BOSQ Vinilo y CD

Review: When it comes to blending contemporary dancefloor sounds with aspects of vintage funk, soul and Afro-Latin music, there are few more adept producers than former Whiskey Barons man BOSQ. He's at it again here on his first 12" of 2020. Afro-funk star Kaleta provides vocals on both A-side tracks, the Afrobeat-influenced disco-funk cheeriness of "Wake Up" (an infectious chunk of sun-soaked goodness) and the Afro-Cuban percussive shuffle of horn-heavy delight "Omo Iya". Elsewhere, Justo Valdez and Evan Laflamme guest on the Afro-Latin breeziness of "Mambue" (all dancing woodwind, Fela sax and layered drums), while "El Carriqi" sees BOSQ add Tito Puente style percussion and tight Fela Kuti style sax blasts to a club-ready Afro-house groove.

Review: Ever since he first made an impact earlier in the decade, Bosq has proved adept at joining the dots between contemporary club culture and the heady heaviness of vintage African and South American dancefloor styles. He's also rather good at crafting authentic Latin dancefloor workouts, too, as this tidy seven-inch single proves. Check first "Rumbero", featuring the confident vocals of Nidia Gongora, a horn-happy affair that effortlessly joins the dots between rhumba, cumbia and psychedelic punk. His electronic influences come to the fore on flipside "Corazon (Camilo Tumbao)", a contemporary take on the Cumbia sound rich in fuzzy analogue bass, jaunty organs, dub-wise noises and Colombian style male vocals.

Review: Bosq, also known as The Whiskey Baron, returns to Ubiquity with his third studio LP for the label, an outlet that has been going strong since '93 thanks to Michael and Jody McFadin. With Bosq, the worldly and the outernational should always be expected, with Love & Resistance providing exactly those two things throughout. With this being a mother of an album, spanning eleven beautiful dance tracks from the deepest and farthest corners of the world, it's sort of difficult to boil it down to one category. However, what we can say is that if you're into classy disco and boogie vibes with a subtle Brazilian edge, then Bosq is your man! Recommended!

Review: His agenda set with his 2013 debut album Bosq Y Orchestra De Madera, Whiskey Baron Bosq has gone on to unleash heavy 12s on the likes of Soul Clap, Gator Boots and Flavorhead. Now returning to Ubiquity with his second album, it's a series of street carnivals and dusky, balmy late night soirees that belie their autumnal release. Key examples of this album's arresting personality include the Afrofunk horns and relentless groove of "Bounce & Pull Up", the honeyed chants and positivity of "Take Over" and the straight up disco soul of the Nicole Willis-fronted "Bad For Me".

Review: Gator Boots is back with two funky edits from beantown afro-latin aficionado Bosq. We've known him for years, but then he dropped one of our favorite albums of 2013 on Ubiquity Records and put his stamp on the new multi-culti sound that has been so influential to us. These two edits fit that mold and have been huge party jams in our sets for the last year. Look out for a full Soul Clap Records EP from Bosq in the future, but for now here's what he has to say about these two mega jams. "Fela edits are tough for me, as anyone who has listened to any of my tracks knows, the man is far and away the greatest influence to my music and to me most of his songs are nearly perfect. This hasn't stopped me from trying over and over - but it has stopped me from releasing them. I finally felt I had something that walked the line enough with this one and was honored when the homies Eli & Charlie asked to put it out on their Gatur Boots series. I think this track has that universal undeniable appeal that can work with just about any dance floor (and thats Fela's doing - I just gave him a little help for the modern sound systems and tried to really work that pacing). On the flip is another band that has influenced me greatly, Fatback! This was one of those edits that slowly started turning more into an original the further on I went, but I could never quite do without those vocals and that infectious bassline. It's always the most fun for me when I can actually add to the track musically and not just rearrange and beef it up, because that's when I feel like it's really becoming more unique and I'm contributing more than just tweaking the details. This one has got everything from rhodes to arp to organ, percussion, etc.

Review: One of the many highlights from his album Bosq Y Orquesta De Madera, "Paciencia De Jo" shows Whiskey Baron Bosq at his most sedate and soulful. A future Balearic classic blessed with the heart-melting vocals of Tita Lima, it oozes sunset charm throughout. For this special white vinyl release Ubiquity have invited Tall Black Guy to the fray for a stunning re-touch. Retaining the lush vibes of the original while adding a smooth sense of jazz and additional percussion, it complements the original with every soulful ebb and flow. Paciencia is a virtue, possess it if you can!

Review: Having landed his debut album Bosq Y Orchestra De Madera on Ubiquity Records back in 2013, Bosq will be returning with his second long player on the Californian label later this year. Take Over is the second 12" laid down as a precursor of what Bosq has up his sleeve and the Boston-based Whisky Baron is certainly on good form. Known for his towering vocal contributions to Fela's Egypt 80, Benin-born / Nigerian-raised singer Kaleta once again lines a Bosq production in lead cut "Take Over", and it might just be their heaviest collaboration yet! The Less Patient edit adds a bit of dancefloor weight to the track. Flip for the dense, delay heavy afrobeat burner "Bounce And Pull Up" which features some devilish horns from Evan Laflamme.

Review: First up on the freshly minted Bacalao imprint is Bosq, a Ubiquity Records contributor renowned for his blends of funk, soul and sweaty South American music. While the heavy horns featured on this release were recorded in Bogota, the producer's usual Colombian flavour takes a back seat as he joins forces with Kaleta to deliver two covers of Fatback Band classics. First up is "Goin' To See My Baby", which is re-imagined as a fuzzy funk workout rich in rasping horns, tropical guitar flourishes and woodblock-driven Latin disco percussion. Arguably even better is the duo's cover of "Backstrokin'", which is given a Barrio-funk flavour complete with prominent bass, heavy-hitting horn motifs and excitable lead vocals.

Review: Bosq's Bacalao label is back with more of that supreme feel-good gear to bring about sunnier days. The artist frequently spotted on Ubiquity knows exactly how to craft a sumptuous groove with a particular focus on Latin music and Afrobeat, and he's doing that with flair and precision on 'C'est Quoi C'est Quoi'. The track features French poet Pat Kalla on vocals, and it's leaps off the 7" primed for festival deployment. If you want to get the crowd locked in and heads down, the 'Gimme Riddim Dub' on the flip may be more your bag, but either way the musicality springs forth from this perfect nugget of globally-minded funk.

Review: Ever-reliable funk fusionist Bosq has scored another hit here, this time with the help of Favourite Recordings regular Pat Kalla, a talented French poet and singer. 'Mouna Power' is another great example of Bosq's ability to successfully meld together elements of Afrobeat, Afro-Cuban music and tropical grooves, adding layers of colourful instrumentation (bass, keys, horns, guitars and so on). The excellent original version comes backed with a longer, slightly tougher but no less warming and kaleidoscopic 'Dancefloor Dub'. It contains most of the vocals, more percussion and a greater role for the killer bassline and is probably our pick of the mixes

Review: You'd expect a collaboration between Columbia-based fusionist Bosq, Ibibio Sound System's horn section and vocalist Kaleta to be pretty darn good, and 'Song For Ehi' most certainly is. Inspired by a combination of classic Edo-funk, Afro-disco and reggae disco, the A-side original version delivers a near perfect mix of timbales-sporting dub disco grooves, reverb-laden lead vocals, Afro-funk guitar licks, Afrobeat-esque organ licks and punchy horns. The track's inherent dubbiness is further explored on the flipside revision, which adds extra layers of percussion and the kind of breathless dancefloor weight that marks out the greatest dub disco workouts. In a word: essential!

Review: Medellin-based American Bosq - a renowned musical fusionist with a passion for all things tropical - has been working with Benin-based Nigerian guitarist/vocalist Kaleta on and off for 12 years, with the pair delivering a series of sensational singles. No Be Today is the duo's first collaborative full length, with previous singles being joined by previously unheard cuts across two slabs of wax. As you'd expect given their previous work, much of the music joins the dots between various Afro-Latin styles and similarly vintage Black American dance music genres such as disco, funk and soul. It's an effervescent and effortlessly brilliant set all told, with highlights including pitched-down Afro-funk number 'Ose', glorious Afro-disco number 'Sonayon', Afrobeat update 'Ipade' and scorching Latin dancefloor workout 'Miselou'.

Review: Bosq and Kaleta's most recent single, an inspired Afro-disco two-tracker featuring 'Meji Meji' and 'Sonayon', has been given the remix treatment. On side A, Folamour successfully re-imagines 'Meji Meji' as a joyous, sun-bright slab of cheery deep house/colourful nu-disco fusion, wisely making the most of Kaleta's infectious vocals, the original disco bassline, and the pair's chirpy horns. Over on side B, Bosq takes over and delivers a delicious 'disco dub' of 'Sonayon'. A little more stripped-back and groove-based than the original nix with breakdowns and special effects aplenty, Bosq makes merry with horns, highlife guitars and more Afrobeat style bass guitar pressure.

Review: Former Whiskey Barons man Bosq has enjoyed a long working relationship with Nigeria-based, Benin-born guitarist and vocalist Kaleta. We make this the pair's eleventh collaborative single in the last decade and, as with their previous outings, it trumphantly blurs the boundaries between Afro-disco, Afro-beat and Afro-funk. On side A you'll find vocal and instrumental takes on 'Meji Meji, a pleasingly live-sounding affair full of rubbery bass guitar, righteous horns, infectious drums and Kaleta's evocative guitar licks. Over on the flip, they opt for even heavier, life-affirming horn motifs, Afro-disco grooves and more sun-splashed Afro-funk guitars on vocal and instrumental versions of the similarly inspired 'Sonayon'.

Review: American born/Colombia-based producer Ben Woods aka Bosq, and Benin-born vocalist/guitarist Leon Ligan-Majek aka Kaleta follow up on the success of their recent collaboration with Purple Disco Machine, and build on their nearly 10 years of working together with their new Afro disco number 'Ipade'. It features Kaleta's trademark chants and exclamations in a mix of Yoruba and English, over sleek rhythms, a ripping horns section and one funky bassline. Over on the flip, get down deeper into the groove with the lo-slung swagger of 'Ariya Tide'.

Review: Taking off where he left us on his Ubiquity albums, Whiskey Baron Bosq flies 1600 miles due south to Puerto Rico to work with a decorated troupe of local musicians and explore the island's sonic cauldron where calypso, Afrobeat, reggae and Latin all lick up a fiery furore. All wrapped up in Bosq's intoxicating dancefloor twist across the eight tracks we're hip-slinking to piano-stroking "Aquarembe", we're nodding and shaking to the sweet skanks of "San Jose 51", we're getting deep, down and slo-mo to the smouldering "Ron Blanco Con Coco" and whole load more. Vinyl only.

Review: Kaleta's first full-length collaboration with the Super Yamba Band, 2019's "Medaho", was something of a slept-on treat: a fiendishly psychedelic Afrobeat affair that was every bit as heavy, colourful and vibrant as you'd expect. Here, one of the album's standout tunes gets the remix treatment courtesy of long-serving, party-starting musical fusionist Bosq. The Ubiquity and Soul Clap stalwart delivers vocal and instrumental passes of "Jibiti", both of which make great use of Kaleta's vocals and Super Yamba Band's fuzzy, Fela Kuti-style horn lines. Bosq's groove is closer in feel to Afro-disco than the original album version, though the bassline, organ stabs and vocals are pure Afrobeat gold.