RENEGADES OF JAZZ: Blow Your Horn (Andy Taylor remix)/ Seaside Suicide (Herma Puma Remix) (2011)

RENEGADES OF JAZZ: Blow Your Horn (Andy Taylor remix)/ Seaside Suicide (Herma Puma Remix) (2011)
If you’re on top of your funky ass shit this year you ought to have caught Renegades Of Jazz’s superb Hip To The Jive LP – an album which has virtually single-handedly rescued the jazzier side of funk-related music from the smug clutch of self-indulgent whiteboy jazz funkers. Who better to remix than ROJ then and who better…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

DIZRAELI & THE SMALL GODS: Monthly podcast (2011) Free download

DIZRAELI & THE SMALL GODS: Monthly podcast (2011) Free download
They’re a bit folk, a bit hip-hop – hmmm – what can we call it? Putting that knotty conundrum to the side for a minute there’s just time to say that Dizraeli and his Small Gods crew (now including DJ Downlow of Itch FM) have started up a regular monthly podcast. Or ‘Godcast’ as they’re calling it. And actually, just for that shocking play on words, …READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

LITTLE ROY: Lithium (2011) + video

LITTLE ROY: Lithium (2011) + video
Studio One legend Little Roy releases his sixties ska version of Nirvana’s Lithium next week. It’s the best track off his Battle For Seattle album (produced by Prince Fatty and Mutant Hi-Fi) and the relentlessly upbeat backing manages to reduce Cobain’s grungey miserablism to a faint undertone of melancholia on an otherwise jaunty number…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

SAVANT feat. Ohini Jonez & John Public: Here We Go (prod. Benncart) (2011)

SAVANT feat. Ohini Jonez & John Public: Here We Go (prod. Benncart) (2011)
‘Here we go’ indeed as Savant ends his Crash Course: Leak Series run of quality free downloads with one of the strongest tracks (and my favourite one) on it. This time around, Polish producer Benncart was the Tucson emcee’s go-to for a chunky boom-bap beat with understated, jazz samples - and it bumps! Man knows how…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

BOCA 45: ‘Pitch Sounds’ LP now on digital (2011)

BOCA 45: ‘Pitch Sounds’ LP now on digital (2011)
Boca, boca, boca! It’s the digital release of Bristolian producer Boca 45’s debut LP Pitch Sounds originally released on vinyl and cd back in 2004 on which he made good on his claim to try and make beats, “how they might sound if they were recorded in 1968 in massive studios with real musicians.” Basically it’s a…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

LAURA VANE & THE VIPERTONES: 110% (2011) Remix competition

LAURA VANE & THE VIPERTONES: 110% (2011) Remix competition
Dutch/ English deep funkers Laura Vane & The Vipertones released their second LP Sugar Fix on Unique earlier this year and now there’s a remix album in the works. However, it seems they’ve realised they’re short a track. This is where you come in. Download the stems of 110% off the Sugar Fix album and get to work because if you win,…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

WRIGGLY SCOTT: Hierarchy/ Anarchy (2011) Free download

WRIGGLY SCOTT: Hierarchy/ Anarchy (2011) Free download
In a middle-eastern double whammy, UAE-based producer Wriggly Scott and Beirut-based video director Ghayyan Al Amine team-up for the thematically heavyweight hip-hop instrumental Hierarchy/ Anarchy. It’s the latest free promo DL (link below) in the run-up to Scott’s next EP, due early 2012. So, if the long nights, and cold weather of the northern hemisphere are getting you down…cheer the fuck up, you could be …READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

EL BOMBA & HIDDEN RIDDIM vs. NAS: ‘Half Time’ re-boot (2011) Free download

EL BOMBA & HIDDEN RIDDIM vs. NAS: ‘Half Time’ re-boot (2011) Free download
Ghetto funk fruity for your booty from El Bomba and Hidden Riddem as they re-version the Large Pro-produced classic from Nas’s Illmatic. Essentially it’s a faster and heavier version of the original but with a bridge formed out of a couple of bars of the original at the original tempo…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

TREMENDO Vol. 1: Various (2011)

TREMENDO Vol. 1: Various (2011)
Telephunken drops the first release on his own label Tremendo here and its eight floor fillers from across the ghetto funk/ funky breaks spectrum from the likes of his own bad self, Stickybuds, The Captain, Tom Drummond, Bobby C Sound TV, Bryx, The Breakbeat Junkie and Ursula 1000. Basically there’s ammunition here for virtually every style of breaks dj occasion: you’ve got your old-school flavoured cuts like Breakbeat Junkie’s Neneh Cherry-sampling Take A Stance…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

DEE & KAMY: 80s Lifestyle EP (2011)

DEE & Kamy: 80s Lifestyle EP (2011)
[RATING:5]
Boom! Dee & Kamy 80s Lifestyle EP is the mainest dancefloor bomb. Monkeyboxing repping the third thing in a row with five stars? Damn straight! Not only is this November the most ridiculous month for quality funky ass music all year this year, but for many a long year. And (despite being on the BigM label, known for it’s nufunk/ ghetto funk/ funky breaks output) this is a banger among a year of hip-hop bangers. Dee & Kamy drop straight up retro-funky hip-hop to make you party like it’s 1989. Bizarrely the trio…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

TRAMP RECORDS: Santa’s Funk & Soul Christmas Party (2011)

TRAMP RECORDS: Santa’s Funk & Soul Christmas Party (2011)
[RATING:5]
Christmas songs really are the nadir of music aren’t they? Slade, Wizzard, Jonah Louie, Boney M, Wham, Bing Crosby, The Beach Boys, Shakin Stevens, Pariah Carey, Cliff fucking Richard…I don’t what’s worse – the same twelve songs played from at least December 1st every year, in every overheated, queue-ridden shop you go in or retail managers’ insulting notion that…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

T BIRD & THE BREAKS: Everything Unto Me (2011) + Video

T BIRD & THE BREAKS: Everything Unto Me (2011) + Video
Still criminally unsigned, prolific Texan funk outfit T Bird & The Breaks deliver Everything Unto Me – their first single since the release of second LP Never Get Out Of This Funk Alive and it’s new material that wasn’t even on the album. Everything Unto Me is a heavy, heavy downtempo jam that…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

PULPFUSION: Street Art EP (2011)

PULPFUSION: Street Art EP (2011)
The Street Art EP is a quality instrumental EP from Pulpfusion (the man who bought you Decks And Drums And Rock N Roll and ‘that’ video from earlier in the year) which the PR would have you believe that is a collection of “downtempo breaks.” Listening to the Poison-era, Prodigy-style sound-graffiti of the title-track original and remixes…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

SASKWATCH: Don’t Wanna Try/ Pushin Me Away (2011)

SASKWATCH: Don’t Wanna Try/ Pushin Me Away (2011)
ust to clear up any confusion, Sasquatch is the hairy-assed missing link between man and ape that might live in the temperate rain forests of North America whereas Saskwatch (with a ‘kw’) is the latest in a long line of funky acts out of Melbourne. Their second seven inch release features A-side Don’t Wanna Try – a sweet soul cut in the Bamboos vein and over on the flip Pushin Me Away is a harder hitting funky nugget, which I kind of prefer. Both tracks are vocal cuts featuring the more than able voice of singer Nkechi Anele. If that all sounds more promising than a blurry photograph of something brown and furry heading into a stand of giant redwoods, it’s because it is. …READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

DJTZINAS feat. The Kidd & BNC: Get Up ( (2011)

DJTZINAS feat. The Kidd & BNC: Get Up ( (2011)
It’s ‘vintage sound of the west coast underground’ time at the Cast-A-Blast label as DJTzinas and emcee mates The Kidd and BNC get all year two thousand on your ass with rather solid hip-hop cut Get Up. They want you to get up of course (how else are you going to get down?) and do so with a booming piano-led beat…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

LACK OF AFRO: Holding my Breath (2011)

LACK OF AFRO: Holding my Breath (2011) Holding my Breath is the second single from Lack Of Afro’s latest LP This Time. Like its predecessor, it rocks the kind of smooth soul vibe to be found all over Smoove & Turrell’s second LP so if you’re down with that, you’ll be down with this as singer Jake Morley gets his mood on over clattery floor friendly percussion. LOA homies Unity Sextet rework this on the flip, uncomplicating the break and have fun with various bits and bobs out of their little bag of jazz. …READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

J-ROC: Ghetto Funk presents J-Roc EP (2011)
[RATING: 5/5]
Canadian J-Roc (of Sould Out DJs fame) is the latest producer to get the spotlight in the Ghetto Funk label’s highly consistent Ghetto Funk presents string of vinyl only releases and unbelievably, he’s from Edmonton. I say unbelievably because the last time I was out there I was naive enough to play a funky bit of Deadly Avenger big beat at a party on a mixtape I’d made and got told to ‘turn that Michael Jackson shit off.’…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

ASPECTS: Beattape (2011) - Free download

ASPECTS: Beattape (2011) - Free download
Hello…Bristol-based hip-hop crew Aspects are back with a free download produced by their old buddy DJ Format. Cue a fat and funky neck-snap bassline and a crashing hi-hat-saturated break. Lest you should doubt that the boys’ English is still correct, leading the vocal charge is El Eye himself – Ian ‘Dirty’ Merchant (“I’ll eat your features like a Jeeper Creepers creature/ And then delete you quicker than a friend request from Mika”) with Bubber Loui and Probe Mantis tearing into the fray mere bars behind him. Yep, still got it. Or as they put it, they “got the voice, the style, the delivery…Cop it below.
…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

CMC & SILENTA: Roca Records presents Feature Breaks Vol. 2 (2011)

CMC & SILENTA: Roca Records presents Feature Breaks Vol. 2 (2011)
Second release in CMC & Silenta’s Feature Breaks series on their Roca imprint and they’ve opened up their back catalogue for remixing. It has to be said that this could be tantamount to handing a nutter some garden shears and getting your wedding tackle out, depending on who you’ve got on remix duties. Never fear though, half the ghetto funk universe were already …READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

STEELY CHAN: They Reminisce Over Slingshot (Pete Rock & CL Smooth vs Lefties Soul Connection) + (2011) Free download

STEELY CHAN: They Reminisce Over Slingshot (Pete Rock & CL Smooth vs Lefties Soul Connection) + (2011) Free download
RATING: 5/5
Meet Steely Chan. As if the genre of old school hip-hop wasn’t funky enough, they’ve been adding to the critical mass of dope shit on a weekly basis. Lately this involves locating any classic emcee action from back in the day that the producer palmed off with a less than ‘take it to the bridge’ beat and rectifying matters. And it seems that they’ve been sourcing such beats from
…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

BOCA 45: Lafayette Partytime (2011)

BOCA 45: Lafayette Partytime (2011)
Lafayette Partytime’ll be the seven inch (that’s a vinyl record kids, I’m not being rude) re-release from Bristolian beatmaker Boca 45 to mark the imminent digital re-release of his Pitch Sounds LP. Boca 45 a.k.a. Scott Hendy is responsible for the monkey’s favourite ever funk, soul, hip-hop club night, ‘Diggin In The Crates’ at Bristol’s tiny, underground (literally) Dojo Lounge. To fully get the picture of a Saturday night at the Dojo back in the day imagine trying to dance to Pharoahe Monch and Patti Drew in somewhere the size of an underlit public phone box that’s lined with red leather and drug dealers in the middle of a record breaking attempt to cram as many pissed people into said phone box. Or you could just try listening to this. Soul-sampling b-boy party breaks on both sides.
(Out 2 December on Freesoul 45)



(PRESS RELEASE)
Don't say Boca's back; he's never been away. Scott 'Boca 45' Hendy is the Bristol beatsmith who's been at the forefront of funky breakbeat music for well over a decade. With two solo artist albums in the bag, dancefloor devastating collabos with DJ Andy Smith as Dynamo Productions, and the brand new Beekeepers project with rising star Parker, now has never been a better time to catch Boca 45 fever.

To celebrate the digital re-release of Boca's first album Pitch Sounds we gonna release a 7" with Lafayette Partytime and Steady Rockin' for your turntable pleasures.
…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

BASEMENT FREAKS: Mission Jazz (2011)

BASEMENT FREAKS: Mission Jazz (2011)
Liking a challenge, Basement Freaks here takes on Misson Jazz which I view as being like mission impossible but even harder. Basically the idea is to do something jazzy that anyone might actually want to listen to and even (less likely) actually want to dance too. Man, that is hard. Those that succeed are few and far between so what better to do than rope in a man who makes it all look easy…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

D-FUNK & SOME DJ vs. Mark Ronson: Ooh Wee Watch Out (2011) – Free download

D-FUNK & SOME DJ vs. Mark Ronson: Ooh Wee Watch Out (2011) – Free download
It’s all about Mark Ronson’s Ghostface-featuring classic party anthem from 2003 re-versioned for the ghetto funk era on Ooh Wee Watch Out or, as D-Funk and Some DJ bill it, “The Mark Ronson classic ‘Ooh Wee’ with more drums, bass & vocals...” Now, you may feel that the original wasn’t exactly lacking in any of these departments but – hey(!) – that was still at a time when everything got released on phonographic vinyl disc and it was all fields round here. In short …READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

GONESTHEDJ: Wonderboha (2011)

GONESTHEDJ: Wonderboha (2011)
RATING: 5/5
Frenchman GonesTheDj delivers Wonderboha (Soulitude Music’s first seven inch) featuring Done Nothin, a thunderous remix/ edit thingy of Stevie Wonder’s You Haven’t Done Nothin’ on which he chucks in four-to-the-floor drums, some cymbal syncopation and creates a super disco badass…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

THE FANTASTICS ft. SULENE FLEMING: Cold Case (2011)

THE FANTASTICS ft. SULENE FLEMING: Cold Case (2011)
Cold Case is the second single off the Fantastics most recent LP All The People and, like its predecessor, also features Sulene Fleming (no relation to Bob) on vocals. Undecided whether to get their blues or jazz on they go large and do both here with decidedly twangy roadhouse A side Cold Case and the very saxy speed jazz B side (and live favourite) Fat Hector…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

MURS feat. LOCKSMITH: S-K-I-B-E-A-T-Z (2011) – video

MURS feat. LOCKSMITH: S-K-I-B-E-A-T-Z (2011) – video
New dope from underground rapper Murs in the form of S-K-I-B-E-A-T-Z - the stand out from his current LP Love & Rockets Volume 1: The Transformation and his tribute to the man responsible for the music on said LP. That’ll be Ski Beatz then who I, personally, remember as the man responsible for the funk-fuelled beats on Camp Lo’s excellent Black Hollywood LP. S-K-I-B-E-A-T-Z finds Ski dropping beats with a heavy funk flow while Murs…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

YINKA DIZ feat. MARKY: Wind In My Caesar (Prod. El Puto Coke) (2011) - video

YINKA DIZ feat. MARKY: Wind In My Caesar (Prod. El Puto Coke) (2011) - video
It’s always nice to see what the yout’ are up to when it’s good and here’s Yinka Diz and his boy Marky with Wind In My Caesar (from Diz’s latest LP New Art New Money) on a really nice beat from El Puto Coke which updates the jazzy hip-hop sound from back in the day. In fact it’s not a million miles from the sort of stuff Blu does now. I haven’t got a fucking clue what ‘winding in your Caesar’ actually entails of course. I even…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

DIRTY DUBSTERS: Bodytonic podcast (2011)

DIRTY DUBSTERS: Bodytonic podcast (2011)
I wouldn’t normally go plugging podcasts but Dirty Dubsters are trying to snap the Emerald Isle’s biggest promoters, Bodytonic, out of their house/ techno fixation. It is wrong of course to dismiss a whole genre in a sweeping generalisation, but that doesn’t change the fact that house music is shit. Yeah, all of it. Except…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

KIM TOLLIVER: Kim Tolliver (2011) + tracklist

KIM TOLLIVER: Kim Tolliver (2011) + tracklist
Kim Tolliver must have been the unluckiest southern soul queen ever. If you want a measure of how bad things got for her, consider first that she had the vocal talent to rank with Aretha and Candi but ended up leaving the music business for real estate. And what is it that could possibly have brought things to such a cataclysmic pass that selling property alongside spotty bullshitters in bad suits was better than singing? Try piss-poor promotion by a succession of record companies. She spent years gigging before…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

PANAMA CARDOON: Oye! EP (2011)

PANAMA CARDOON: Oye! EP (2011)
RATING: 5/5
The Oye! EP is Panama Cardoon’s follow-up to his superb cumbia beats combo Carmen and delivers a ridiculously joyous slab of boogaloo atop a fat-ass rolling breakbeat. It’s partnered with the mellower but equally dope Pito which is less a track than the musical equivalent of pimp rolling down Havana’s Malecon. Latin samples and funky breaks together are just the don aren’t they? And frankly…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

SAVANT feat. NORA PEREZ: ‘Make Your Move’ video (2011)

SAVANT feat. NORA PEREZ: ‘Make Your Move’ video (2011)
In which rising emcee Savant makes his move rather quicker than the monkey since this, the official video to the Luke Vibert–produced ‘Make Your Move’ has been out since late last month. Regular readers will know that this very track was the focus of a closely fought remix competition run by monkeyboxing back in the summer and won by UK-based b-boy breaks producer Krash Slaughta with a mellow brassy beat on a nineties East Coast tip. Cop the original version…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

WRIGGLY SCOTT feat. FERAS IBRAHIM & SOFIA PORTANET: Brainchild (2011) – Free download

WRIGGLY SCOTT feat. FERAS IBRAHIM & SOFIA PORTANET: Brainchild (2011) – Free download
Missing that nineties/turn-of-the-millenium boom-bap with jazz-sampling beats? Then pine no more, for Wriggly Scott and homies Sofia Portanet and rapper Feras Ibrahim answer your prayers. Scott delivers the sort of beats once heard on Asheru & Blue Black’s classic Soon Come LP, Ibrahim’s mellow staccato flows are on a conscious tip and Portanet rounds it all off …READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM