The Quantic Soul Orchestra : Panama City

This track is irresistibly funky ! Sublime !
While Will Holland records as Quantic for his more producer orientated music, The Quantic Soul Orchestra is a project that benefits from working with amazing musicians who can also deliver a phenomenal live performance.
In 2007 Will ‘Quantic’ Holland moved to Cali, Colombia’s third largest city, to pursue his passion for both unearthing lost treasures from Colombia’s musical past and making new music with the golden array of talent available today. As a travelling music maker/DJ, continually searching for unconventional destinations to both find and showcase his music, Holland found it to be a rewarding move, and Colombia was to prove a perfect home-base to fuel his remarkably prolific creativity.

Marc Hype & Jim Dunloop : Wah-Wah-Wah

Two turntables and a funky piano! Step into the world of Marc Hype & Jim Dunloop. "Stamp Out Reality" is their musical manifest. A diverse mix of different styles which reflects their unique live concept, mostly funky tracks mixed with hip hop influences. Listen to the heavy break stomper "Wah Wah Wah", which is my personal favourite. The concept of the album is to display the diversity of the two maestros, coming from different backrounds, met inside the hip hop culture and travelling through the paths of 21st century funk.

Javi P3z Orquesta : Futbol-in

Another massive track from the past decade. This track came out in 2004 on the first album "Sports" of the Spanish "Javi P3z Orquesta".
P3z is one of the originators of Spanish electronic and experimental music scene, and the co-founder of the adored label Novophonic. After becoming the proud father of triplettes he has returned to the studio and re-recorded the tracks with an orchestra, and completed this much-awaited funkolympics ! The band consists of Javi P3z (Sampler and Voice), Makala (Bass), Jon Lonbera (Guitar), Jimmi Bidaurreta (Keyboards), Mikel Abrego (Drums), Luis Camino (Percussion), Jon Elizalde (Trombone), Aritz Iombide (Trumpet), and Igor Ruiz (Saxophone).

Diesler : Cotton Wool

Diesler’s first release was ‘Cotton Wool’, part of Tru Thoughts’ Shapes One compilation. Despite being written when he was only 20, the song still found its way onto Radio 1. This success was followed by three full albums and the next one will follow on Social Beats/Unique in 2010.

GQ : Disco Nights

A classic disco track by the band that recorded earlier work as "The Rhythm Makers". Suggested by manager Tony Lopez they changed their name to GQ in 1978, standing for "Good Quality". GQ became quite successful playing music representative of the period's disco influenced sound.
The track reached number one in R&B charts in 1979 and could hold that position for two weeks.

Chris Joss : You've Been Spiked

"You've Been Spiked" is the titel track of the album Chris Joss released in 2004.
The funky baselines, intoxicating wha wha guitars, hammond organs and smoky blaxploitation sound betray the hand of an excellent producer ! This is definetely how the late sixties and early seventies would have sounded if they had modern studio equipment.

Jamie Lidell : Little Bit Of Feelgood

Some say he's too funky for a white man, and that he has never seen an episode of Top Gear, because he is a huge fan of Midsomer Murders !
Some say that he made a masterpiece with "Multiply", and that he has even created a bigger one with "Jim" !
Some say that he is a beatboxing genius, and that he's collaborated with Feist, Gonzales, Mocky and even Beck lately...
All we know is, he's called Jamie Lidell.

Brass Construction : Changin'

This is some real dirty funk blended with polished disco stuff indeed ! Brass it is !
Vocalist/keyboards player Randy Muller formed the band with eight other musicians in 1968 as Dynamic Soul. It wasn't until 1975 when the group recorded their first album changed their name to Brass Construction.
Their 1975 debut, produced by Jeff Lane, went platinum and contained two dancefloor anthems in "Moving" and "Changin."

De La Soul : A Roller Skating Jam Named "Saturdays"

A Roller Skating Jam Named "Saturdays" is the first single from De La Soul's second album, De La Soul Is Dead. The song was very well received and raised expectations for the album. Featuring rapper Q-Tip and vocalist Vinia Mojica, the song was another collaboration from the Native Tongues Posse; it would however be among the last to appear on a De La Soul album.
The song is built around the "Evil Vibration" sample from The Mighty Ryeders, a funk band from Florida.

Dj Graham B : Sambamadness

More dancefloor madness with Dj Graham B, a legend in the Dutch music scene since the mid eighties. His first solo release for one of my favourite labels : "Freestyle Records". This track was the beginning of a series of nice productions with a full album "No Room for Chairs" as final result.
Dj Graham B also received high critical acclaim from people like Gilles Peterson with the releases of his Jazz Juice combo.

Natural Self : The Sound

This excellent dancefloor filler is built around a superb rhythm track, sampled from an old spiritual by The Louisiana Sunspots, dirty brass and stompin' beats !
Natural Self is the ongoing project of Nathaniel Pearn, aka producer Keno-1. 2001 saw Natural Self’s production debut with the “Shakedown/The Soul step” single on Tru Thoughts. With seven years of DJing experience already under his belt by this time, he knew exactly how to work a dancefloor, and both tracks had a strikingly direct and confident sound. The characteristic combination of raw drums, polyrhythmic percussion and strident horns would become a signature style of the several singles that followed.
Natural Self’s 2006 debut album ‘Let Peace Be The Ruler’ for Breakin’ Bread records saw the introduction of live recording into the Natural Self sound.
Another amazing song from the album is the one with Alice Russel : "I Don't Need This Trouble". Must have !



posted by JOG

Aaron Neville : Hercules

Songs that immediately catch the right vibe, and stay there from beginning till the end, yes we like !
Aaron Neville was born on January 24, 1941, he had a career as a solo artist and as one of The Neville Brothers. Aaron was the first Neville to burn his way up the national charts : in 1966, with "Tell It Like It Is" hit number-one. Unfortunately, the label, Par-Lo, went broke before Aaron got paid. 
His next project was with brother Cyril with a funk band called the Soul Machine, and in 1973 he recorded Hercules before forming The Wild Tchoupitoulas with Charles and Cyril.
Problems with the pressing of the Hercules 45 meant that the record never got a proper release; it’s most likely that they were all destroyed, since originals are almost impossible to find. However, record hunters have been known to turn up white label promos, but as they were all pressed on styrene rather than vinyl, they’re notorious for sound deterioration after just a few plays.
Jazzman records did a beautiful 7-inch reissue of this track.

The Meters : Cissy Strut

The Meters are Art Neville on organ, Joseph "Zigaboo" Modeliste on drums and George Porter Jr. on bass, Leo Nocentelli plays guitar.
The Meters, based in New Orleans performed and recorded their own music from the late 1960s until 1977 and also played an influential role as backing musicians for other artists such as Lee Dorsey and Dr John.
While the band never enjoyed significant mainstream success, they are considered one of the pioneers of funk music, and their work influenced many other bands.
In their 25-year history, The Meters have grooved their way around the globe. They have toured with such talents as The Rolling Stones, and have been the rhythm for such diverse artists as Dr. John, Paul McCartney, Robert Palmer and Patti Labelle. Considered by many to be the founding fathers of funk, The Meters created a unique sound that lasted through the sixties and seventies and was reborn in the late eighties. Their trademark sound blends funk, blues, and dance grooves with a New Orleans vibe.

Gwen Mcrae : 90 % of me is You

This track came out in 1974 on Cat Records, a track that's been sampled by some of hip hop's finest .
The Gwen McCrae version is in fact a cover, original was by Vanessa Kendrick, the music is the same - heavy beats and lush strings - but the vocal is way different. There's not much argument that the later version probably deserves the higher profile.
For over three decades, Gwen McCrae has won worldwide acclaim for her sensuous, classy brand of modern soul music. Gwen was a pioneering figure in Miami's growth as a center of R&B music in the 70's at the influential TK Records and became an international star in 1975 with the chart-topping, million-selling success of the Grammy-nominated "Rockin' Chair".

Les Fleurs

Ramsey Lewis : The earliest version arised in 1968 out of the hands of Ramsey Lewis, but the track was written and produced by Charles Stephney. The magical version below appeared on a compilation that 4 Hero did for Life:Styles. With his typical freeride jazz, funk, soul, classic freestyle piano playing Ramsey Lewis made this into a divine version.

 

Minnie Riperton : "Les Fleurs" is the opening on Minnie Ripertons debut album "Come To My Garden", released in 1970. The arrangements of the great Charles Stepney strike a perfect balance between romantic melodrama and sensual nuance embracing both intimacy and majesty to haunting effect. The lyrics are by the hand of Richard Rudolph, Minnie Ripertons husband. Enjoy !

