BREAKBEAT PARADISE RECORDINGS: Bring Back The Funk EP (2013)

Bring back the funk EP? Oh what – chicken-scratch guitar and fatback drums? Gospel vox and butter slick basslines? Well – not exactly. Let’s just say this is a party breaks release that leaves the glitch and the grind and the wobble at home and settles for good old-fashioned big-ass party breaks. Well, I say ‘settles for’…that kind of makes it sound like some sort of timid acceptance whereas the four tracks on here firmly grasp the beat by the horns. New boy Conte Crux brings back Public Enemy disco style, Morlack brings back Mobb Deep in what sounds a bit like a Max Sedgley style and Pulpfusion Brings Back The Funk with – my word – is that a bit of Bobby Franklin’s…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

DJ RUDD: We Can Get It On (BBP 061)(2012)

“We Can Get It On” proclaims the title of this new EP from DJ Rudd which, appropriately enough, eschews mere flirting with the name ‘funk’ to deliver an above averagely funky, well-constructed ghetto funk four-tracker. And manages to show gentlemanly restraint with the bass wobble. Taking in ghetto disco (opener Shake It Out), ghetto soul (title track), ghetto Edie Brickell & The Wiseguys (no, really) we finally end up with actual ghetto ‘funk’ – based around proper funk. In this case a ...READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

BIGM PRESENTS: Vol. 22 Various Bangin’ Artists (BigMP22) (2012)

I don’t know the collective noun for a group of breakbeat producers like the one the Tom Drummond & Slynk get jiggy with Will Smith yielding percussive elevation as Big Willy shakes the room, Tosses & Varvez slam Onyx harder than Onyx previously slammed themselves, and DJ Rudd goes all ghetto funk gang bang on Sharon Jones and The Dapkings. But surely that’s onlyREAD FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

TREMENDO VOL. 2: Various (2012)

TREMENDO VOL. 2: Various (2012)
Telephunken’s Tremendo express rolls into the station for the second time in a manner much like it’s predecessor. A whopping eight party breaks? Check. One of his own plus some other established big hitters (Badboe, The Breakbeat Junkie and Rory Hoy) and a few young guns – Morlack, DJ Rudd, Bobby C Sound TV and Wood N Soo? Check. Cover the whole gamut of party breaks sub-genres? Check. Best cuts…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM