THE STRIDES: Reclamation (2011) video + free download

THE STRIDES: Reclamation (2011) video + free download
When I was at school ‘strides’ were what everyone called their trousers, as in – ‘liking the strides mate.’ At least, that was if they were drainpipes – if you were wearing anything that had the slightest bit of flap in it you were clearly some sort of hippie – why else would you be wearing flares? In the intervening years a ten-piece reggae, jazz and hip-hop outfit from straight outta Sydney have reclaimed (you’ll see what I did there in a minute) the term ‘the strides’ as their band name. …READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

BOOTY FRUIT presents: Homemade Bullets Volume 3 (2011)

BOOTY FRUIT presents: Homemade Bullets Volume 3 (2011)
Homemade bullets? It’s all about the casting, the priming, the charging…the constant threat of it all blowing up in your face…Still, none of this is really an issue for Cut La Vis, El Bomba or Tonic & Funkanizer who’ve been slaving away in their audio bunkers crafting dancefloor ammunition in the shape of this digital four-tracker. …READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

JAYL FUNK: Get Down On The Floor (2011)

JAYL FUNK: Get Down On The Floor (2011)
Jayl Funk’s latest, Get Down On The Floor, is a new original funky breaks number that should keep him out of the slammer for the foreseeable future. During it JF aims to get the listener ‘down on the floor’ by making quite free with what sounds like Vernon Burch’s Get Up (all late seventies slap bass and a Cameo-style break) and adding in a bit of contemporary female vocals and some distorted guitar. That ought to work.…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

RHYMESAYERS: London Tour Stories video (2011)

RHYMESAYERS: London Tour Stories video (2011)
In which various artists on the Carhartt/ Rhymesayers tour relate why they love the Big Smoke. Or not. Slug found the bacon undercooked, Budo informs us that he’s half English and like everyone this side of the Atlantic he already drinks tea with pinkie raised and salutes the Queen while Evidence hates Heathrow but thinks the weed is pretty good. Thus it is Brother Ali alone, who sidesteps the lumbering embrace of cliché with (ironically) a tale of some drunken bumblefuck falling into the bowels of the city …READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

FROOTFUL feat. Angeline Morrison: Slowtime (2011)

FROOTFUL feat. Angeline Morrison: Slowtime (2011)
Ever wondered what Bebel Gilberto would sound like if she sang in English? Now’s your chance to found out as Nick Radford, a.k.a. Frootful, hooks up with Ambassadors Of Sorrow vocalist Angeline Morrison for a latin makeover of Colours album track Slowtime. …READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

MORLACK: Take It To The Zulu EP (2011) + video

MORLACK: Take It To The Zulu EP (2011) + video
‘Take it to the Zulu’? Wasn’t that what the British said after defeat at Isandlwana where the Zulu nation had rather unsportingly decided it didn’t want to be colonised? Coincidentally, here, we find Morlack re-injecting some much needed funk into the ‘Rourke’s Drift’ that the ‘funk’ element of ghetto funk has become of late. …READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

LOVE MUSIC: HATE RACISM/ CULT MUSIC present: Funk Against Fascism (2011)

LOVE MUSIC: HATE RACISM/ CULT MUSIC present: Funk Against Fascism (2011)
There are many reasons to reject fascism in its many forms – the one-dimensional, ‘might is right’ attitude, the staggering lack of logic in its ideological arguments and crucially – the shit music. Wagner and Skrewdriver? Christ! Enter breakbeat deejay Totalcult who (in collaboration with Love Music, Hate Racism has been marshalling the rebel forces
…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

M.O.P. & THE SNOWGOONS: Get Yours (2011) + new album ‘Sparta’ announced

M.O.P. & THE SNOWGOONS: Get Yours (2011) + new album ‘Sparta’ announced
Billy Danze and Lil Fame return on a beat with horns so massive they’re traditionally used in cinema to announce the arrival of a gargantuan threat – the materialisation of a million-strong Persian army led by a seven foot pervert on the Spartan horizon perhaps.…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

THE FUNK LEAGUE: Funky As Usual (2011)

THE FUNK LEAGUE: Funky As Usual (2011) + tracklist
I think I might move to France. The food’s better, they don’t take any shit off the government and The Funk League are from there. Formerly The Incredible Funk League, DJ/producers Hugo and Soulbrother Suspect have latterly dropped the ‘incredible,’ in a not very hip-hop downplaying of their prowess. But don’t worry – it’s the only un-hip-hop thing about this pair.…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

JERRY BEEKS & AUDIO AD: This Ain’t America Is It? (2011) Free download

JERRY BEEKS & AUDIO AD: This Ain’t America Is It? (2011) Free download
When Bronx native and genuine microphone fiend Jerry Beeks brought out his first album The Crop Report I thought, ahh yes – this man’ll go far. Said piece of wax was a cracking slice of inventive boom-bappery featuring such bangers as Falling In Love With A Stripper and The Bu Ku Dinky Dow and inspired, humorous lyricism.…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

KATALYST: Deep Impressions (2011) + tracklist

KATALYST: Deep Impressions (2011) + tracklist
“Many styles of music have made deep impressions on me,” says Oz producer Katalyst with a cavalier disregard for labouring a metaphor as he discusses his latest LP Deep Impressions which sports an image of a ‘deep impression’ in the form of what seems to be a meteor crater on its cover. Presumably, also, his intention was that this LP would make a ‘deep impression’ on audiences – so it’s just as well that it’s a rather robust fourteen track selection…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

PEOPLE UNDER THE STAIRS: Highlighter (2011)

PEOPLE UNDER THE STAIRS: Highlighter (2011)
Highlighter is People Under The Stairs’ eighth album in fourteen odd years which is going some, so they must be doing something right. For this career landmark they roped in busloads of L.A. session musicians to help out and they’re also possibly the first band to release an LP not only on vinyl (hurrah!) and cd (boo!) but 24 bit HD-AAC format (!) as well. In case you’re worried that such a forward thinking grasping of twenty-first century technology has affected their previously admirable commitment to lyrical science, predominantly feel-good samples and party-starting breaks – relax – they haven’t gone all dubstep.…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

THE ONE & NINES: Tell Me/ Make It Easy (2011)

THE ONE & NINES: Tell Me/ Make It Easy (2011)
Here’s a sweet original rnb-styled 45 from New Jersey band The One & Nines that might be of interest to anyone who caught The Excitements self-titled release earlier in the year. And if you like G Love & Special Sauce too you’ll shit when you hear the A side. Guitarist Jeff Marino’s G-style vocals aside, the uptempo Tell Me also features some nifty James Burton style fretwork and a horn section. Nuff said. …READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

OL’ DIRTY BASTARD: Return To The 36 Chambers (Deluxe Version) (2011)

OL’ DIRTY BASTARD: Return To The 36 Chambers (Deluxe Version) (2011)
ODB’s magnum opus Return To The 36 Chambers gets a re-release on the self-proclaimed ‘world’s finest online music boutique’ label Get On Down Records in deluxe, collectable, free-gift ago-go format along the lines of this imprint’s previous Arthur Russell/ Dinosaur L drop. Where the latter was all about the limited edition screen prints, among the extras on offer here are a billfold wallet, for when you ‘got your money’, and authentic copy of Dirt McGirt’s very own food stamp card, for when you ain’t.…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

DEEP STREET SOUL: ‘Look Out, Watch Out’ LP (2011) + tracklist + EPK video

DEEP STREET SOUL: ‘Look Out, Watch Out’ LP (2011) + tracklist + EPK video
RATING: 5/5
Look Out, Watch Out is the second LP from Oz band Deep Street Soul and – well – it’s pretty much the main shit when it comes to twenty-first century funk with the dirty soul of sixties grooves. It’s all about the grit see? …READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

WACK 12: S.M.O.V. & Umbo/ S.M.O.V. & Suonho (2011)

WACK 12: S.M.O.V. & Umbo/ S.M.O.V. & Suonho (2011)
Honestly – you wait ages for one and then two come at once - but that’s all that’s bus-like about Wack releases and this is no exception as Smoove follows the disco-themed Wack 11 with a tight jazz breaks/ ‘northern jazz’ type affair.…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

EVIDENCE: It Wasn’t Me (2011) – video + Cats & Dogs audio

EVIDENCE: It Wasn’t Me (2011) – video + Cats & Dogs audio
Dilated Peoples rapper Evidence releases the video to It Wasn’t Me from his just released and long-awaited Cats And Dogs LP and as you might expect the lyrics find him in some extended denial of responsibility. Texting other women besides the one he’s seeing? Tagging some building?…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

LOOPEZ & RENEGADES OF JAZZ: Jungle Haze EP (2011)

LOOPEZ & RENEGADES OF JAZZ: Jungle Haze EP (2011)
Jungle Haze? Yeah, I know all about that. I was in Sri Lanka once living on the beach by the jungle and the only haze there was the permanent cloud of pungent smoke outside the rooms of a group of Israeli surfers. And not even a strong onshore wind could shift that…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

FREQNIK & WDRE: Gang Starr Mash Appeal Hip Hop Jazz Mix feat. Fishbelly Black (2011) – Free download

FREQNIK & WDRE: Gang Starr Mash Appeal Hip Hop Jazz Mix feat. Fishbelly Black (2011) – Free download
Mash Appeal? Yep. Nothing to do with pureed potato or a Korean War-based US sitcom charity effort and everything to do with the welding of the work of jazzbo Fishbelly Black and the late, great Guru of Gang Starr by NYC production team Freqnik and WDRE…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

UGLY DUCKLING: Moving At Breakneck Speed (2011)

UGLY DUCKLING: Moving At Breakneck Speed (2011)
RATING: 5/5
Proof that three really is the magic number as Long Beach trio Ugly Duckling return with their fifth studio album Moving At Breakneck Speed. In their eighteen-or-so year career Andy C, Dizzy Dustin and Young Einstein have outlasted peers like Jurassic 5 and latterly maintained a higher worldwide profile than other West Coast underground acts they came up with like People Under The Stairs, Dilated Peoples, Foreign Legion, and Quannum as well as the further afield but musically closer DJ Format and Abdominal. In fact they give every sign of having the staying power of another goofy rap trio from even further back in the day who also released a studio LP this year……READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

CHART - October 2011

(NEW) 1. Ugly Duckling – Elevation

Three is the magic number. UD back with massive dancefloor banger">…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

ARTHUR RUSSELL (DINOSAUR L): 24>24 Music (2011)

ARTHUR RUSSELL (DINOSAUR L): 24>24 Music (2011)
Influential but underrated (at least in his own lifetime) disco visionary and eccentric arty nutter Arthur Russell’s legendary first album 24>24 Music is due for re-release this month…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

THE BAKER BROTHERS: Time To Testify (2011) + tracklist + 'Make Your Move' video

THE BAKER BROTHERS: Time To Testify (2011) + tracklist + 'Make Your Move' video
Ten years into their career and the UK’s The Baker Brothers’ seventh studio album Time To Testify is imminent. A mixture of vocal and instrumental tracks and – er – it’s jazzy…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM