Club on 4th April if you can just lift your weed-hindered hands enough to google the answer to the question below. Obviously I don’t expect anyone to actually know the answer any more. What’s the point in having a memory when you can just get catatonic on the chronic and tap up google instead? Anyway – here’s that question:…READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

RHYMEFEST: ‘El Che’ LP release details update + tracklist

RHYMEFEST: ‘El Che’ LP release details update + tracklist
Read the latest 411 on Kanye’s ghost writ- er I mean collaborator Rhymefest and his new album below. It’s actually not a wildly different press release to the last ‘El Che LP release details’ post on monkeyboxing.com for the reason that the wording is almost identical but at least this time you get a tracklist…READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

T BIRD & THE BREAKS: Monkey In The Trees – 2010 – Single review

T BIRD & THE BREAKS: Monkey In The Trees – 2010 – Single review
RATING: 5/5
Back in the 1950s there was none of that ‘throw a couple of singles and twelve slices of filler together and call it an LP business.’ The single was king. Now, thanks to the internet and downloading the star of the single is waxing again. Of course, if you’re just going to put singles out it can’t just be any old shit that got crapped out to fill ‘album obligation contracts’ – no - you’re going to have to work hard. Presumably not feeling challenged enough by these circumstances, Texan funk band T Bird & The Breaks are now…READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

THE BAMBOOS: 4 – 2010 – Album review + Free download "Like Tears In Rain"

THE BAMBOOS: 4 – 2010 – Album review
HIGHLIGHTS: On The Sly – You Ain’t No Good – King’s Cross - The Ghost – Up On The Hill - Got To Get It Over
SOUNDBITE:
RATING: 4.5/5
While Australian band The Bamboos seem to have struggled with an album name for this one they have, as usual, had considerably less trouble with the funk. Keen perusers of this site may have noticed the massive big-ups that On The Sly a.k.a. the first single (and also the first track) from this, The Bamboos fourth studio LP, has been getting over the last couple of months. And rightly so, for it is a massive slinky funk beast featuring the band’s secret weapon in the form of sultry vocalist Kylie Auldist who sings on most of the best tracks on 4. On The Sly is the highlight among highlights but also on offer is…DOWNLOAD/ READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

DJ ANGELO: Jay Z vs. Fine Young Cannibals - 99 Problems (‘Crazy Cannibal’ mix – Free download + Video

DJ ANGELO: Jay Z vs. Fine Young Cannibals - 99 Problems (‘Crazy Cannibal’ mix – Free download + Video
DJ Angelo follows up his Monie Love/ Dizzee Rascal mash with this cheeky splicing of the biggest wallet in hip-hop and the finest widow’s peak in the whole of 80s pop. The result is that 99 Problems becomes funkier and She Drives Me Crazy gets more of an edge - though it’s probably safe to say…DOWNLOAD? WATCH VID./ READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM