MARK RONSON: ‘Bang Bang Bang’ - new single out 11 July 2010 - LISTEN

MARK RONSON: ‘Bang Bang Bang’ - new single out 11 July 2010
The forthcoming, Q-Tip-featuring single from Mark Ronson is apparently ‘Like Van Halen and The Meters had a baby’ according to Ronseal himself. …LISTEN/ READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

LET’S BOOGALOO 5 (compilation) – 2010 – Album review

LET’S BOOGALOO 5 (compilation) – 2010 – Album review
HIGHLIGHTS: Dance Man (Keisa Brown) – Funky Fire (Billy Larkin) – Spacing Out (The Invaders) - Newborn (Shade & The Jazz Destroyers)
SOUNDBITE:
RATING: 4/5
Yeah alright, so this has been out a while – bite me. Anyway, it’s not like my tardiness is entirely at odds with a compilation that was initially supposed to have been released about two years ago. In fact, last I time I checked, German modster Frank Popp was in charge of the compiling. Still, better late than never we find veteran crate-digger Jazzman Gerald has capably taken the reins and delivered a polished finished product. It does have to be said that a fair proportion of the cuts on Let’s Boogaloo Volume 5 are licensed to his label Jazzman Records, funnily enough – but then you would wouldn’t you? Some of these include super heavy funk by…READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

THE CRABS CORPORATION meets KING HAMMOND: Bring Down The Birds

THE CRABS CORPORATION meets KING HAMMOND: Bring Down The Birds – 2010 – Single review
RATING: 5/5
Argentina’s The Crabs Corporation get all irie in this top-skanking, King (ska legend) Hammond-produced version of Herbie Hancock’s Blue Note original Bring Down The Birds. That’ll be the track sampled as the basis of Dee-Lite’s…READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

PULP FUSION feat. Carolyn Vox/ FLYING FISH: Deeper In My Soul (Valique Remix)/ Mr Matatwe (Keep It Up remix) 7” – Wack Records 09

PULP FUSION feat. Carolyn Vox/ FLYING FISH: Deeper In My Soul (Valique Remix)/ Mr Matatwe (Keep It Up remix) 7” – Wack Records 09
‘King of Geordie soul’ Smoove keeps ‘em coming with the latest Wack 45 hot on the heels of his first Wass imprint release by Renegades Of Jazz. Both Pulp Fusion and Flying Fish modern-up the funk quite satisfyingly in these remixed cuts but what’s really puzzling me is the similarity between the names of Smoove’s two labels. In idle moments I’ve speculated that, maybe, just for a split second, when he was setting up a separate imprint for jazzier releases that the impulsive part of his brain considered altering the name ‘Wack’ into ‘Wazz’ (to rhyme with ‘jazz’), before thinking better of it and arriving at ‘Wass…’
(Out May 2010 on Wack Records)

(PRESS RELEASE) Wack 09:
A side: Pulp fusion Feat Carolyn Vox - Deeper In My Soul (Valique Remix)
A track that started as a collaboration on 'my space' between…READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

THE BLACK KEYS: Brothers – 2010 – Album review

THE BLACK KEYS: Brothers – 2010 – Album review
HIGHLIGHTS: Tighten Up – She’s Long Gone – Sinister Kid – Unknown Brother
SOUNDBITE: “She was made to blow you away/ She don’t care what any man says/ You can watch her strut, but keep your mouth shut”
RATING: 4/5
Continuing the ‘short’ theme of late as the monkey catches up with a backlog, today’s guest review style is that of shit, free, UK newspaper Metro. Obviously, this review is literate though…

Much has been made of the fact that for this LP the band availed themselves of the legendary soul studios at Muscle Shoals to lay down their latest delivery of scuzzy blues-fuzz. There’ll no doubt be wordy analyses of The Black Keys’ Brothers all over the interweb but why waste time suffering the pretension when it can be pithily summed up as…READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

MARK RONSON: ‘Circuit Breaker’ - video

MARK RONSON: ‘Circuit Breaker’ - video
On Thursday evening Sony mysteriously pasted the link to a post of this on Stereogum into the subject bar of an empty email to me presumably in an attempt to make it ‘go viral.’ Obviously the monkey has given the impression of being some sort of slave to the web, barely able to leave the laptop for a piss let alone go to work, then have some sort of night out followed by hangover which I’m claiming is why this hasn’t been posted for three days. Of course in the intervening time Ronson’s new video is all over the net like…READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

PHUTURE MOTION: ‘The Thief’ LP – release details

PHUTURE MOTION: ‘The Thief’ LP – release details
It seems Renegades Of Jazz might have been just the tip of the iceberg the other week as even more summer sophistication is now on offer with the imminent arrival of Phuture Motion’s The Thief. Who’s the thief? Judging by the range of influences on this – they are, as they’ve taxed aspects of just about everything from Mariachi to dubstep to create a broadly Latin-flavoured pile of musical plunder that gets the drop on lots of Latin stuff by actually having bottom end!…READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

A STATE OF MIND: Root To The Fruit – 2010 – Single review

A STATE OF MIND: Root To The Fruit – 2010 – Single review
RATING: 4/5
For reasons best known to themselves ASM have given the A-side to this the dirtiest name and the B-side the dirtiest beat. Were the B-side the A-side it would be a instant 5 stars (and god alone knows what it would be worth if it had the A-side’s title too) – but we have to take into account that it isn’t. Not that I’ll let that stand in the way of my dealing out massive props to the Derek X (ooh – my bad -Sadat X) of Brand Nubian-featuring Certified Organic which…READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

CILLA K: Fine Line LP details + Tracklist

CILLA K: Fine Line LP details + Tracklist
Two things struck me when this was dropped into my inbox. One was that Cilla Black is now no longer (thankfully) the only singing ‘Cilla.’ Secondly, it’s been ages since I heard any decent rnb – after all there was a time only a few years back when rnb (both good and bad) was as common as lazy euro-trance-inflected electro crap is now. That was until the advent of euro-trance-inflected electro crap of course. Happily Cilla K is here with some decent beats and production from N.E.R.D’s Junius Bervine that recall early Kelis/ Lauryn Hill and a voice somewhere between Erykah and that bird from Morcheeba. Plus she’s very easy on the eye. And she’s very polite. Y’know – I’m thinking you should probably check the album – I’d recommend the Drive You Home (Remix), Evil Child and especially Easy To Love - cop it to listen to HERE further details below……READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

RHYMEFEST: ‘El Che’ LP delayed till 8 June 2010

RHYMEFEST: ‘El Che’ LP delayed till 8 June 2010
It's been delayed again. The new release date is 8 June 2010 as the various parties involved engage in more wrangling than Nick Clegg in a pit of Tories…READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

GROOVOLOGISTS: Peace/ Reggae Mood

GROOVOLOGISTS: Peace/ Reggae Mood
Groovologists on the phonograph! Yup, funky French duo, djs Moar and Goodka get right back on it with a double A side 12”. P-funk/ James Brown melding mash Peace mixes up similar ingredients to Basement Freaks’ And That’s Nu Funk but puts the p-funk…READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

GOODGROOVE: Regrooved Series XI

GOODGROOVE: Regrooved Series XI
It’s refix time again and while the original versions of the tracks on here might have been around the block a few times that doesn’t prevent the dirty foursome assembled by the Goodgroove label giving them various kinds of ‘extreme makeover.’ Somehow I suspect the inspirational drug of choice during the making of these was MDMA. Except for The Captain who obviously…READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

CHIMA ANYA: ‘I’m Ill (It’s The Doctor)’ feat. Chemo

CHIMA ANYA: ‘I’m Ill (It’s The Doctor)’ feat. Chemo
Here’s a little treat in the run-up to the release (or in the wake of the release – you can already buy it off play.com) of UK rapper Chima Anya’s debut LP New Day. As you’ll hear, he’s claiming he’s ‘ill’ a lot on this with, it has to be said, a not inconsiderable amount of justification. This is just as well seeing as…LISTEN/ READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

DESSA: A Badly Broken Code – 2010 – Album review

DESSA: A Badly Broken Code – 2010 – Album review
HIGHLIGHTS: Children’s Work - Matches To Paper Dolls – Dutch – The Bullpen
SOUNDBITE: “I’m the book that beat the speed reader/ And I’m the card the dealers won’t touch/ And it’s just not true I’m a man-eater/ All the same, we should probably go dutch”
RATING: 3.5/5
As I’ve listened to The Black-Eyed Peas et al raping hip-hop’s rapidly cooling carcass over the last few years I’ve had plenty of time to consider the possible sources of some sort of miraculous regeneration of the genre - none of which include emo-rap from Minneapolis. So I was a little apprehensive when approaching this solo effort from the Doomtree collective’s Dessa. And sure enough, here were the emo lyrics, the moody, folk-y violins, and the sung rock-audience friendly hooks. In short, the overall effect was of something that could soundtrack The Ghost Whisperer or Supernatural (and for all I know, might already have done) and will probably be listened to by a graphic-novel reading demographic with a penchant for Incubus albums. The thing is though…it’s actually not that bad…READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

RENEGADES OF JAZZ: Karabine EP – Release details

RENEGADES OF JAZZ: Karabine EP – Release details
Everyone keeps trying to jazz me at the moment. No, that’s not an euphemism, it’s just that the monkey’s inbox keeps being filled (no, that’s not one either) with jazzy business – or that. And so we come to Renegades Of Jazz (i.e. David Hanke of Mash & Munkee) - the big signing to new label WASS of which the owner, king of the northern beats (i.e. Smoove of Smoove & Turrell), himself claims combines, ”jazz dance and b-boy funk to devastating effect.” The phrase ‘jazz dance’ is like a bit like a cold shower of piss…READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

DJ ANGELO: Kanye West vs. Jocelyn Brown – Gold Digger (Some Guy remix) – Free download and Video

DJ ANGELO: Kanye West vs. Jocelyn Brown – Gold Digger (Some Guy remix) – Free download and Video
Angelo weighs in with the third instalment in what he describes as his mash-up ‘hattrick’. “It’s probably one more for the ladies,” he claims in an attempt to mitigate his shameless appropriation of Jocelyn Brown’s smooth nineties rnb cut Somebody Else’s Guy, before adding, “it never fails on the dancefloor, trust me.” Normally, of course, trust is the last thing…DOWNLOAD/ WATCH/ READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

MANMADE: Blue Brothers – 2010 – Single review

MANMADE: Blue Brothers – 2010 – Single review
RATING: 4/5
Now that’s what I’m talking about! I hadn’t been feeling Manmade’s output so much recently but they slot right back in groove with these two big funky mash-ups. First they raid the Blues Brothers soundtrack in search of…READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM