SKEEWIFF: Ghetto Latin & Broken Ballroom (2013)

Here’s Skeewiff then, back once again and this time elegantly careering around European and Latin American musical history like some sort of sample-production Leslie Phillips. “Well hello! What’s your name then? Rumba? Rather! And your sister too? Samba? I say! Oh – there’s more of you – bossa, cumbia, tango and I believe I know polka and the waltz already? Ding dong! Well… what are we going to do with you all?” As if he didn’t know. As the title indicates of course, it’s bass n breaks meets retro samples with a heavy bias towards the …READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

BASEMENT FREAKS: Funk From The Trunk (2013) + Booty Shackin’ Free download

You can count on one hand the number of key players in the forging of the ghetto funk scene who actually had an album of anything out prior to that scene’s creation. But George Fotiadis a.k.a Basement Freaks was one of them. Even so, the funky, latin, afro, nujazz, chilled breaks of his debut Urban Jungle were a far cry from the warping synth-bass line/ breakbeat monsters (of which BF has made his fair share) for which the scene has become known. Nevertheless, last LP Something Freaky was far from a wobble-fest – indeed it was a …READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

TOSSES & VARVEZ: Get This Bounce EP (BigMP23) (2013)

BigM might have been relatively quiet in the last couple of months but their two latest releases make up for that by bringing a considerable amount of noise. The first of these comes from Italian production team Tosses & Varvez in the shape of the Get This Bounce EP which features a number of collaborators and journeys from nineties-soul tinged breaks to grinding ghetto funk. Chief among said tracks is Function, a gigantic mid-tempo, bass …READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

BADBOE: Pump Up The Funk (album) (2012)

Badboe‘s Pump Up The Funk is number three then – full-length ghetto funk albums of original material this year that is, hot on the heels of big LPs by CMC & Silenta and Featurecast in the autumn. Now, though, it’s the turn of the man who arguably released the first one – back when ‘ghetto funk’ was a term being used by the Guardian to describe Diplo and MIA (no, really) – or at least not long after – when anything involving funk and breaks was still ‘nu-funk’ and anything involving funk and breaks and bass wobble was pretty much just A Skillz’ Insane Bangers crew. Anyway – the …READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM