Review: American neo-soul pin-up D'Angelo has released a couple of the smoothest records of the last 30 years. He even made a welcome comeback in the mid 2010s and added some more magic to his cannon. Here Kero Uno remixes a couple of his tunes and ups their funky quotient to make them more suitable to dancefloors. First, he flips 'Spanish Joint' into a key-laced and funky workout with low-slung, hip-swinging grooves sure to seduce next to the zippy synth leads. On the flip is his hot take on 'Feel Like Makin' Love', another bona-fide gem full of heart and soul.
Review: For the last couple of years, DJ AL has been serving up creative edits that breathe new life into iconic tracks from hip-hop and r&b. He's already dropped a big one in 2025 but quickly backs it up with two more razor-sharp reworks. First up is 'MVP (DJ A-L Blahzay Blahzay remix)' which has big old school energy, dusty and raw drum breaks and hard bars a plenty. 'Jump Around (DJ A-L Shoot Your Shot remix)' is a more soulful sound with a deep cut groove but still plenty of 90s hip-hop energy and some hip-swinging claps. A great return that is sure to fire up many a 'floor this summer and beyond.
Review: London's Mysticisms label spill valorous guts in issuing this new dub and breakbeat crossover record from Dub Specialists. Having emerged from te potent 1980s-90s fallouts that enshrouded the pioneering digital roots label Conscious Sounds, Dub Specialists tracked the storied meeting-of-minds that was and still is Douglas Waldrop, Piers Harrison, and Stuart "Chuggy" Leath. This time, the trio are heard teaming up with DJ Millie McKee and studio brain Matt Bruce to formate yet another splinter cell, as missionaries of Conscious Sounds' digital mission: to explore samplers and videogame sounds in dub and funk. Using an Atari 1040 running Cubase and armed with a Soundcraft mixer, this latest iteration hears drum loops and reggae basslines played over funk samples and layered with Petter's chords, crafting a series of short, DJ-worthy heaters. The result is unhindered by expectation and breaks many calcified digidub moulds, as on 'Funkin Dub', where speak n' spell garblings meet downtown funk licks and sonorant snare whacks.
Lost Girl (Marc Hype & Jim Dunloop Late Night rework) (3:24)
Special Technique Of Love (Jim Dunloop Shaolin Soul edit) (3:08)
Review: Dusty Donuts return with another heavyweight 7" of hip-hop gold, this time journeying from Queensbridge to Staten Island. Side A delivers a bouncy, chopped-up rework featuring a Lost Girl once heard on a legendary QB mixtape and it is guaranteed to ignite any dancefloor. Flipping over, the vibe shifts to Shaolin with a raw and soulful reinterpretation of a classic that pays tasteful homage to Staten Island's finest. With tight edits and a deep love for golden-era hip-hop, this release hits hard on both sides and is another great example of the craftsmanship, nostalgia and party-starting energy the Dusty Donuts crew always deals in.
Review: Davon Bryant-Mason aka Dreamcastmoe finally makes his vinyl debut on Rhythm Section, years after the label first encountered him and his genre-smudging sound. Though it's the first official release between the artist and the Peckham imprint, their connection runs deep, stretching all the way back to a string of early underground pool hall sets at the now nonexistent Canavan's in South London. Introduced to RS founder Bradley Zero by DMV tastemakers Beautiful Swimmers, Dreamcastmoe's characteristic blend of hip house, lo-fi electronica and an echo of the DC go-go scene stood out to the gregariously locked tastemaker profusely. Now, in a full-circle moment, 'The Lost Tape Vol 3; surfaces as yet another end yield of years' worth of mutual admiration between label and artist, flaunting such affectively zoned bumps as 'At Molly's Request' and 'Flowers' with Nappynappa.
Review: Backdrops of engineered silence and societal distraction inform on this from Fatboi Sharif and Driveby, twin rap verbalisers from the hinterzones of New Jersey. Let Me Out confronts the fractured psyche of a world numbed by noise: a raw, unfiltered dispatch from the underbelly, where six-figure illusions swing pendularly over mirrored truths, and suppressed rage simmers beneath manufactured calm. Tracked at 2ndststudios and shaped by the precision of Steel Tipped Dove, the record is sharpened further by the eerie co-production of DJ Boogaveli on 'We Fought for this Country!?' and haunting backing vocals from Paul Keim on 'Krossroads'. From milk-and-oil confusion to the cracked prayers of trauma survivors, each track on this grittily sculpted noise rap record erodes our psychic Achilles' heels, through emotional debris and soul static.
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