J STAR & DR CAT present: Dub Zealand – 2011

J STAR & DR CAT present: Dub Zealand – 2011
It says here that the tracks on Dub Zealand, “highlight the surprising relation,” between the islands forming New Zealand and Jamaica. ‘Surprising’!? Given the Olympic quantities of weed smoked in either nation there’s little to be surprised about. Jamaican marijuana consumption is, of course, legendary but I’ve actually been to the ‘land of the long white cloud’ and they’re just as bad over there. There’s clouds all right. Of bong smoke. And where weed is, dub reggae follows. Enter dub-connoisseurs J Star and Dr Cat…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

FAB SAMPERI: Power Bossa - 2011

FAB SAMPERI: Power Bossa - 2011
Fab Samperi a.k.a. The Captain (or ‘Commander Of The Beat’ as he’s known around these parts) follows up flagship single Listen Up with the rest of his fleet of new tunes in the shape of album Power Bossa. ‘Power Bossa’? Well – as the ‘bossa’ bit implies, continuity throughout this LP comes from being rooted in the rhythms of Brazil but as the ‘power’ bit would suggest – percussion is generally rather more substantial than a little latin-jazzy cocktail shimmy and draws on both hip-hop and drum and bass for that extra kick. Talking of hip-hop…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

JOHNNYPLUSE: Laser, Lasers, We Need More Lasers – 2011 + ‘It’s Some Craic’ free download

JOHNNYPLUSE: Laser, Lasers, We Need More Lasers – 2011 + ‘It’s Some Craic’ free download
Here he is then, back once again like a renegade master – yes – it’s Irish beat assassin JohnnyPluse with new album Lasers, Lasers, We Need More Lasers - or (as it’s almost certainly destined to be known) Lasers. For those who aren’t in the know, JP is a man afflicted by ‘breaks’-ADHD – a little known disorder that I’ve just invented but which perfectly describes his clear conviction that there can never be enough breaks. So much is this the case in fact, that he can frequently be found dropping as many corkers as he convincingly squeeze into single track. Nor is he one to worry overly about (sub(genre) skipping even within a track, the only requirement, it seems, is…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

FOREIGN LEGION: Night Moves + tracklist - 2011

FOREIGN LEGION: Night Moves + tracklist - 2011
Even more delayed than the Beastie Boys Hot Sauce Committee Part 2 fellow true-schoolers Foreign Legion finally release ‘difficult third’ album, Night Moves on 12 April this year. Full-Time B-Boy was the big underground banger that broke them (in the UK at least) at the turn of the Millenium and appeared on debut LP Kidnapper Van. This was succeeded in turn by their ‘club’ album Playtight which swapped heavy old school samples and production for more up-to-date stylings along the lines of Q-Tip’s underrated Amplified LP (though FL’s rhymes were infinitely better) and then (post-departure of DJ/ Producer DJ Design), EP The Secret Knock in 2008 which found the sound of Playtight infiltrated by smoother funky cuts. And this is the territory they continue to occupy in Night Moves. In short, the new abum is built around beats awash with West Coast sunshine and seventies-style funk samples and garnished with Marc Stretch and Prozack Turner’s trademark wordsmithery…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

BEASTIE BOYS: Hot Sauce Committee Part 2 – Album release update 2011

BEASTIE BOYS: Hot Sauce Committee Part 2 – Album release update 2011
I slept on this a bit just to make sure the ‘Rolling Stones’ of rap weren’t pulling another fast one on release dates and album names but it does seem fairly certain that the next Beastie Boys proper hip-hop album is due on 3 May this year – due in no small part to the recovery of MCA from throat cancer. Just to clarify, the album is entitled Hot Sauce Committee Part 2 as opposed to the original title of Hot Sauce Committee Part 1 and has virtually identical track list originally slated for Part 1.…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

EURO CINEMA: Ten-4 – 2011

EURO CINEMA: Ten-4 – 2011
Euro Cinema? From Holland? Yeah, it’s ok - I’m referring to Euro Cinema the hammond beat band, from Holland, not the ‘Euro cinema’ ‘from Holland’ that my mate’s dad used to keep in a shoebox at the bottom of his wardrobe, if you know what I mean. What’s Hammond-y jazz funk got to do with film? It’s a ‘library music’ reference isn’t it – you know – all that ‘groovy’ sixties stuff that sound-tracked spy flicks, caper flicks, crime flicks – and well, pretty much anything that went anywhere near cinefilm or a cathode ray tube in the sixties. Clearly these boys are big fans of such funky types as…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

SAVANT (feat. Visions Of The Sun, Random, Mr Miranda & Medaforacle) (prod. by Marvel 76): State Bar AZ Cypher – 2011 – Free download

SAVANT (feat. Visions Of The Sun, Random, Mr Miranda & Medaforacle) (prod. by Marvel 76): State Bar AZ Cypher – 2011 – Free download
It’s yet another one from workaholic Tucson emcee Savant who this time invites a few of his mates around to drop a bomb-track posse cut over a beat from Marvel 76. It’s an uptempo affair, chock full of ill rhyme play with a rather interesting retro organ stabs throughout and fuzzy guitar chops on the outro. Don’t they have any TV in Arizona? The rate Savant’s putting stuff out…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

WINDMILLS: As Above, So Below – 2011 - Album review + Free download

WINDMILLS: As Above, So Below – 2011
HIGHLIGHTS:
SOUNDBITE: “Dude come and get it/ You want hip-hop the way that it was/ Then it’d be more fun to hang around instead of killing my buzz/ It’s Windmills motherfucker and we’re happy you came/ Do I expect those to front? That's the way I was raised”
RATING: 5/5
Californian producer Rex Rey has been lurking in the wings of leftfield hip-hop for a long minute now and his Windmills hip-hop/ psychedelia crossover project with Vermont emcee Framework is his most ambitious yet. While the finished LP might be leftfield hip-hop however, it’s far from being leftfield music for it has a deceptively pop sensibility throughout. The closest point of hip-hop reference is probably Edan’s Beauty And The Beat from 2005 but if Edan is Hendrix, Windmills is Love or the Byrds – it’s mellower and more…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

PHILLIP MORRIS: Lady Liberty Is Wasted – 2011

PHILLIP MORRIS: Lady Liberty Is Wasted – 2011
Hats off to Chi-town’s Phillip Morris, for avoiding such rap clichés as restyling his name to reduce at least one part to an initial and/or adding some sort of ‘street’ nickname. True, this does mean he sounds like some sort of interior designer but I suspect he’s unlikely to give a shit about that since his tongue is frequently in his cheek throughout this collection of unreleased back catalogue cuts and a few new ones.…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

LUCKY BROWN: ‘Lucky Brown’s Space Dream’ + tracklist – 2011

LUCKY BROWN: ‘Lucky Brown’s Space Dream’ + tracklist – 2011
I had a space dream once. It was after I ate some cheese that had been in the fridge a while, by mistake. I don’t know if Joel Ricci a.k.a. Lucky Brown has availed himself of the mind-expanding properties of what might best be described as very mature cheddar but his particular space dream seems to have taken him on a funky trip back to the dawn of funk. And when I say ‘dawn of funk, I mean a time when someone else with the surname Brown was experimenting with adding a heavily syncopated beat to mid-sixties soul…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

J STAR: Regulate Rock – Free download – 2011

J STAR: Regulate Rock – Free download – 2011
Back in the day Warren G and Nate Dogg were regarded as lame-ass jiggy shit in my neck of the woods. Still, time passes and you know what - Regulate still sounds like a cheesy, over-produced rnb turd. G-funk my ass. Enter reggae remixer to the stars – J – er – Star, two years ago. MB waxed lyrical about the skill and dedication required to make Regulate actually sound classy as opposed to something that the people who originally made it thought sounded classy…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

KATALYST (feat. Stephanie Mckay): Day Into Night – 2011

KATALYST (feat. Stephanie Mckay): Day Into Night – 2011
Between them Katalyst and Stephanie McKay seem to have captured the authentic atmosphere of a French summer’s evening with this sweet little number from Katalyst’s forthcoming album. Not bad for someone from Sydney and someone from New York and even weirder since it’s a slice of tremolo-guitar infused reggae soul that should probably have conjured up somewhere Jamaican or at least New World-y, especially given the cover artwork. Never mind, I’ve long given up trying to understand the vagaries of my own brain, so French summer evening it is…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

BASEMENT FREAKS: Get Down Boogie - 2011

BASEMENT FREAKS: Get Down Boogie - 2011
RATING: 5/5
A highlight from Basement Freaks’ recent Something Freaky LP and obvious choice of single, Get Down Boogie is dancefloor gold. Featuring a an infectious organ riff/ bassline double act, a Groove Is In The Heart style break (and tempo), plus (funnily enough) a big female vocal hook exhorting one to ‘Get down to the boogie,’ and referring ad infinitum to, ‘funky grooves,’ it’s a proper hands in the air number. It’s also one of an increasing number of tracks I am mentally filing in the ‘You know you’re going to have to get Serato at some point,’ section of my brain
…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

MANMADE RECORDS: Feature Funk Vol. 7 – 2011

MANMADE RECORDS: Feature Funk Vol. 7 – 2011
A game of two halves this one. The A side consists of label bosses CMC & Silenta continuing to sidestep predictability with an disco-breaks/ wobbly-bassed/ big female vox-powered cut that seems to have been formulated solely for the purpose of convincing those formerly enamoured of house music that, yes, the nu/ ghetto funk scene has something for them. I certainly didn’t expect that. Then we’ve got new boy Busta who goes a bit electro and applies some LL Cool J but seems in spirit as Majorca bound as C & S. The B-side is…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

DJ ANGELO: Turntablist On Tour mixtape – 2011

DJ ANGELO: Turntablist On Tour mixtape – 2011
DJ Angelo styles along with another classic mixtape. He cuts the music with so much class this is basically a bust in the ass for – er – well pretty much anyone else. Turntablist On Tour finds Angelo skipping across genres like a cat on hot bricks – if genres were bricks and he was a cat – which they aren’t and he isn’t but you get the picture. Also since he’s such a genre slag you’ll find him promiscously and seamlessly scratching and cutting from hip-hop to all that nufunk and ghettofunk shenanigans, taking in baile funk, dnb, dubstep, latin grooves and electro inserting all manner of bizarre soundbites inbetween…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

DJ LOVE feat Geechi Suede: Zigga Zigga – 2011

DJ LOVE feat Geechi Suede: Zigga Zigga – 2011
RATING: 5/5
Hot damn this is the best thing I’ve heard Geechi Suede on since Camp Lo dropped Black Hollywood way back in 2007! Dallas-based DJ Love shows he’s no musical cowboy with a beat that could cause a stampede on any dancefloor. It’s not that it’s particularly fast nor especially lairy, more that it’s harder to resist than a sexy Mexican maid with nothing innocent on her mind. Yes, this is a beat with more bounce to the ounce than most and that Flamenco vamp at the start deserves to become as famous as the fanfare at the start of House of Pain’s Jump Around…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

JOHNNYPLUSE: Skanky Bitch – 2011

JOHNNYPLUSE: Skanky Bitch – 2011
Don’t worry, Irish breaks merchant and Bulabeats label boss Johnnypluse isn't venting about some chick. The title of this, the second single from his forthcoming How Much For The Monkey LP is more a literal description of the track itself, ‘skanky’ in the sense of skankin’; ‘bitch’ conveying the monstrous rhythm section as in, ‘Damn! That bass is nasty!”

KRASH SLAUGHTA: Bedop EP – 2011

KRASH SLAUGHTA: Bedop EP – 2011
What with all the nufunk and ghetto funk around in the last couple of years it’s almost been like traditional funky b-boy breaks had taken a backseat on the funk-based breaks scene. Having said that, this year alone has seen big efforts from DJ Format, Hero 7 and Mash & Munkee and now Krash Slaughta – a man who was doing it in Baghdad when lots of ghetto funkers were still in their dad’s bags. In possibly the shortest press release I’ve ever seen – the Bedop EP is described as,”itchy…scratchy…and catchy,” - props to Rocstar Recordings for that one…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

TOTALCULT: Nice Disco EP – 2011

TOTALCULT: Nice Disco EP – 2011
UK-based nu/ ghetto funker Totalcult is back in the game less than two months since his Street Sounds EP this time channeling Studio 54 with a another EP that is chock full of nu-disco stylings. Disco Call is all glittery dancefloor shimmy, Nice Disco is a wide-collared, unbuttoned-to-the-chest…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

THE LIBERATORS: The Liberators LP + Rags To Riches video - 2011

THE LIBERATORS: The Liberators LP + Rags To Riches video - 2011
Record Kicks come through with a big release here in the shape of The Liberators who bring some serious afro-funk heat on their debut album The Liberators. I’m not quite sure who did the production on this but they’ve got down a pretty heavyweight sound. Consequently there’s a lot of rumble in the Liberators’ jungle – less ‘Shaft In Africa’ than ‘Shaft-right-here-in the-room-with-you. And that’s…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

DJ MUGGS: Bass For Your Face – New album update - 2011

DJ MUGGS: Bass For Your Face – New album update - 2011
Some men dump the wife and get a newer model, some men spunk their savings on what they fondly imagine is a four-wheel pussy magnet but DJ Muggs, the man behind the beat for such hip-hop classics as Cypress Hill’s Insane In The Brain, The House Of Pain’s Jump Around and Funkdoobiest’s Bow Wow Wow is making a dubstep LP. I shit you not. Yep, he’s back later in the year with Bass In Your Face a project which, despite tripping everything that can flash or beep in mid-life crisis alert central, might…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

JESSE ABRAHAM: The One Day EP + video + tracklist – 2011

JESSE ABRAHAM: The One Day EP + video + tracklist – 2011
In the grand tradition of The Beastie Boys and Third Bass, it’s…Jesse Abrahams. Who? Never mind – here is with a new EP and a banger of a single on his hands in the shape of Spiderman On Vitaminswhich comes on like a cross between the Beasties and Wretch 32’s Traktor - see vid. below after the 33 seconds footage of (what I assume is) him rapping has a lil nipper). I’ll be honest, I hadn’t heard of Jesse before this but I think it’s safe to say I might pay a little more attention…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

TOM CARUANA presents: ‘Okayplayer – The Bollywood Remake’ LP mixtape – Free download

TOM CARUANA presents: ‘Okayplayer – The Bollywood Remake’ LP mixtape – Free download
Tea Sea Records label boss, Tom Caruana, follows up and surpasses his massive Guardian/ NY Times-featured Wu-Tang/ Beatles Enter The Magical Mystery Chambers LP with Okayplayer – The Bollywood Remake. Again it’s a project in the tradition of Dangermouse’s Grey Album so you should know the drill by now – take famous hip-hop emcees - in this case the likes of Q-Tip, Black Thought, Mos Def and Common (among others), and rework their acapellas over…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

FOREIGN LEGION: ‘The Ultimate’ free download single + video + ‘Night Moves’ LP update – 2011

FOREIGN LEGION: ‘The Ultimate’ free download single + video + ‘Night Moves’ LP update – 2011
Still keeping it hotter than block parties in hell, it’s the imminent return of the FL! It says here that new FL single The Ultimate is a slow lane banger. If that seems a bit oxymoronic check Grandpa J’s woozy Asheru & Blue Black style horns-infused beat and you’ll get the picture. Marc Stretch and Prozack are back and – while I hesitate to announce much–delayed full-length LP Night Moves yet again, it is, allegedly, finally, due to drop, on…FREE DOWNLOAD/ READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

MR FANTASTIC feat. J Todd of Def Harmonic: All The Critics – 2011

MR FANTASTIC feat. J Todd of Def Harmonic: All The Critics – 2011
“All the critics love me ok, all the critics love me, all the critics love me ok…in the United Kingdom,” – runs J Todd’s cheeky chorus on All The Critics. Technically that’s the sort of arrogance that wants taking down a peg or two isn’t it? The thing is though……READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

PROSPER & BADBOE: Blow Matata EP – 2011

PROSPER & BADBOE: Blow Matata EP – 2011
Franco-Danish production dream team Prosper and Badboe return with more funky breaks goodness, here taking the form of the Blow Matata EP. Their manifesto is laid plain in the old-school vocal samples of the title track (“We gonna blow, blow, blow your speakers”) eschewing the (these days) almost inevitable…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

CHART – MAR. 2011

CHART – MAR. 2011

=1. (NEW) Dirty Dubsters (feat. Bass Nacho) – Mr Brown
Massive Marley-fied breaks booty.

=1. (NEW) Fab Samperi (feat. Jonnathan Molina) – Listen Up
Massive soul n bass cover of Gaye’s ‘Can I Get A Witness'…MORE
…LISTEN/ READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM