BK ONE: Tema Do Canibal EP feat. Doom (2011)

BK ONE: Tema Do Canibal EP feat. Doom (2011)
DJ/ Producer BK One, known to many as ‘Brother Ali’s tour DJ’, arranges no fewer than six reprises of one of the tracks from his highly-regarded 2009 LP Radio Do Canibal. It’s what you might regard as cannibalisation of a track from an album which itself salutes Brazilian music’s ability to cannibalise other culture’s music for it’s own dancefloor ends. And there’s no doubting the dancefloor credentials of this here nugget as…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

APATHY: Honkey Kong LP release details + tracklist (2011)

APATHY: Honkey Kong LP release details + tracklist (2011)
Did you hear about the difference between Donkey Kong and Honkey Kong? The first was a game that showed an ape on a platform while the other is a platform for Apathy to show he’s got game. Yeah alright, not brilliant, but no worse than the title of an album that is the third solo outing for the artist who created it. Well, I say ‘solo’ – he’s brought most of his mates along and, with any luck, it’ll be every bit as good as 2009’s Wanna Snuggle which yielded the excellent B-Real-featuring single Shoot First. And when I say ‘mates’, I’m talking about people like DJ Premier, DJ Muggs and Ill Bill…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

MC ADAD: ‘PS…I’m Next’ mixtape promo video (2011)

MC ADAD: ‘PS…I’m Next’ mixtape promo video (2011)
MC ADaD provides further proof, as if it were needed, that hip-hop is alive and well in 2011 with this promo for his forthcoming mixtape P.S…I’m Next due in September and featuring production from (among others) Waajeed, Exile, Illmind, Tensei, Ta-Ku (Australia), and ADaD himself. Featuring the Tensei-produced track It’s Mine, the vid depicts the aforementioned emcee being cruelly awoken from his peaceful rapper slumber…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

HARVEY K-TEL: Ranking In The Deep (2011)

HARVEY K-TEL: Ranking In The Deep (2011)
RATING: 5/5
I had a rank in the deep once. It was nearly as good as this. And by ‘this’ I mean the latest effort from the man named Harvey K-Tel. Like one DJ Shepdog before him, K-Tel works his mash-up magic with a certain Adele acapella but substitutes Sly & Robbie for something a little more upbeat and rocksteady – sounds a bit like an old number by The Jamaicans. And what do you know? This refix is just as good…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

LACK OF AFRO FEAT. WAYNE GIDDENS: A Time For b/w Numero Seenko (2011)

LACK OF AFRO FEAT. WAYNE GIDDENS: A Time For b/w Numero Seenko (2011)
If 6 was 9…if the mountains fell into the sea…if A on this was B…None of those things are so but it is true that Adam ‘Lack Of Afro’ Gibbons’ has actually done something I really like. Unfortunately it’s the B-side though, so I will do my level best to see that Numero Seenko gets its dues right here. It’s not that the Wayne Gidden-featuring A-side, A Time For is bad. Gidden’s Jay Kay meets Marvin Gaye vibe teamed with Gibbons’ sax-and-seventies-piano-powered soul groove is a proper coffee-table/ dinner-party botherer.…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

BASEMENT FREAKS: Makes Me Wanna Scream (2011)

BASEMENT FREAKS: Makes Me Wanna Scream (2011)
What could make Basement Freaks a.k.a. George Fotiadis want to scream? The parlous state of the Greek economy? Possibly – but the cause is more likely to be delight as he is swarmed, Lynx-advert style, by semi-clad females in response to the Prince/ P-funk/ ghetto funk combo vibe of Makes Me Wanna Scream…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

CMC & SILENTA: Feature Breaks Vol 1 (2011) + 'Blue Brothers' free download

CMC & SILENTA: Feature Breaks Vol 1 (2011) + 'Blue Brothers' free download
Feature Breaks Volume 1 sees Manmade Records label owners CMC & Silenta inaugurate the new vinyl series on their other label Roca Records and they’re so excited they’re giving away an EXCLUSIVE FREE DOWNLOAD of their huge good-time funky breaks club classic BLUE BROTHERS via monkeyboxing HERE. As with other Roca releases the emphasis is on sample-free music. First up is a fat-ass, shooting-from-the-hip, wobbly-bass-synth toting refix of the Dub Pistols/ Rodney P cut Ganja…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

THE BONGOLIAN: Bongos For Beatniks (2011)

THE BONGOLIAN: Bongos For Beatniks (2011)
If The Incredible Bongo Band were British and had formed in the late sixties instead of the early seventies…they still wouldn’t have sounded like this. You’d be closer if you tried to imagine the love child of Roy Budd’s Get Carter theme and the tripped-out psychedelia of sixties French nutter Pierre Henri. That’s not to say that The Bongolian himself, Nasser Bouzida, is any the less funky as a result for (as with previous releases) this fourth studio album, Bongos For Beatniks is as rich in crisply syncopated percussion as its predecessors. Hang on a minute – Nasser Bouzida? Isn’t he in UK mod-funk legends Big Boss Man?…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

RHYMESAYERS PRESENT: The Rhymesayers European Tour – Atmosphere/ Brother Ali/ Evidence (of Dilated Peoples) / Blueprint/ Grieves & Budo (2011)

RHYMESAYERS PRESENT: The Rhymesayers European Tour – Atmosphere/ Brother Ali/ Evidence (of Dilated Peoples) / Blueprint/ Grieves & Budo (2011)
Rhymesayers? They’re not law obeyers they’re non-stop rhythm rock poetry sayers and they’ll be proving it by invading Europe this November starting in London. Actually they probably are law obeyers, that bit just sounded good. Yes, this autumn is all about emo-hoppers Atmosphere and various homies from the underground behemoth of a label that Atmosphere founded: Brother Ali, Evidence, Blueprint and Grieves and Budo. Blimey - I’d go just to see Brother Ali whose last album Us was MB’s top hip-hop album of 2009 but…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

ALDO VANUCCI: Hardly Subtle EP 1 (2011)

HARDLY SUBTLE: Hardly Subtle EP 1 (2011)
Hot on the heels of his Party Breaks EP Vol 2 is news of more mighty, mashed-up breaks from Signor Aldo Vanucci and his mate 'Remix' Dave of Bristol (not his real name one suspects) a.k.a Hardly Subtle. For some reason ‘Hardly Subtle’ sounds to me a bit like one of those public schoolboy names – you know – like ‘Strangely Brown’ or something – in fact the two of them were inseparable – used to fag for the head boy and play ‘soggy biscuit’ after ‘lights-out’ but bought it during the first battle of the Somme…In contrast (and luckily for us), the four tracks…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

TOTALCULT: For Funk’s Sake EP (2011) + Cyaan Rock Steady – free download

TOTALCULT: For Funk’s Sake EP (2011) + Cyaan Rock Steady – free download
Calling your EP For Funk’s Sake? You’d have to be a total cult to do something like that. And damn if that isn’t exactly what’s happened – for here is Totalcult with his new EP For Funk’s Sake and isn’t it well-named? Nu funk and bass-poppin’ disco influences hop into bed on Funk Is Free and hip-hop and disco get at it on Ain’t We Funkin Now. Things get a bit more clavinet-y, p-funk squelchy on the hip-hop sampling P-Funky and TC wraps it up with India’s Invisible Man an uptempo serving of tabla-thumpin’, curryhouse-bhangra-sampling breakbeat. This last one doesn’t come with complimentary lemon-scented flannels and a chocolate mint because Totalcult is a more expansive man than that…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

SOULBROTHA: The Connexion EP (2011)

SOULBROTHA: The Connexion EP (2011)
Everyone knows if you want something done efficiently you get the Germans involved, so if it’s nineties boom-bap you want – who you gonna call? Cue producer tag team of B-Base and 12Fingerdan a.k.a Soulbrotha since a) it’s always nineteen-ninety-three round their place and b) they live in Hamburg. It also helps that they’re shit-hot producers and have access to some quality stateside emcees (Large Professor, The Freestyle Professors, Krumb Snatcha, Nutso, Edaye, NYGz, and) as well as legendary producer Premier - who also featured on their equally fresh 2009 album Collector’s Item. If you’ve heard that then you can rest assured that…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

TIM MCVICAR: For The Money (2011)

TIM MCVICAR: For The Money (2011)
Smoove & Turrell’s live band bassist, Tim McVicar, steps out from the shadows cast by neo-northern soul’s unlikeliest but highly deserving stars with his first breaks tune. Despite this release’s title, one can only assume he does this less for the money in these days of free downloads, illegal downloads and tinny, piss-weak ‘I converted it to from a Youtube video’ mp3s than for the show. Thus it is that the breakbeat underpinned ‘Charleston’ first third of the track segues into a hammer synth/ Blue Suede Shoes-sampling second act, gets a…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

STEREO BEATZ: Get Funky EP (2011)

STEREO BEATZ: Get Funky EP (2011)
Big M new boy Stereo Beatz makes his presence felt with this three track EP that covers – er – three bases in the nu/ghetto funk arena – the disco mashup one, the wobbly bass one and the remix one. First up is We Need Some Funky Horns which grafts a bit of twenty-first century bottom end on the ass of an old KC & The Sunshine Band number. The other two tracks are a brace of remixes. Timothy Wisdom (who, it has to be said, sounds like he is a character off legendary seventies kids TV Rentaghost) does the business with SB’s Rockin’ The Party…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

UGLY DUCKLING: ‘Moving At Breakneck Speed’ album release details, artwork and tracklist announced (2011)

UGLY DUCKLING: ‘Moving At Breakneck Speed’ album release details, artwork and tracklist announced (2011)
As previously announced on MB back in February, Long Beach old-school hip-hop crew, Ugly Duckling, have been in the process of working on their fifth studio album, Moving At Breakneck Speed. According to their brand new website www.uglyduckling.us, it will be released in October this year. The record is a 14 track…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

THE NEW MASTERSOUNDS: Can You Get It (2011) – Free download + ‘Breaks From The Border’ ‘making of’ video

THE NEW MASTERSOUNDS: Can You Get It (2011) – Free download + ‘Breaks From The Border’ ‘making of’ video
RATING: /5
News just in from my Dutch connect (and one half of The Shakedown DJs, Zephirnl) that UK funk legends The New Mastersounds are back with a new album Breaks From The Border on 9 August this year. Not only that but you can cop a FREE DOWNLOAD of bumpin’ NEW TRACK Can You Get It in advance of that via…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

T BIRD & THE BREAKS: Never Get Out Of This Funk Alive (2011) – Album review

T BIRD & THE BREAKS: Never Get Out Of This Funk Alive (2011) – Album review
RATING: 5/5
Proper funk – where you been you hussy? Mainly hiding out round at T Bird’s place seems to be the answer on the strength of Never Get Out Of This Funk Alive. This is the second full length album from Texan heavy funk and soul outfit T Bird & The Breaks and giant middle finger to all that jazzy noodling that’s been coming out of the contemporary funk scene. What we’ve been missing are dirty, blues-based soul grooves that reek of sex, combined with big-ass breaks. This delivers all of the above in a breath of stank, whiskey-soaked air. …READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

K DELIGHT: Fresh For 86 mixtape (2011) – Free download

K DELIGHT: Fresh For 86 mixtape (2011) – Free download
K-Delight goes super old-school for the imminent UK Fresh 86 reunion at the London Scala on 16 July and gets his analogue on for a new mixtape. That’s right, he recorded the whole thing on multi-track tape using some fat original electro vinyl. Naturally he is aware that it is 2011 so the whole thing is available for your aural delectation below via the soundcloud player. If you don’t already know ‘K-Dilla’, he’s been dropping rude mixtapes repping the old school sound since…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

SAVANT feat. Janien Hammonds & Makeda: Skin (prod. Satchill Head) (2011) - free download

SAVANT feat. Janien Hammonds & Makeda: Skin (prod. Satchill Head) (2011) - free download
Emcee Savant’s latest pursues sultrier avenues than recent ‘jawns’ (he will insist on calling them that, he’s American you know) and he’s such a lady magnet he gets not one but two (spoken word artist Janien Hammonds and singer Makeda) on his record. Then he goes and gets producer Satchill Head to put together a beat which samples classic eighties soul legend Sade. The smooth operator. You’ll see what I did there if you’re over a certain age…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

EWAN HOOZAMI: Cutty Limb (2011) – Free download

EWAN HOOZAMI: Cutty Limb (2011) – Free download
Weebles wobble but they don’t fall down. You will though, if you hear this latest remix by Bristol beats merchant Ewan Hoozami through the bass bins on a proper sound system. Alright, so this wouldn’t be the first time Cutty Ranks’ Limb By Limb acapella has made the rounds but anyone who knows anything about music knows that a classic vocal excuseth not a shitty beat. Luckily, Hoozami knows a thing or too about…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM