TOTALCULT vs. LEBROSK: Dope Horn EP – 2011

TOTALCULT vs. LEBROSK: Dope Horn EP – 2011
I had the dope horn once…but let’s talk about this cheekily titled EP which is all set to give the nu funk scene the Pot Noodle horn. Basically, Lebrosk gives King Bee’s old school hip-hop single Back By Dope Demand a damn good seeing to while TotalCult gets busy on a track I should definitely know but can only remember having been sampled by Ugly Duckling…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

RENEGADES OF JAZZ: Moo Juice EP – 2011

RENEGADES OF JAZZ: Moo Juice EP – 2011
Stand aside fusion bores and chin-stroking poseurs, Renegades Of Jazz is back with a new single! Moo Juice is yet more gold-top goodness from David Hanke whose ability to combine jazz samples and heavyweight breakbeats without sounding all wanky/ noodly is near supernatural. Lighter on it’s feet than the music of ‘Daisy Age’ hip-hop but with just as substantial a bottom end, the ROJ sound is to jazz fusion what breakdancing is to ‘jazz hands’ prancing and belies the ‘northern jazz’ tag applied to it…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

DEAD PREZ: Live @ The Garage – London - 25 May, 2011

DEAD PREZ: Live @ The Garage – London - 25 May, 2011
What’s bigger than Dead Prez’s track hip-hop? As far as Dead Prez are concerned, not much, since they’re still largely known for their one big hit from eleven years ago. Could it be because rappers M-1 and Stic.man sound like a motorway and a book by the creator of the Gruffalo respectively? Perhaps their anti-record label stance held them back? Never mind. Now that the music industry’s having to climb it’s own greasy pole of illegal online downloads whilst receiving an energetic buggering from programs that …READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

THE BEEKEEPERS: ‘Apiculture’ preview + audio snippets - 2011

THE BEEKEEPERS: ‘Apiculture’ preview + audio snippets - 2011
RATING: 5/5
Bristol beat luminaries Boca 45 and Parker finally make good on their promise to deliver a full length album, Apiculture, in the wake of this year’s moody Ascending Change EP and their debut party-banger effort the Bee Funk EP from the end of the year before. As you might expect the LP is packed to the gills with offerings of both kinds (i.e. moodiness and party-bangers) …READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

BEASTIE BOYS: Hot Sauce Committee Part 2 – Album review + Audio – 2011

BEASTIE BOYS: Hot Sauce Committee Part 2 – 2011
It's a couple of years late but the Beasties are finally back. Is there anyone else who's been in the hip-hop game as long as they have who still garners this much hype on the eve of a release? To date they haven’t released a single duff hip-hop album and their last hip-hop release (2005’s To The 5 Boroughs) was a superb effort. On the other hand

BIG M PRODUCTIONS: Big M Bootie Vol. 10 – 2011

BIG M PRODUCTIONS: Big M Bootie Vol. 10 – 2011
Big Mick goes big in every way on the latest bootleg bomb from his very own label here giving Jimi, Lulu, Bob Seger and Shirley Ellis the breakbeat workover they always wanted but were too shy to ask for. Hendrix is ushered towards the Balearic big club arena (a la recent offerings from rival stable Manmade Recordings) by the beat on Watchtower (no, really), Lulu and Bob feel…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

QWEL & MAKER feat. Scud One: Megaphone (Herma Puma remix) – 2011

QWEL & MAKER feat. Scud One: Megaphone (Herma Puma remix) – 2011
Typically more relaxed than a stoner’s duvet-day, production duo Herma Puma bring their mellow-hop aesthetic to Qwel & Maker’s Scud One-featuring Megaphone track and, in doing so, transform the Chi-town underground sound to some sort of ATCQ-inflected Chill-town underground sound.…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

GRAND SLAM: Lifetimers For The Funk – 2011

GRAND SLAM: Lifetimers For The Funk – 2011
I’ll be the first to admit that if someone told me they’d heard a new single from a German band who’d been around since 1985, I’d be a bit worried. It’s not an issue of nationality, or even longevity, you understand – more the fear that a German band formed in the middle of the devil’s decade sounding like The Scorpions or worse, Munchener Freiheit. Not to worry though, Grand Slam play funk. Also, while they might have formed in ’85, round their way it’s always 1975.…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

JOE DRISCOLL: Mixtape Champs (MR BENN ‘Nod To The Creator’ mix) – 2011 – Free download 26 April

JOE DRISCOLL: Mixtape Champs (MR BENN ‘Nod To The Creator’ mix) – 2011 – Free download 26 April
RATING: 5/5
Personally, I would have paid cold cash money for this on a slice of wax since Mr Benn has once again delayed his own solo LP to apply his boom-skankin Midas touch to folksy-roots-hopper Joe Driscoll’s original. However, in the words of Mr Benn himself, “Just got the word from Joe D, this is gonna be released on 26th April and even better, it’s gonna be given away absolutely free.” Free yes, but alas, digital-only wax heroes! Ironic really, seeing as…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

RAY LUGO & THE BOOGALOO DESTROYERS: Swingy Boogaloo + Mi Watusi Album update - 2011

RAY LUGO & THE BOOGALOO DESTROYERS: Swingy Boogaloo + Mi Watusi Album update - 2011
Ray Lugo reboots El Gran Combo’s bugalu classic (the imaginatively-titled) El Gran Combo’s Boogaloo with his own lyrics, simultaneously channelling his inner Tito Puente and bringing to mind all those NuYorican compilations from Soul Jazz Records. It’s the sort of thing that, wherever you are, has the power to evoke too-hot summers in the latin-quarter, where vandalised fire hydrants shower Jose Public like there’s no manana and hot-panted Latin Ladies gyrate to the groove until…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

FOREIGN LEGION: (EXCLUSIVE interview) The Official Monkeyboxing Fireside Chat (Part 2 of 3) – 2011

FOREIGN LEGION: (EXCLUSIVE interview) The Official Monkeyboxing Fireside Chat (Part 2 of 3) – 2011
I saw a billboard advert for deodorant in Canada once. The slogan was, “So dry, people will think you are British.” It’s an epithet which could equally apply to Foreign Legion in this, the second part of a triple interview (part 1 HERE) which monkeyboxing attempted to conduct with those ‘intangible emcees’ Prozack Turner and Marc Stretch. I say ‘attempted’ since they were continually out of their seats, did not listen to a word I said and demonstrated a flagrant disregard for serious answers…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

VAST AIRE: ‘Nomad’ video + Vast Aire producer competition – 2011

VAST AIRE: ‘Nomad’ video + Vast Aire producer competition – 2011
This’ll be the video to the Nomad single that the press release included in yesterday’s post about Aire’s new album Ox 2010: A Street Odyssey lauded as ‘reminiscent of Cannibal Ox but will hit you harder.’ The same press release, incidentally, that said video wasn’t actually available with. Not to worry, the vast (sorry) underground hip-hop marketing machine rumbles onward down the internet superhighway like some gargantuan haycart, wisps of publicity blowing randomly hither and thither and today (from a different publicity source) we do have the video to Nomad…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

GUITAR RAY: Funky Pete Pts 1 & 2 (45 re-issue) – 2011

GUITAR RAY: Funky Pete Pts 1 & 2 (45 re-issue) – 2011
More original funk 45 filth courtesy of Tramp Records. Funky Pete Parts 1 and 2 is the forthcoming repress of the 1967 cut by Guitar Ray a.k.a. Raymond Washington to his mum. It contains almost as much in the way soul horns as it does scratchy funk guitar and is a timely reminder that no matter how hard twenty-first century middle class white boys and girls try (with a few exceptions) it is no easy thing to reproduce the sound of black America in the sixties. Part 1 will also feature on the forthcoming Tramp Records compilation Feeling Nice and both will be released around the same time which should be early summer. Which will give you time to practice your ‘camel walk’ won’t it?
…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

TAKE: Neon Beams (Tensei remix) – 2011 – free download

TAKE: Neon Beams (Tensei remix) – 2011 – free download
Tensei do the decent thing with Take’s ‘futurebeats’ bleepfest Neon Beams doping it up with a fat, rolling, (very) uptempo breakbeat, and generally bringing the darkness on the original’s ethereal sounding ass.…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

DAN WILDE: Funk Break Format – 2011

DAN WILDE: Funk Break Format – 2011
It’s sometimes tricky when writing about funky breakbeat music because you have to be careful not to overuse the words ‘funk’ and ‘break’ so Mr Wilde gets the gasface for the extra challenge presented by the title of this EP. Having said that, it’s difficult to escape the fact that what Wilde provides here is a melting pot of funk and breaks staples and hip-hop vocals mashed-up and edited to within an inch of their lives. Far from sounding tired…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

VAST AIRE: Ox 2010: A Street Odyssey - 2011 – Album release details

VAST AIRE: Ox 2010: A Street Odyssey - 2011 – Album release details
There might still be no sign (or likelihood) of a new Cannibal Ox album in the near future but CanOX rapper and co-founder Vast Aire returns at the end of May with his solo follow-up to 2008’s Deuces Wild LP. This notwithstanding, other CanOx rapper Vordul will actually be making an appearance on Ox 2010 along with Cappadonna, Raekwon and Guilty Simpson, who also all got invited along to the party. It says here, ‘debut video “Nomad” is reminiscent of Cannibal Ox but will hit you harder,’ so if that’s true expect…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

BEASTIE BOYS: Hot Sauce Committee – Video trailer + Make Some Noise – listen to full track

BEASTIE BOYS: Hot Sauce Committee – Video trailer + Make Some Noise – listen to full track
“The next millennium we’ll still be old school!” Never a truer word spoken. Beasties just let loose this trailer featuring Will Ferrell, Jack Black, and Steve Buscemi (among others) for their forthcoming half-hour film. Plus you can now
…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

DJ SHEPDOG: Rolling In The Dub – free download - 2011

DJ SHEPDOG: Rolling In The Dub – free download - 2011
“I thought Adele's "Rolling In The Deep" vocal would sound even better over some classic dancehall,” says Shepdog of his recent booty. Oh what? Better than over some MOR rock backing-track that says ‘safe’ better than a fucking banker’s bonus when there’s a Tory government in power? Yes, yes, bastard yes, a billion times better than that. …READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

DIZRAELI & THE SMALL GODS: Million Miles – free download - 2011

DIZRAELI & THE SMALL GODS: Million Miles – 2011
If you’ve been missing UK folk-hop in the hiatus occasioned by the lack of anything from either Dizraeli or, say, Tom Caruana’s alter-ego Tom Bombadeal in the last couple of years, fear not, for the Diz is back leading the vanguard of the beardy beats brigade. This new single from Dizraeli and crew The Small Gods (and when I say ‘crew’ I imagine more of a village gathering) has got some trippy lyrics about, “love in a time of madness,” (which is what you get when you home-brewed real ale and potent scrumpy) from our hoarse-voiced (something else you get when you mix home-brewed real ale and potent scrumpy) hero. It also…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

DIRTY DUBSTERS: Queens Of Reggae EP – 2011

DIRTY DUBSTERS: Queens Of Reggae EP – 2011
Dirty Dubsters present us with a brace of reggae queens and I don’t mean in the flamboyant-dress-broad-shoulders-adam’s-apple-covers-of-Bob-Marley sense. Nope, more in the none mo’ dutty dancehall ruling, all-woman pairing of Whandah The Dainty Queen and Chantelle Ernandez. Don’t mess! Two royal slices of reggae heat then – first up the hip-hop skank of Need To Leave You where Whandah basically tells her presumptious bloke to ‘step’ and secondly the more soulful/ rnb ting that is One Day. Blend Mishkin goes…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

SMOOVE presents: Mo’ Record Kicks Act II

SMOOVE presents: Mo’ Record Kicks Act II
In which Smoove presides over what is looking all set to become Record Kicks’ third regular compilation series alongside the Let’s Boogaloo and Soulshaker efforts. You’d have thought the king of neo-northern soul and jazz’s schedule of being an international superstar DJ playboy, running record labels Wack and Wass, remixing all-and-sundry and his own project with smoky-voiced legend John Turrell would be quite enough to have on your plate but apparently Smoove’s plate is considerably bigger than average.…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

DJ SOLO: Who Is Wriggly Scott? EP – 2011

DJ SOLO: Who Is Wriggly Scott? EP – 2011
Who is Wriggly Scott? Apparently he's the alter ego of DJ Solo. Who is DJ Solo? Tempting as it is to answer 'he's the alter ego of Wriggly Scott,' it seems, according to the press release, that he's a big in Dubai on the hip-hop scene. What do you mean you didn't know there was a hip-hop scene in Dubai? So many questions, so few answers. Basically, ex-pat UK scratch DJ Neil Andrew has found an unlikely niche in the middle east. He hasn’t fucked about either, having managed to share a stage with the likes of Jazzy Jeff, Nitin Sawhney, Cash Money and DJ Format, (among others) in his time there. On this release he manages to team up and get his head nod on with some big hitters from both the US and the UK (J-Live and Foreign Beggars' Orifice Vulgatron)…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

KRAAK & SMAAK: Call Up To Heaven – 2011

KRAAK & SMAAK: Call Up To Heaven – 2011
I have read that Kraak & Smaak’s name is not a jokey drugs reference but a reference to a Dutch proverb meaning ‘crunchy and tasty,’ which puts me in mind of those well-known English colloquialisms ‘coke and dope’ and ‘speed and weed’ meaning, ‘are you taking the piss?’ and ‘I might not speak Dutch but that doesn’t mean I believe you,’ respectively. There’s no doubting ‘Call Up To Heaven’ on the other hand which is straight-up mid-tempo populist breakbeat soul-funk.…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

FOREIGN LEGION: (Exclusive interview) The Official MonkeyBoxing Fireside Chat (Part 1 of 3)

FOREIGN LEGION: (Exclusive interview) The Official MonkeyBoxing Fireside Chat (Part 1 of 3)
West Coast hip-hop legends Foreign Legion made a stir on the international hip-hop scene with Full Time B-Boy back in 1999. With the release of much-delayed third album Night Moves imminent and (allegedly) an accompanying movie of the same name (the content of which one blushes to think about given the band’s connections with porn queen Adriana Sage), monkeyboxing.com thought it was high time to offer Legionnaire emcees Marc Stretch and Prozack Turner a chance to talk about their new long player…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM