BASEMENT FREAKS: Bombastic Jam (2014) Free download

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SMOKEY BANDITS: Rehab (2014)

Are you in the mood for midtempo flamenco-fied breaks with splashes of fiery Andalusian trumpets? Are you also in the mood for grandiose dub with equally fiery Andalusian trumpets and steppin’ hammond? You are? Man, you’re so in luck! That’s precisely what those Smokey Bandits Giorgios Fotiadis (Basement Freaks) and his buddy Dmitris …READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

BOMBASTIC JAM: Mundial Beats (2014)

No doubt the first of many musical attempts to get into the spirit of 2014 Brazil World Cup fever, the Bombastic Jam label’s Mundial Beats compilation album puts in a highly respectable qualifying performance. The release consists of originals, remixes and exclusives as well as fielding a team of players who include the likes of new signing Icient Warrior and a number of big names on transfer. That’ll be types like Ghetto Funk and Scour Records’…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

BASEMENT FREAKS STUDIO SESSIONS VIDEO: Neon Steve (2014)

Clearly running the Bombastic Jam breaks label, producing his own stuff as Basement Freaks and one half of Smokey Bandits, gigging internationally and remixing all and sundry isn’t enough for a man like George Fotiadis so he’s started this. And ‘this’ is his new series of behind-the-scenes interviews with bass music scenesters that he’s calling the Basement Freaks Studio Sessions Video – the first episode of which finds our George hanging out with Canadian bass cowboy,…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

CICO: Blind Justice EP (2014)

The latest official drop on Bombastic Jam is this downtempo four tracker – the Blind Justice EP – from the man who shares a studio with label owner and Basement Freaks main man George Fotiadis. I had a google for Cico (for so he is named) and can see that his other interests seem to be chimney linings and “beautifully illustrated mind, body and spirit books” so it’s just as well that he likes his…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

SMOKEY BANDITS: The Rooster (2013) + Holidays In The Sun (Bobby C Sound TV remix) free download

Not little, not red but a rooster nonetheless – The Rooster is the current single from Basement Freaks‘ George Fotiadis with his Balkan/ Mex-American side project Smokey Bandits. It comes in four different types of ‘plumage’ – original, samba, Savages Y Suefo and AfroQBen and there’s also get a free Bobby C remix of Smokey Bandits’ Holidays In The Sun thrown in too. Quality. The PR describes this last as a, “funky monster with Balkan touches” before encouraging you to, “put …READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

SMOKEY BANDITS: Debut (2013)

Smokey Bandits debut – er – Debut was big in Greece when it first came out. And yet this thirteen-track collection of original instrumentals created by Basement Freaks‘ George Fotiadis, his homie Quasamodo and ragtag band of rebel musicians (no doubt unshaven types, with a glint in their eyes and bandoliers criss-crossing their chests) slipped under the radar elsewhere. Somewhat unfairly, one might argue, since it’s an …READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

FUNK MOGULS: Roc Blockin Beats (2012)

Once upon a time there was cock rockin’, then the Chemical Brothers were block rockin’ and now Funk Moguls are roc blockin’. No doubt at some point in the future we can expect cock-blockin’ beats too. To the best of my knowledge there hasn’t been any feminist ghetto-funk interpretation of the works of Motley Crue and Poison yet but give it time. Meanwhile…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

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

BASEMENT FREAKS: ‘Am Free’ – Free download

BASEMENT FREAKS: ‘Am Free’ – Free download
‘Don’t be afraid of your free download!’ George Fotiadis a.k.a. Basement Freaks celebrates the rise and rise of his label Bombastic Jam with a typically – er - bombastic refix of the early nineties indie/ baggy cover of the Rolling Stones track by The Soup Dragons. You can cop itREAD THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

QUASAMODO: Bollywood Man EP feat. MC Coppa – 2010 – EP review

QUASAMODO: Bollywood Man EP feat. MC Coppa – 2010 – EP review
RATING: 5/5
The funky breaks scene has been getting so cheesy recently you could serve it up on crackers at the end of a dinner party - so it’s Quasamodo and MC Coppa to the rescue with a little help from Basement Freaks new label Bombastic Jam with the Bollywood Man EP. Despite Coppa’s claiming “I’m a Bollywood man with Bollywood plans/ Got Bollywood fans who do the weird dancing with their hands” the EP, perhaps unexpectedly, is not a cue for loads of bhangra-fuelled antics but an excuse to offload the biggest funky breaks banger so far this year. The wah-wah toting original mix would take the gold medal were it not topped by the Basement Freaks remix horns-fest which doesn’t so much strike you as a good track as prance around shouting “Get me - I’m the shit!’ With considerable justification. Yep it’s yet another full marks - looks like this spring is better than last for beats and rhymes. I know how my next set’s going to finish.
(Out 16 March on Bombastic Jam)
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