New releases last eight weeks: Funk Soul & Jazz

Review: Get yourself geared up for festival season with some fierce party starters certified with the Glitterbox stamp. Melvo Baptiste leads the charge with 'Sweat', a sizzling disco house stomper with Dames Brown giving the biggest diva energy on her show-stopping vocal. Lovebirds bring unbridled joy on the Philly string swoon and slinky b-line funk of 'Burn It Down', while Art Of Tones & Inaya Day keep it peak time on the sassy strutter 'Give My Love'. Young Pulse & Fleur De Mur complete the set with 'Smooth Sweet Talker', another bright and bold vocal cut par excellence.

Review: Super Spicy's Super Spicy Recipe series is back with a sixth mouthwatering offering and once again it's a super hot outing of party-ready house and disco sounds. First up is the irresistibly colourful disco charm of Birdee with the freewheeling 'Underground' and its groove-infused piano. Label boss Monsieur Van Pratt then adds his own spin to a rare groove classic with a lung-busting soul vocal and Pato Watson is in edit mode as he tweaks 'Ella Fue' to perfection. Italian don Paul Older brings some funky jazz fusion sounds to his steamy 'Turkish Lights, C. Da Afro keeps it a party with his 'Nothing But The Funk' and Mexican Juan Soto slips into a more deep and loved-up funk-house vibe on 'All Is Full Of Love'.

Review: Funkyjaws Music is back with more music to make your jaw go funky, this time in the form of a second volume of its Let's Dance series. It features a quartet of esteemed tune makers starting with Frank Booker's 'Yes No Maybe' which is a horn laced and loose-limbed delight, while go-slow master Eddie C brings his classy touch to the funky licks of 'Love Dancing Theme.' There are plenty of cosmic synth waves to Black Truffle's 'Dancing Through The Night' while the LTJ Xperience close down with a super laid back and summery vibe on 'Sunny Groove.'

Review: Twilight is the latest piece by long time DJ, producer and remixer, Dominic Dawson. The Japanese label Flower, has released this single to 7" complete with a remix for the second side. The title track is a catchy and funky house track that while the remix is a bit more Balearic and beachy. Both versions have their place in any house setlist and will set the tone for any eclectic DJ set. With the DJing background Dominic has, he is a great guide to setting the mood with music. Like the title artwork suggests, this is perfect music to watch the sun go down to.

Review: Leading Italian disco outlet IRMA is back with more irresistible and dazzling goodness, this time courtesy of Funky Destination with some pretty standout remixes. 'Take It Down' opens up as a new version by LTJ Xperience that has percolating funk lines and slow, sensuous grooves. 'Mr Bong' (Louie Beat Re-work) is a more percussive number with brilliant drumming and sunny melodies and 'Take It Down' offers a sensuous soul sound and some psyched-out guitar riffs. Last of all is the most streamy and busy of the lot with unresolved drum loops, disco percussion and rousing pads that will fill the floor.

Review: House music and fresh modern funk are happy bedfellows on this new EP from Moniquea with the masterful production taken care of by XL Middleton who, if you ask us, cannot miss at the moment. With an unmistakable West Coast vibe characterised by punchy synth bass and leads, this A-side embraces the good times with pulsating beats and detuned chords. On the B-side, the '97 Remix pays homage to Moniquea's g-funk origins while the bonus Applejac remix of 'Hate To See It' seamlessly blends dance-oriented elements with lush synth strings reminiscent of peak-era Neptunes productions from the 2000s.

Review: Philadelphia International Records continues to dip into its bulging archives and offer up double-packs containing some of the finest 1970s remixes from remix pioneer Tom Moulton. As you'd expect, there's plenty to get the juices flowing and the heart pounding on this third volume in the series. Record one opens up with Moulton's epic version of the O'Jays' "This Time Baby", a swirling Philly Soul classic that later became a favourite of sample-loving disco-house producers and disco re-editors, and continues with his sugary but floor-friendly version of the Futures' "Party Time Man". Over on record two, Moulton's inspired extension of Jean Carn's seductive "Love Don't Come Easy" is followed by his must-have version of the Jones Girls' "Nights Over Egypt".

Review: Electronica production duo Arnau Obiols and Kayyak, who've laid down a name for themselves for their distinct blend of cultural influences and captivating soundscapes, here present two new tracks that seamlessly fuse Afro-inspired rhythms with groovy organic beats. Barely letting us clock for a second that these are in any way electronically programmed or sequenced, this fresh Compost Records 12" hears its two new cuts, 'Faith' and 'San Diago', abound in the ambered, sandy interim of a clear-skied evening, in which cocktails flow and smiles widen. Remixes by Prins Thomas and Medle & Dele Sosimi do just as well to complement the mood.

Review: Athens of the North has got some fantastic and previously unreleased lo-fi goodness on their hands here. It comes from Lee Tracy and Isaac Manning's back catalogue and has been boosted subtly by some studio drumming from ECLA which adds a little more heft to it. 'Foxy Lady' is a lithe funk jam with shimmering synths and snappy snares over nice broken beats. It is backed with 'Jesus Going To Clean House' which is a standout cut from the album that has got many heads falling over themselves so good is it. The vamping chords and dusty deep house drums could all be a forgotten Chicago classic while the vocal is a real one packed with emotion.

Review: Italian dance producer Gianni Bini debuts on Groove Culture with the House Of Glass LP, topping up his impressive discography with a solo studio effort, and bolstering the already massive stock of production credits attached to his bulging, insatiable name. Though his various monikers over the years have indeed propelled him in a many-a-direction, Bini's latest here centres on epic disco, and rewinds the tape to an earlier sound first explored in his formative days as a producer; retroactively, we hear a livelier, more contemporary take on the stabbing strings, bristling bass and bubblegum beats - all live-recorded - that first put him on the map.

Review: Magic Number is Ross Hillard, a downtempo and orchestral composer whose engineering and bass playing can be heard on an array of releases, most notably for the likes of his own house favourites including Louie Vega, DJ Spen, Kerri Chandler, Lay-Far and Atjazz. Now debuting his first record on the latter artist's eponymous label, Badly Written Songs sounds like a slice of humble pie, but it's actually well-thought out title: in Hillard's own words, "(it's) a tongue-in-cheek reference to how transient electronic music can be." Thus, writing songs in this genre might not have been the most sensible and sustainable idea - but we all love house music, so we put everything into it, hoping that people don't discard it too soon. True to an engineer's tastes, the album is ultra-dynamic and bright throughout, serving up a consistent guest-vocal steeze reminiscent of Charles Webster or Herbert's gravitas.

Review: The second full-length from Parisian dance producer Diogo Strausz, whose grasp on the nascent wave of samba-infused house, funk and Afrobeat flaunts a conspicuous expertise. Drawing on the titular idea of 'samba from outer space' - where dance music is a wordless, universal language that quantizes people's experience and flushes them of their iniquities - Strausz's point is that dance music pre-dates electronica and that, looked at it in a certain way, all dance music is simply cosmic samba. Whether or not you agree, this is an effortlessly enchanting full-length, feal to every samba hallmark from syncopated clave to two-tone piano riffs, albeit also backed up by robotic samples and FM ows.