Bonobo : Animals

Bonobo's first release was in October 1999 with the song "Terrapin" on the Tru Thoughts compilation "When Shapes Join Together". He released his debut album "Animal Magic" on Tru Thoughts in 2000. With this album, completely self-produced and mainly self-instrumented, he became one of the "new downtempo pioneers" and his chilled, beat-driven music captivated press as well as many major labels.
In 2001, Bonobo was signed to Ninja Tune and in 2003, after one album of remixes on Tru Thoughts in 2002, he released "Dial 'M' For Monkey". In 2005, Bonobo contributed to the Solid Steel series, with his Bonobo Presents Solid Steel: "It Came From The Sea", the release date was scheduled for October 10, 2005, but was released a week early[5], the mix features several exclusive tracks as well as remixes and re-edits.
His third album, entitled "Days to Come", was released on October 2, 2006, the first single from the album was "Nightlite", featuring vocals by Bajka. Following the success of "Days to Come" his tracks have appeared in a number of media-related items. "Days To Come" was voted Best Album of 2006 by Gilles Peterson's listeners.
The song "The Keeper" was released in September 2009 as the lead single from his fourth album "Black Sands", released in March 2010. "Animals" is one of my personal favourites.

Kay-Gees : Hustle Wit' Every Muscle

Released in 1975 as Kay-Gee's debut album which is titled differently on the US pressing which is called "Keep On Bumpin' & Master Plan". This pressing has one extra track "Hustle Wit' Every Muscle".
The album is produced by Ronald Bell, founding member of Kool & the Gang. It's obvious that the Kool & The Gang sound dominates this album. You know the drill : chunky basslines, funky guitars, tight bomb horns, catchy vocals etc.
Sampled by Kraak & Smaak on their debut "Boogie Angst".

All Nations Quartet : He Spoke

Appears as first track on Jazzman Gerald presents Let's Boogaloo vol.5.
The winning formula has remained unchanged, once again you'll find a lot of rare gems along with a bunch of the best contemporary funk and soul productions. The result is an incandescent selection of deep funk, rare soul, modish-R&B, titty-shakers and jazzy 45s that go across the boards.
Amongst the new productions are "His Spoke", a raw, lo-fi gospel funk 45 from 2009 by All Nation Quartet aka Ozzy guitarist & funk/soul addict Kris Holmes.

David McCallum : The Edge

In the 1960s, McCallum recorded four albums for Capitol Records with producer David Axelrod: "A Part of Me" (1966), "A Bit More of Me" (1966), "It's Happening Now!" (1967), and "McCallum" (1968). The most well known of his pieces today is "The Edge," which was sampled by Dr. Dre as the intro and riff to the track "The Next Episode."
McCallum did not sing on these records, as many television stars of the 60s did when offered recording contracts, but used the opportunity to make a different statement. As a classically trained musician, he conceived a blend of oboe, french horn, and strings with guitar and drums, and presented instrumental interpretations of hits of the day. The official arranger on the albums was H. B. Barnum, but McCallum conducted and contributed a few original compositions over the course of four LPs.

Fred Wesley : Four Play

"Four Play" appears on the 1977 album "A Blow for Me, a Toot to You".
"Four Play" is an excellent track that really features some great bass playing from Bootsy. The rhythm is hypnotic and moving, with the horns coming in to work against the tension of the guitars & bass.
Despite the fact that this album is mostly a bunch of old tracks that were redone with new horn tracks, it's still excellent. The greatness of the musicians and their amazing output at the time meant that these were no mere outtakes, but rather excellent tracks that didn't quite fit in elsewhere. Fittingly, most of the music and vocals are handled by Bootsy's Rubber Band, for whom the Horny Horns played for on all their records. In fact, the Horny Horns were named right around the time that the Rubber Band was born. In addition, frequent Rubber Band contributors Garry Shider, Michael Hampton and Bernie Worrell can be heard all over the album. The album stays lightly funky the whole way through, with horns dominant throughout. The vocals are mostly chants if they're there at all.

Tito Puente : Wata Wasuri (Gilles Peterson Re-edit)

Tito Puente, Sr., (April 20, 1923 – June 1, 2000), born Ernesto Antonio Puente, Jr., was a Latin Jazz and Mambo musician. The son of native Puerto Ricans Ernest and Ercilia Puente, of Spanish Harlem in New York City, Puente is often credited as "El Rey" (the King) of the timbales and "The King of Latin Music". He is best known for dance-oriented mambo and Latin jazz compositions that helped keep his career going for 50 years. He and his music appear in many films such as The Mambo Kings and Fernando Trueba's Calle 54. He guest starred on several television shows including The Cosby Show and The Simpsons.
Gilles Peterson, born 28 September 1964 in Caen, France, born to a mother from Paris and a father from Zürich, is a DJ, record collector and record label owner from London, UK. Through his labels Acid Jazz, Talkin' Loud, and latterly Brownswood Recordings, he has been associated with the careers of well-known artists of the 1990s such as Erykah Badu and Roni Size plus Jamiroquai. He is also well known as a radio DJ.

Gecko Turner : You Can't Own Me

Taken from the new album Gone Down South. Gecko Turner (real name Fernando Gabriel Echave Pelaez) is a Spanish musician and singer-songwiter. Based near the border between Spain and Portugal, he has fronted several bands in his native Spain.
Turner has thrown a huge number of styles and genres into the mix, from the salsa of Cuanta Suerte to the trippy acoustic pop stylings of So Sweet, a song that takes influence from The Velvet Underground. The way Gecko Turner effortlessly plays with genre is a real pleasure to listen to.

Black Machine : How Gee

This legendary clubtrack was released for the first time in 1991 on a 12 inch in Spain and soon conquered Europe and the rest of the world.
The track is build around a sample of "Soul Power 74" performed by Maceo & The Macks.

The Transatlantics : Couldn't Be Him

The Transatlantics came together in 2007 born of a shared love for gritty old vinyl, cheap guitars and quality barbequed meats. Described by NME as “a young, white Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings,” The Transatlantic’s sound invokes the grainy warmth of southern American Soul and the rhythmic grunt of classic James Brown-era funk.
Following a huge 2009 which saw performances at Falls Festival, Big Day Out and Playground Weekender Festival, 2010 sees The Transatlantic's first offering of sweet retro soul released through Freestyle Records.

http://www.myspace.com/transatlantics

Funkadelic : (Not Just) Knee Deep

"(Not Just) Knee Deep" is a funk song running 15 minutes, 21 seconds on side 1 of Funkadelic's 1979 album Uncle Jam Wants You.
An edited version of the song, appearing as Side A on the single release, reached number one on the Billboard Black Singles chart. The song was written by George Clinton and Walter "Junie" Morrison but the songwriting credit is listed as "George Clinton, Jr." on the album pressing as a gift to Clinton's son. The songwriting credit on the single, however, is listed as George Clinton.
The song is about a girl who is the, "freak of the week" and dances "never missing a beat." It is widely seen as a funk classic, peaking at number seventy-seven on the Hot 100, and topping the US R&B charts. in 1979 in heavily edited form. The lyrics deal with a man meeting a woman, presumably at a party; she dances for him. He is unimpressed by the Jerk, the Monkey, the Moose and the Chicken, but is blown away by the Freak. ((Wiki)

Sister Sledge : Lost In Music (The Revenge Rework)

The Revenge reworks are quite a fuss on the dancefloor the last few years. They all come from the hands of Graeme Clark. Graeme began producing in his early teenage years, making a blend of electronic music using a couple of his dad's old drum machines and a sampler. Influenced by his parents collection of rock, soul and funk he began the process of dissecting and re-imagining and re-editing the music. (Mr Jog)

United 8 : Getting Uptown (to Get Down)

Released in 1972 on Atlantic Records written by Desmond Wray. Studio engineer and producer was Jimmy Douglass, who learned from watching the work of Tom Dowd. Well-known for his work with hip-hop producer Timbaland in the recent years, but the work of "Senator Jimmy D" stretches back to the 1970s, when he worked with Otis Redding, Bette Midler, Hall & Oates, The Rolling Stones and more. (Mr Jog)