You'll find a cornucopia of tasty tunes to bounce off your eardrums. I update with new tunes, art and photography every week, depending on what I'm doing and listening to at the time, old and new. I'm based in London UK but I love to travel and discover new music along the way and share my musical journey on neoloop.
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Happy listening!
Neo
Email: neo@neoloop.comLo-fi R’n’B Baltimore duo empress with debut self titled LP on Stones Throw. Silk Rhodes are both original and classic, pulling on old school funk and soul grooves, Curtis Mayfield, Al Green, Sly and the Family Stone, Delfonics etc. as well as recent influences, D’Angelo, Gonjasufi, Gayngs, Stepkids etc. Some of tracks are very short and fractured but the lo-fi snippets are are part of the fleeting album’s charm and exuberance.
A stunning debut that covers a lot of ground and genres yet retains a signature sound throughout. The outstanding Pains is about as lazy as it gets as the beat plods along to a searing Rhodes organ and raw soulful vocals. Faces 2 Face ramps up the groove in a funk pop number. Realtime goes all hip-hip beats and R’n’B sass. Hold Me Down is just pure beauty, like Shuggie Otis slowed right down to a snails pace, this is stoner soul. Personal use pounds into a french house rhythm reminiscent of Etienne de Crécy’s Super Discout Vol.1, then 2 thirds in the song changes back to soul croons that Sumach Ecks (Gonjasufi) would relate to. Finishing off with the uplifting sound of The System, the perfect end to great LP and very highly recommended.
Essential tracks: Pains, Face 2 Face, Realtime, Hold Me Down
Fresh off Mark Ronson’s New York hip-hop scene of the '90s inspired album Uptown Special, this latest track Daffodils features Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker. Adding to the forthcoming album's' first single, Uptown Funk, which topped the UK charts earlier this year, becoming Mark Ronson's first ever UK Number One.
This track has grittier funky guitar sound, a psychedelic buzzsaw riff ripping through the middle while Parkers vocal sticks calmly to the beat.
Uptown Special is due for release January 19 via Columbia Records. Written and produced with Jeff Bhasker (Kanye West, Drake, Alicia Keys)
Out of the blue comes Black Messiah, D’Angelo’s much-anticipated third full length LP (co-credited to his backing group, The Vanguard) and it’s quite astonishing. As with Brown Sugar and Voodoo, Black Messiah is best heard in its entirety. Saying that, all these songs could stand alone. Ain’t That Easy, Sugar Daddy (both co-writen with Q-Tip and Kendra Foster), Really Love, Back To the Future (Part I), The Door would all make great singles.
After a good few listens the quality of Black Messiah just opens up and D’Angelo’s layered vocals together with organic beats and killa grooves creates a captivating and atmospheric soundscape. What’s most astonishing is how fresh and modern it sounds even when channeling obvious influences, Marvin Gaye, Sly And The Family Stone, Stevie Wonder, Curtis Mayfield, Funkadelic, Prince, The Crusaders it’s all in there.
A highly charged political message, "All we wanted was a chance to talk 'stead we only got outlined in chalk" - a lyric from the song "The Charade." co-writen with Questlove and Kendra Foster.
At the LP’s launch D’Angelo explains the title - ”For me, the title is about all of us. It's about the world. It's about an idea we can all aspire to. We Should all aspire to be a Black Messiah.... Its about people rising up in Ferguson and in Egypt and in Occupy Wall Street and in every place where a community has had enough and decides to make change happen. It's not about praising one charismatic leader but celebrating thousands of them."
All year we’ve been waiting for an album with an otherworldly experience like this, with no-shows from Kanye and Frank Ocean; D’Angelo fills the void with ease.
I pity all the people that have already compiled and published their albums of the year charts as this LP would surely feature in most top tens if not top of the whole list! It’s a landmark LP that will sit along side classic albums like Marvin Gaye: What’s Going On, Sly And The Family Stone: There’s A Riot Goin’ On, Bob Dylan: The Times They Are A-Changin’, Public Enemy: It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, Gil Scott-Heron: The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, you get the picture.
Dripping with infectious funk throughout it’s really hard to single out any one track, the quality maintains an optimum setting from start to finish at just under an hour it’ a magnum opus!
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Written by Johnny Bristol this 1976 track originally appeared on Coke Escobedo’s 2nd album Comin’ At Ya!
A crate diggers delight, a rare groove, latin funk number that keeps you’re body moving.
It begs the question, would you change a thing if you had to live your life all over?!
One things for certain it sounds great when you play it again and again all over!
Steve Arrington, a member of Dayton funk band Slave and solo star in his own right put out a collection of previously unheard rarities last September, as one of the most sampled bands in hip-hop history Slave had some big disco and funk hits in the eighties.
Arrington enjoyed success as a solo artist with cult classics Feels So Real and Dancin' in the Key of Life. After a 20+ year hiatus from the music business he turns up last year with Higher - Steve Arrington + Dam Funk for Stones Throw Records. So I guess he’s done some digging around into his back catalogue and unearthed some real gems here, on Way Out 80-84 - Summertime Lovin is a feel good funk jam and Without Your Love is a bass slappping groovetastic slab of funk.
Way out there!
Late Night Tales Presents After Dark: Nightshift
Nightshift is cult DJ connoisseur Bill Brewster's second outing in Late Night Tales' After Dark series following on seamlessly from the dubby grooves of the first After Dark compilation. Bill picks out another fine selection of Slo-tempo disco funk, slowly brewed to form another top class musical journey of discovery. Old and rare tracks rub shoulders with new and exclusive previously unreleased tracks. The Grid & Robert Fripp - A Cabala Sky is one of five exclusive tracks to feature throughout this emphatic collection, a superb deep and dubby disco chugger that oozes a groovy baseline.
Bonafide dance-floor-fillers from Mugwump and Hubbabubbaklubb ensure the After Dark off-shoot series stays true to the quality output of that we expect from the LateNightTales series. Highly and Totally Recommended.
This funk fuelled bomb of a tune is a year old this month and I'll never get bored of it, there are quite a few remixed versions of it, Joe Goddard, Ben Pearce and The Emperor Machine to name a few.
But I'm sticking with the Chicken lips original, a heart-pumping funk-laden disco baseline and Charmaine Baines’ soaring soulful vocal. Timeless!
About time we had something new from the Stafford based production duo of Andy Meecham and Dean Meredith.
Stoner lounge guru George Evelyn's Nightmares On Wax return with album number seven, Feelin' Good. All the usual hall marks of the Nightmares On Wax sound are there, funk driven groovers and soulful balearic chill-outs as well as the reggae tinged low-slung jams.
Opening with the lush strings of So Here We Are, a slowly chilled-out tune to ease us into the opulent orchestral sound. Be, I Do bounces along on a catchy skanking baseline evoking the visions of hotter climates. This tune, Now Is The Time is bubbling hot with a piano riff skipping through a looping ska-fused drum and bass. Moses from Zero 7 pops-up on the gospel-pop of Give Thx, the orchestral dynamics continue on the delightful Master Plan. Eye (Can't See) and Tapestry brings the funk with lashings of the feel good factor. It all end with Om Sweet H(Om)e a balearic meditation state that washes over the senses and transcends your mind into utopia, probably the Wax's sweetest chill-out track since Carboot Soul. Recommended.
London-based duo Basement Jaxx are storming back with new single What a difference your love makes at the end of this September. The EP features remixes of the title track by Miguel Campbell and Huxley as well as another jaxx original, Mermaid of Salinas.
Doing what Felix Buxton and Simon Ratcliffe do best, happy-go-lucky big party tunes that put a massive smile on your face, what a difference the Jaxx make.
A collision course of a tune this, dripping in funk with a punk attitude, there is a carnival spirit that runs through much of Melt Yourself Down's self titled debut LP. An acquired taste for some perhaps, this music is not meant to be taken lightly, it's an all or nothing affair that completely takes over. The carnival punk of We Are Enough is bonkers but infectious.
Bassist/songwriter/vocalist Stephen Bruner, aka Thundercat storms back with the follow-up the Flying Lotus co-produced The Golden Age of Apocalypse. Thundercat teamed up with executive producer Flying Lotus once again, to form a profound body of work for his second album, Apocalypse. Full of jazz influences that you'd expect with Flying Lotus, but also Bruner's father Ronald Bruner, Sr., is an internationally renowned jazz drummer who played with the Temptations, Diana Ross, Gary Bartz and Gladys Knight.
The neo-soul of Heartbreaks + Setbacks is beautiful, Burner is on top form on the LP and I hope it will push his music to a wider audience. Each track offers something different, yet collectively works in harmony. The Life Aquatic is an instrumental of lotus beats and Burner bass. This track Oh Sheit It's X adds some disco pomp and funk guitars with a future-retro synths. Without You's skippy beats backsliding in and out of the bubbling melody is half ballad and half instrumental interlude, delightful. Burner pours blood, sweat and tears into this recored.
A welcome return and Highly Recommended.
Neomix Volume Two
Finally after so many people bugging me, I've put together another mixtape in the Neoloop series Neomix (I guess I can call it a series now there is a second volume!). Volume Two is as eclectic as the first and covers all the stuff we love on Neoloop.
Tracklisting is as follows:
Only heard this the other day, a stonking return to funk-up the dance floor from !!!. Still has that signature sound we've always loved since Louden Up Now LP. Slyd sounds like the big sister to Me And Giuliani Down By The Schoolyard (A True Story).
It features vocals from Molly Schnick, who used to be in Out Hud with !!!'s Nic Offer, as well as Teresa Eggers. It certainly has a flavour of classic Out Hud track - How long.
Good to hear new shit from the New Yorkers!
New LP THR!!!ER (great title!!!)is out April 29 in the UK.
One of the best Late Night Tales compilations for a while, the compilation series that maintains a quality output have chosen the effervescent Friendly Fires, an inspired choice as it turns out. The selection covers many genres as well as uptempo house, obscure indie, disco-funk, art-pop and ambient chill. This tune is a stand-out, fourth track in, anthemic porn-disco Fly Like An Eagle by Dennis Parker. And it's not just the old stuff that makes for an impressive collection, Melody Echo Chamber's Endless Shore is a welcome addition from a great artist. Friendly Fires’ exclusive cover version of the ’78 electronic classic Why Don't You Answer by Eberhard Schoener and Sting sounds like one of their own.
Surprise choice perhaps is Olivia Newton-John's cover of the Elton John classic Love Song from Tumbleweed Connection, an amazing version that I've never heard before. Also includes choice cuts from Cocteau Twins, SBTRKT, Iron Galaxy, Bibio, Stereolab, Slowdive, Joe Simon and Sonna.
Definitely one of the best comps of the year and certainly one of the best Late Night Tales comps ever, no mean feat considering it's on it's thirtieth edition. Highly Recommend.
Stereo Deluxe latest edition of their 'Coming Home' series comes from Ralf Droesemeyer and Mark Wetzler aka Mo' Horizons. They say "Selecting these tracks was not only about digging some hip and groovy music, but also to put our own history into a new perspective." One of the best from the series in my opinion, there are some amazing tunes on here including a few of their own tunes and remixes.
Opening with the mighty Southern soul voice of Mighty Clouds Of Joy singer Clay Hammond with his rare Ronin 7inch "You Threw Out Your Lifeline"? The quality only gets better with outstanding tracks from Betty Everett, Fab Samperi, this track by the Soul Sessions, Omara Portuondo, Phyllis Dillion, Argentinian king of the swing guitar Oscar Alemán, Una Mas Trio and much more. Taking in Mo' Horizons own brand of bossa nova and funk as well as the many influences old and new. A great comp that bursts with sunshine and colourful music from around the world. Highly Recommended.
Kindness aka Adam Bainbridge's latest LP World, You Need a Change of Mind is on constant rotation at the moment. This track is my current favourite from an excellent album produced by Cassius' Philippe Zdar.
The finest disco-funk tune this year!
Nice to hear Mr. Scruff back to his funky best on this B-side to Wobble Control, long time collaborator Alice Russell takes up the the vocal duties and Nickodemus & Zeb are on the remix giving it an acid warp wash. Plenty of wobbling bass on this, turn it up and feel the vibe. Alice sounds great too.
Toddla T and Roots Manuva team up for big fat slice of funk. This is magic Manuva doing what he does best. This version is from Toddla T and is a straight-up dancefloor banger, Roots has also released his version of the same song which is tad more hip hop and adds further verses. Both versions are stella tunes.
Watch Me Dance is the first track to surface from Roots Manuva's forthcoming 17 track studio album 4everevolution. Due to drop in September. Big Dada say It covers just about every style from the Manuva canon and invents a few new ones, too.
Toddla's second album Watch Me Dance is release on Ninja Tune on August 22 and features previous collaborator Roots Manuva, fellow DJ, producer and remixer Skream, Ms Dynamite, Ross Orton, Wayne Marshall, Donaeo, Roisin Murphy and of course Shola Ama.
The ever unique sound of the Battles returns, experimental left-field music doesn't often sound this good.
Four years on from their critically acclaimed Mirrored, Gloss Drop is the title of the New Yorkers second LP and it's a belter. A cacophony of sounds with everything chucked in and it's as barmy as we've come to expect. Much has been talked about the newly-refined three piece following the departure of vocalist Tyondai Braxton, but this is no bad thing in my opinion as it now makes way for a more eclectic array of vocal talents.
We kick off with the instrumental arrhythmic strings of Africastle, before the first guest vocal leads the way - the human instrument, Kompakt artist Matias Aguayo with first single Icecream, a fairground of organs and pounding drums collide with loud wonky guitars and Matias' unique voice. This is followed by three further instrumentals, steaming in with the propulsive funk of Futura, Inchworm (you half expect the Beastie Boys to come in at any moment) and chaotic cartoon mash-up of Wall Street. Next guest up is electronic pioneer Gary Newman on the relentless drive of My Machines, this is followed by another steel pan driven interlude Dominican Fade before clanging in with Sweetie & Shag featuring the sweet vocals of Blonde Redhead’s Kazu Makino, the steelpans continue with gusto while Kazu's voice make Battles sound like a new band and sounds incredible. Here the LP then takes a darker turn with sinister B-movie interlude Toddler followed by the massacre Rolls Bayce. White Electric is an angry bantering of drums and bass clabbering for a sweet melody that it eventually finds in the last minute courtesy of a monkey's organ.
Finally the epic ending - Sundome featuring Boredoms’ Yamantake Eye, as mad as it gets whaling organs and chopping synths lead us out to another world, three minutes in and beat takes us further into the unknown. A circus of sounds made to blow the top! Despite it being a challenging listen, I think this is more accessible than their debut. Highly Recommended! Out on June 5th on Warp.
Get the full lowdown on bttls.com
How will I know that you'll save me? Your little hands are getting shaky, It is time to let the light seep From behind your eyes, Then I'll know my night survives…
The brilliant new album from Bibio is out this week! - Mind Bokeh
It's a tough choice to find a favourite tune off this eclectic mix of songs, I've already given you the kitsch sound of K is for Kelson last month. Right now the tune that's wearing out the repeat button is Light Seep. Mind Bokeh is the fifth full-length from LP from Stephen Wilkinson, a.k.a. Bibio, and his second release on Warp Records following up the equally superb Ambivalence Avenue.
Bibio slowly wowed the underground electronic music scene with the sunny synth-pop of Ambivalence Avenue, a unique blend of crafted instrumentals and folktronica in 2009. Critical Acclaim pushed the album into many 'best of the year' album charts. With that record behind him Bibio has triumphed again with Mind Bokeh. It's another complete mash of musical styles, chucking in obscure samples that sound completely spontaneous yet you know it been meticulously constructed. There are all sorts of modern influences here, Four Tet, Gaslamp Killer, DJ Shadow and Neon Indian spring to mind. But he's also blending in a mixed bag of retro sounds liquefying genres into timeless hybrid songs. Pretentious uses jangly funk and beautiful harps with a soulful vocal creating an new angle on glick-pop before deconstructing into a mellow saxophone demise. Anything New starts as sunny sing-a-long pop and effortlessly transforms into a synth driven monster with mad distorted vocal samples. Light Seep is a pure bliss of psychedelic synths and funk. Artists' Valley sounds like a missing track from Four Tets last LP, but with added vocals from Wilkinson. Highlights are plentiful on this record and it captivates from beginning to end, how many albums can you say that about nowadays! HIGHLY RECOMMEND!!! Not bad for an album entirely recorded in a bedroom, in a terraced house, in Wolverhampton.
A nice slab of funk to get you grooving, Street Dance is the opening track of Let's Do It Again, the 1972 album from New York's finest funk band. The Fatback band is the brainchild of Bill Curtis, this tune bares all the hallmarks that established The Fatback band as one of the most influential funk outfits of the 70's. They are still going have noted up some 35 albums worth of funk. Terje has done a great edit that stays loyal to the original but I love the rawness of the original cut. I have fond memories see the band live during the eighties, and they just keep on keeping on.
He was groovin' and that was when he coulda sworn the room was movin'
Here another classic from Gil Scott Heron, Angel Dust is from his 1978 album Secrets recorded with Brian Jackson. A story of the effects of Angel Dust and how it's a short-cut to the grave - 'God only knew why they was dustin'!'
Gil 70's output included some most influential music of that decade. Secrets is great album and often get overlooked for his more better known LP's such as Winter in America and Pieces of a Man. Secrets is well worth a spin if you like a bit 70's jazz fuck, Gil was the master.
Posted by Neo
Three years on from their critically acclaimed Fancy Footwork, Dave-1 and P-Thugg have returned with Business Casual. Eighties electro funk is the order of the day, some of tunes on here sound like they were recorded in 1986, just with a modern production sheen. This is my fav track on it so far, Don’t Turn the Lights On (featured on the video game FIFA 11) It's all Hall and Oates for the 00's. Phillippe Zdar is behind the mixing desk working in some retro pop to the proceedings.
Like This? Try: Aeroplane, Giorgio Moroder, Hall & Oates
Matt Black and Jon More's (aka Coldcut) Ninja Tune label is twenty year old! To celebrate this milestone they have a released a 4xCD compilation of new stuff, new remixes of classic ninja cuts. There are some cracking tunes on this, this is a new one from the mighty Mr. Scruff & Kirsty Almeida, a superb piece of dirty funk dub.
Turn up the bass bins and feel the floor move.
Señorita bonita, Some seriously sexy funky beats going here, Freestyle Records released a new comp back in April - Fresh Out The Box: a selection of previously un-issued tracks that did not fit onto albums, or had been remixed but never quite found a home in the Freestyle release schedule. Lovingly compiled by Freestyle main man DJ Adrian Gibson. There are some rare gems on here. This a funky instrumental remix by the German duo of producers and DJs Ralf Droesemeyer & Mark Foh Wetzler AKA Mo' Horizons. It's Not surprising this was a lost track, they've done shit load of remixes!
Mo' Horizons in MySpace, but it on iTunes
My new favourite track from !!!'s (best known as chk chk chk) excellent latest LP - Strange Weather, isn't it?. If you like a bit of funk in your indie disco then look no further. And indeed their previous albums Louden up Now (2004) and Myth Takes (2007) are equally recommended.
!!! is composed of Mario Andreoni (guitar), Dan Gorman (horns/percussion/keys), Nic Offer (vocals), Tyler Pope (bass/various electronic devices), and Allan Wilson (horns/percussion/keys). Touring members include Shannon Funchess (vocals), Sean McGahan (various electronic devices/sound manipulation) and Paul Quattrone (drums). The band also shared membership with the similar, defunct group Out Hud (including Tyler Pope, who has played with LCD Soundsystem and written music for Cake)
On November 18, 2009, the band's former drummer Jerry Fuchs - who was also a member of Maserati, Turing Machine and The Juan MacLean - died after falling down an elevator shaft.
Official site, But it on iTunes
Like this? Try: Out Hud, Jamie Lidell, We Have Band, Yacht
The funkiest album ever recorded by Lyn Collins – one of the few soul divas working with James Brown who got a chance to cut a full LP, Think About It. All produced to funky perfection by James Brown, with backing by the JBs! Think, a funky sample cut that never gets old, still remembered for the "Woo! Yeah!" and "It takes two to make a think go right" loops in Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock's It Takes Two which is composed almost completely from samples of Think including a few lines of Collins' vocals.
Summers almost gone, so to start off September here's a nice slab of summer shimmering funk from Sly and the Family Stone, classic. Hot Fun in the Summertime is a 1969 hit single recorded by Sly & the Family Stone. The single was released in the wake of the band's high-profile performance at Woodstock, which greatly expanded their fanbase.
It reached #2 on the U.S. pop chart. Thematically, the track was intended to be included on the in-progress album with Everybody Is a Star but the LP was never completed, and three tracks including this were instead included on the band's 1970 Greatest Hits LP, released between Stand! and There's a Riot Going On.
The track was covered by The Beach Boys on their commercially and critically disastrous 1992 album Summer in Paradise. And it was also covered in 1995 by The Manhattan Transfer featuring vocals by Chaka Khan.
Very excited about the forthcoming album from NYC's !!! (aka Chk Chk Chk), due out on the 23 August. Their debut LP Louden Up is still undoubtably one of neoloop's favourite albums ever. The indie funkers signature sound is all over this new track, but with a touch of Chemical Brothers in there. !!! recorded part of the new album in Berlin and were influenced by Brian Eno apparently, sounds interesting. Produced by Eric Broucek (LCD Soundsystem, Hercules and Love Affair) Frontman Nic Offer said - There's these really dark moments in the record, and there's really some of the poppiest stuff we've ever done. Each record, we're always trying to get deeper and darker and funkier and catchier, and it feels further along that road. Can't wait to hear it!
Perfect for some summer BBQ is this slab of funky brass from New Orlean's finest. Sexual Healing never sounded so different, I think Marvin would have approved. The members of the Hot 8 were all born and raised in New Orleans; many of them began playing together in high school. In 1995 they came together and began playing traditional New Orleans brass band music professionally. The band are playing live in London this month on 25 at the Scala.
More stuff on the bands record label here, Bands place in MySpace, Buy on iTunes
After listening to the RJD2's new album (see post below) I thought you might like some of his older stuff, for the uninitiated. 1976 is a short classic track that I often drop in to DJ sets, a real feel good funk-a-thon! Always a big crowd pleaser and guaranteed to get the toes tapping and head nodding. If only it was longer. RJD2 is one of the most poignant underground hip-hop instrumentals of the modern era, this tune is taken from his 2nd album Since We Last Spoke (2004).
Like This? Try: DJ Shadow, Nickodemus, Jazzanova
RJD2 is back with his highly anticipated 4th solo album The Colossus this week. Mixing up his more recent vocal style offerings with his earlier sample based tunes, it's much more eclectic affair with various guest vocalists that include Aaron Livingston (The Roots), Phonte Coleman (Little Brother, The Foreign Exchange) and The Catalist. This track opens the album with some old skool funky guitar and plenty of brass horns rock along to the signature RJD2 drum sound, reminiscent of an old blaxploitation soundtrack. RJD2 AKA Ramble John "RJ" Krohn is from Eugene, Oregon, raised in Columbus, Ohio. He currently resides in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Like This? Try: DJ Shadow, Nickodemus, Jazzanova
Bands place in MySpace, RJD2's own record label, Buy RJD2 on iTunes
Some Phenomenal Psychedelic funk for you right now, The Phenomenal Handclap Band from New York City that includes members of TV ON THE RADIO, Jon Spencer (from the Blues Explosion!), the Amy Winehouse band, and a few hot Lower East Side and Brooklyn kids. Big up the Latin Soulful vibes add a bit of Psychedelic AfroSoul and Funk, hell yeah! Add in Disco legend Anthony Mansfield to remix it up and your done!
This lot are playing at Cargo in London next month!
Funky balkan beat to move your feet, I'm chilling in my crib digging in the crates for some rare classics. This tune just makes you wanna dance. This kind of Balkan electronica can sound shit in the wrong hands, Al Lindrum knows his shit though and produces quality authentic balkan music, he's Just moved from Barcelona to Sarajevo in the balkans running weekly residents at The Balkan Café - www.Facebook.com/balkancafe.
I'm Overdosing on old Gil Scott-Heron tunes at the moment, and they don't get any funkier that The Bottle. Definitely Gil's biggest and most commercial tune, Gil signed a one album deal for the Strata East imprint, out of New York, in 1974 with Brian Jackson, and released the album Winter In America, which contained the original version of The Bottle. It was later reissued during the mid-1980s on Champagne Records in the United Kingdom. The track features Jackson's superb flute playing and Scott-Heron on keyboards, while singing and rapping about alcoholism, drug addiction, abortion, and incarceration, but it sure is funky.
Scott-Heron later said of the single's success and style, "Pop music doesn't necessarily have to be shit." Indeed!
See that black boy over there, runnin' scared his ol' man's in a bottle. He done quit his 9 to 5 to drink full time so now he's livin' in the bottle.
Like This Try: Roy Ayers, Sly and the Family Stone, Fatback Band
Did you feel that rumble, did you hear that sound!
Following Gil Scott-Heron's return to the recording studio I've been prompted to have a dig in the old crates for some old gems. Not a main stream tune, Shut 'Um Down is from the album 1980 released that year, it's all upbeat funk and soul with Gil's protest messages. This is a call to shut down all the nuclear power stations. Gotta work for earth for what it's worth 'cause it's the only earth we've got, shut 'um down! It's from the vinyl, so there's a few pops and crackles in there.
Like This Try: Roy Ayers, Sly and the Family Stone, Dr John
Gil's official site, Get all Gil's old albums on iTunes
How about a quick interval for the funk, some classic 70's shake your booty from The Bar Kays (Mark II). Cool shit, the funk don't get much better than this, plenty of little instrumental breaks, many have been sample over and over. Play it loud!
Originally formed in '66 the band biggest hit was Soul Finger, then most members of the band died in the same plane crash that killed Otis Reading. The funk lived on in Bar Kays second reincarnation.
Another classic funk groove, this track was written and produced by Curtis Mayfield back in 1973. With a baseline like this it still sounds really fresh. There have been a few modern remixes of this track but the original Mayfield production has the edge, I love that the vocals don't kick in until after 2 minutes, pure class. I don't know if Patti Jo had any other hits?
Don't get in to deep brother, don't get in to heavy, Don't fix so you can't move about whenever you get ready. Holy Moly slowly going down. Groove central, classic disco funk from 1975. Not a big hit for the sisters back then, but I reckon this is one of their best!
The Pointer Sisters are from Oakland, California, they achieved mainstream success during the 1970s and 1980s
Gotta make a move to a town that's right for me. Regular visitors to Neoloop know we love a bit of old school Disco, and they don't get more funky than than this dancefloor classic, I've always loved this tune, never tire of it. This is the original 12" mix that Soulwax used large chunks of for there hit NY Lipps from the Nite Versions album.
Lipps Inc. was a studio band that achieved a significant hit with Funkytown in 1979. It reached No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and Dance charts in 1980, also reaching number 1 in Austria, Switzerland, Norway and The Netherlands. It reached No. 2 in the UK and Sweden. It was Lipps Inc's only U.S. Top 40 hit.
Funky steel drums and a wicked trumpet!
On first listen to this I thought this is pretty cool cover of 50 Cent's P.I.M.P, after further investigation I discover that this is the original tune that Fiddy nicked. So now I think it's even cooler now.
The Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band are an obscure band from Trinidad & Tobago.
This moody downtempo tune shows the influence of Latin styles and Jamaican reggae in early 1970's Trinidadian music culture. The theme is said to be derived from Venzuela.
Havana to France via Chinese Man!
Chinese Man Records - The Groove Sessions Vol.2 is another album I picked up from my trip to France this week. It's a very eclectic affair to say the least, mixing up an array of styles from Hip Hop, break beat and Jazz to Bollywood chants, Cuban rhythms, weird electronica and mad film samples. This track is quality! Album RECOMMENDED
Let me kiss you on your Poo Poo La La!
This tune tells you a little love story, the lyrics crack me up. Gotta love this!
Ayers grew up in a musical family. At the age of five, Lionel Hampton gave him his first pair of mallets, which led to the vibraphone being his trademark sound for decades.
Life is just a moment so enjoy it!
A big slab of classic funk from the vibraphone master Roy Ayers. I love this tune, a real feel good vibe. Gives you an extra spring in your step! Perfect for a late night funk session.
Let it flow baby!
Summer funky disco vibe, soak up the rays flowing out this little disco gem from 1976. I love the way it goes in to 'Kool and the Gang Summertime style' instrumental. Just add your own sunlounger and a Pina Colada.
She's Strange and I like it!
A classic bit of funk, still sounds fresh today as it did in 1984. Drum machine beats, wonky synths, strange sirens and Larry Blackman's 'Owww!!' Unmistakably Cameo. Pure classic!