 

 4 Hero : The great Mark 'Marc Mac' Clair and Dennis 'Dego' McFarlane picked up the classic on the album "Creating Patterns" in 2001. They created a version that definetely can stand up to the orignal with Carina Andersson as the lead vocalist.

Big Boss Man : Kelvin Stardust

Snapping drums and a tasty pumpin` groove, this track is the first from the second Big Boss album "Winner". Radio play secured the boys a tour in France and Spain at that time. The single Kelvin Stardust also appeared on the quality compilation series Soulshakers.
The Band consists of: Nasser Bouzida on organ and percussion, Scott Milsom on bass and Trevor Harding on guitar.

Fort Knox Five : The Big Score

Formed in 2003 by four like minded, creative musicians as an outlet for a new style of funk infused electronic music mixed with live instrumentation and vocalists. Members hail from various side projects and previous outfits; Steve Raskin originally part of Edsel and Raskal as well as ESL Music Recording Artists Thunderball and Liftoff, Rob Myers plays sitar and guitar with Thievery Corporation and International Velvet and also plays guitar in See-I, Jon Horvath recorded music with both DJ Dan and Raskal, and Sid Barcelona was also a part of ESL Music Recording Artists Thunderball and Liftoff. Fort Knox Five formed their own record label, Fort Knox Recordings to release their music, and the label is now distributed by Washington, DC based Dischord Records.

Ray Charles : I Got A Woman

Sit down, relax, hit the play button and enjoy this masterpiece !
Almost immediately after signing with Atlantic, Charles scored his first hit singles. "It Should Have Been Me" and "Don't You Know" both made the charts in 1954, but it was "I Got A Woman", composed with band mate Renald Richard, that brought him to national prominence.
The song reached the top of Billboard's R&B singles chart in 1955 and from there until 1959 he would have a series of R&B successes.
Charles was often cited for "using his voice like a saxophone"...

Aretha Franklin : Rock Steady

"Rock Steady" is a single performed by Aretha Franklin and released in 1971, from the album "Young, Gifted and Black". The song reached the 9 spot on the Billboard 100 charts that same year. It also peaked at 2 on the Best Selling Soul Singles chart.

Ray Barretto : Acid

Ray Barretto was a Grammy Award-winning Puerto Rican latin musician, widely credited as the godfather of Latin jazz.
By the time 1968 rolled around, Ray Barretto was a celebrated studio session player whose hard-driving conga rhythms could be heard all over the records of Dizzy Gillespie, Cal Tjader, Cannonball Adderley, and countless others. Once he dropped Acid onto the music world, Barretto firmly established a reputation for himself as an innovator in his own right.
Like the drug itself, Acid had a mind-expanding influence on everyone, allowing for a far more adventurous and eclectic edge to slip into New York's Latin music scene. A lot less psychedelic than its title and cover might lead you to believe, Acid remains one of the most far-out fusions of Latin and soul music ever conceived.
Catchy as hell, the records four original Latin/soul numbers ("Mercy, Mercy Baby", "The Soul Drummers", "A Deeper Shade of Soul" and "Teacher of Love") are obscure classics loaded with plenty of vintage '60s soul references—punchy James Brown and Stax Records sounding horns, thickly grooving bass lines, fat-back drums, and soul catch-phrases such as "What I say," "Lord have mercy," "Come on, come on baby" and "Sock it to me!"

Patti Jo : Make Me Believe In You / Ain't No Love Lost

One of the great unknow soul singers of her time. Proven by the fact that in 1972/1973 Curtis Mayfield chose her to lay down ‘Make Me Believe In You’ and the much underrated ‘Ain’t No Love Lost’. She was only sixteen at the time. Unfortunately, little more is known about this terrific performer.


She's done great versions of Curtis Mayfield's classics "Ain't No Love Lost" and "Make Me Believe In You". The first one was released by Scepterin 1972 and the latter by Scepter's subsidiary Wand a year later. Both were originally released only as a 7" but Tom Moulton made a great extended version of Make Me Believe In You for Scepter's compilation Disco Gold. The same edit appears on this essential Tom Moulton compilation.