MEDISON feat. Skrein – Harry release details + video

MEDISON feat. Skrein – Harry release details + video
Up-and-coming producer Medison delivers a respectably well-produced slice of downtempo hip-hop melancholia here that turns on an attractive acoustic guitar riff/ helium vocal hook and features a slightly ridiculous tale of love courtesy of emcee Skrein. It would seem that poor miserable skater boy Harry never really gets it on with the ladies but finally falls head over heels with the gorgeous Misha. Who he then finds out (would you Adam and Eve it?) is an ‘erotic dancer’. Does Harry a) promptly shout, “Waheyyy! Guess what boys?” b) dump the bitch ‘cuz he ain’t getting’ wit no slag’ or c) acknowledge that his missus might be doing this as a consequence of an abusive upbringing/ low self-esteem and respond sensitively? Does he fuck. The correct answer is d) he…READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

BIG PIMP JONES – ‘Hanging With Roscoe’ b/w ‘Jump Up, Turnaround Popcorn’ - new 45

BIG PIMP JONES – ‘Hanging With Roscoe’ b/w ‘Jump Up, Turnaround Popcorn’ - new 45
Yep it’s more Philly-funk-from-flicks-that-never-flew time. Those with previous experience of the band will know it’s always 1971 in Big Pimp Jones’ house but that doesn’t stop them trying to prove it. Close your eyes and you’ll be whisked into the arms of a couple of dusky beauties clad in little more than skimpy bikinis, who tote sun-light blocking afros and pump-action shotguns while dudes with names like Shuggy and Bumpy try and shoot your bitch ass because…LISTEN/ READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

RENEGADES OF JAZZ – ‘Cascade’ released September 2010

RENEGADES OF JAZZ – ‘Cascade’ released September 2010
I hate scat and when I say ‘scat’ I refer to the jazz style of singing and not those coprophagic pornos that that bloke at school who smelt of jizz used to go on about. Come to think of it - I ain’t even too keen on jazz - so I was surprised (and I can’t believe I’m going to say this) to find myself appreciating a track containing both jazz and scat. That and the fact that it contains…READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

CELPH-TITLED & BUCKWILD – ‘Nineteen Ninety Now’ album release details + tracklist + listen links

CELPH-TITLED & BUCKWILD – ‘Nineteen Ninety Now’ album release details + tracklist + listen links
Nineteen Ninety Now finds Army Of The Pharaohs cohort Celph-Titled spitting contemporary verse over some slept-on ‘90s beats from D.I.T.C. producer Buckwild. Hence the name. Get it? It’s no news that much of what passes for hip-hop these days is far from great, so going forward to the past is certainly one solution. The question will be whether this resurrects nineties glory or nineties folly and with only a backpack’s width to play with there’s little margin forever. These two should give you some flavour however…LISTEN/ READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

PROTOMAN – Crazy – Free download

PROTOMAN – Crazy – Free download
He might be an emcee from Florida but he’s no Flo Rida. Yep, Protoman’s on a Ugly Duckling/ Foreign Legion tip again with Crazy - essentially a big fat bassline, a simple breakbeat and our hero sensitively exploring the fine line between love and darkly psychotic obsession.…READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

EVIDENCE – ‘To Be Continued…’ video + ‘Cats & Dogs’ Lp update

EVIDENCE – ‘To Be Continued…’ video + ‘Cats & Dogs’ Lp update
Rapper/ producer Evidence of Dilated Peoples has been keeping himself busy recently by signing up to Rhymesayers for his forthcoming solo LP Cats & Dogs, and you can cop the – er – evidence of his hard work in the shape of the video for his first single To Be Continued below. Mind you, I say ‘hard work’, but the man appears to have interpreted this as ‘recite one of my rhymes whilst…WATCH VIDE./ READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

SISTER HENRY & THE PRESCRIPTIONS: He’s So Fine EP – 2010

SISTER HENRY & THE PRESCRIPTIONS: He’s So Fine EP – 2010
RATING: 4/5
Having diagnosed a distinct drop in the amount of decent new funk (and that’s ‘new’ funk not nufunk) in your ears this year, Sister Henry & The Prescriptions offer up some aural medicine in the form of this three tracker. Funky mod-style rnb on a sixties tip, Sister Henry sings it like she’s Dusty, and the band keep up admirably. He’s So Fine is the is theREAD THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

ANDY TAYLOR: Bank Of Panama – 2010 - 7” single review

ANDY TAYLOR: Bank Of Panama – 2010 - 7” single review
RATING: 5/5
Austria’s Resense label ought to be renamed ‘See sense’ for this one which, as far as the monkey is aware is a long overdue second vinyl release for the criminally under-exposed Andy Taylor - Smoove’s Wack label having been the first toREAD THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

THE TRANSATLANTICS: LP release date + tracklist

THE TRANSATLANTICS: LP release date + tracklist
Another funk/ soul outfit from Australia, but unusually not from Melbourne. Adelaide's The Transatlantics have backed Marva Whitney, shared a stage with Eddie Bo, and been described by the NME as, “a young, white Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings.” Mighty associations and an equally mighty quote – though that last is a bit of a double-edged sword since
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THE APPLES: ‘Kings’ LP release details + tracklist

THE APPLES: ‘Kings’ LP release details + tracklist
Anyone who has heard what is probably The Apples’ best-known track (i.e. their instrumental cover of Rage Against The Machine’s Killing In The Name) will know what to expect from this – namely scratchy, jazz-inflected breaknology. This time around the ‘four-turntables and no microphones (but lots of instruments!)’ crew hook up with former James Brown cohort, Fred Wesley andREAD THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

GRINNY GRANDAD: Good Girl (A Skillz remix) 7” – 2010 – Single review

GRINNY GRANDAD: Good Girl (A Skillz remix) 7” – 2010 – Single review
RATING: 5/5
In which A Skillz transforms the somewhat innocent original into a rather more naughty slice of brassy, beat-heavy funk, mainly by speeding it up by 10 bpm or so and adding a bigger drums. Neither factor detracts from singer Kymberley Kennedy’s Aguilera-esque vocal and both render the track guaranteed dancefloor artillery. The fact thatREAD THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

BIG M PRODUCTIONS: Banging Artists Vol. 6

BIG M PRODUCTIONS: Banging Artists Vol. 6
RATING: 3.5/5
It’s ‘Volume 6’ o’clock in Nufunk land at the minute and Big M beat Manmade Records to the draw through the simple fact that this is already out. Funnily enough Manmade label bosses CMC & Silenta turn up on the first track on which they give Papa Was A Rolling Stone a disco-breakin makeover. Then you’ve got Breakbeat Junkie throwing a multitude of ingredients into the nufunk melting pot and Hayz feeding beat steroids to the Happy Mondays. So far, so nufunk by numbers. HappilyREAD THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

MANMADE RECORDS: Feature Funk Vol. 6

MANMADE RECORDS: Feature Funk Vol. 6
And I thought August was supposed to be a slack month for music. You know how it is – artists and the public alike off at festivals indulging in free love and expensive drugs (if not expensive love and free drugs) and nobody seeing any point in releasing anything until September restores sanity. Apparently not this August though for Manmade deliver volume 6 of their ongoing Feature Funk series and its another good-time, floor-filling package of bootlegs from the cheesier end of the nu-funk spectrum. What you get is hands-in-the-air, big-club breakbeat restylings of Hit The Road Jack, The Velvelettes He Was Really Saying Something, a very cheeky use of The Mohawks Beat Me Til I’m Blue by CMC & Silenta plus a frankly Brie-tinged (or similarly aromatic Lithuanian equivalent) appropriation of Deep Purple’s Smoke On The Water…READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

MARK RONSON & THE BUSINESS INTNL: ‘Record Collection’ LP release details + tracklist

MARK RONSON & THE BUSINESS INTNL: ‘Record Collection’ LP release details + tracklist
You must have heard the Q-Tip/ MNDR-featuring Bang, Bang, Bang by now so you’ll know that Ronseal has dumped his brass section. Yep, he’s all about the keyboards this year so it looks like he’s poised to do for the eighties synthesiser what Versions did for the horns. Make of that what you will - one can only speculate what instrument he will turn his attentions to next. In the meantime expect a cast of collaborators more star-studded than a Royal Variety Performance (including Ghostface Killah and Boy George), some breakbeats and a lot of noises that make you think it’s 1984 again.READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM