Tags: Jazz Funk Disco

Review: Riding high on the buzz he has generated in the last twelve months, Max Graef delivers this album to Tartelet as a man very much in demand. His style, fuelled on the foundations of sampling funk and soul to a brilliantly modern end, has more space to breathe on this LP, but still the fundamentals remain. "Itzehoe" struts on a lazy jazzed-out sizzle of drums and beautiful Rhodes notes while "Tamboule Fudgefunk" punches its way through woozy synth work and a righteous beat and "Drums Of Death" struts on a perfect disco groove replete with live instrumentation, but there's a wealth of other tempos and styles all shot through with the homespun jazz charm that Graef has made his own of late.

Review: Originally dropped mid-summer as a digital release, the quality on this remix package from The Sunburst Band was just too good to keep off wax. First up, bandleader Dave Lee himself steps up with a 'Jazz Funk Renaissance' version of 'Listen Love' which frames Wayne Hernandez's stirring vocal turn with molten Rhodes and wah-wah guitars aplenty. Then the Louie Vega-Josh Milan dream team come correct with two spellbinding versions that speak to their prowess in the field of live, deeply rooted house music. For good measure, Lee rounds things off on the B2 with a 'Flute Reboot' for those who just want to zone in on the groove.

Review: Less than 10 months have passed since the release of Matt Lord and Dennis 'Dego' McFarland's first collaborative album, but the long-serving duo have already readied album number two. The pair have been working together on-and-off for years and are clearly kindred spirits, at least musically. There's a warmth, looseness and pleasingly effortless feel about much of the material on show, which - like much 2000 Black crew material of recent years - adds luscious synthesizer and electric piano motifs to rubbery bass guitar parts and crunchy beats. It's naturally rooted in broken beat, but rhythmically also pays homage to jazz-funk, hip-hop, Azymuth-esque jazz fusion and boogie. It also includes an excellent, acid-flecked collaboration with mutual friend (and fellow bruk stalwart) Domu.

Review: Vega Records finally drops this EP from Honeysweet having teased tunes from it on the Vega Records 5 Pack Unreleased III. It's a superb house offering with lashings of soulful groovers, all produced by Josh Milan. First out of the blocks is 'Last Night Changed It All' featuring Lawrence Clark on sax. It's a jam that will pack out the floor but brims with real musicality from the magical Rhodes, picked bass guitar, rhythm guitar and drums. 'Crazy' is a more raw, textured percussive sound but then come plenty more feel-good grooves for sun-kissed dance floors such as 'Being Free.'

Review: Shuya Okino is a DJ, club owner, writer and producer as well as being a part of the Kyoto Jazz Massive, and has been a vital figure in the Japanese club scene for over three decades. He is involved in a wide range of projects from Cosmic Village to Root Soul to Mondo Grosso, but his work with brother Yoshihiro as Kyoto Jazz Massive might be his best. This new album is another standout fusion of synth, broken beat and nu-jazz styles. Some of the tunes are pure dance floor heaters such as the prickly vibes of 'Get Up' while others gaze off to a cosmic future such as the gorgeous synths of 'Visions Of Tomorrow'. Essential.

Review: House music has been huge in South Africa for some time, and not just in the underground but everywhere - it can be heard on radio, bleeding from car stereos and out of boomboxes all over the townships. It has its own distinctive twist and influences and some of those are explored on this new Voom Voom 12", which is just the second from this label. It features different remixes of two originals and all are steeped in sun-drenched synths, with funky Afro rhythms underpinning the lush vocals. A heart warming EP of real house depth.

Review: Nicola Conte is one of the central figures in the Schema story, and his nu jazz and broken beat partnership with Gianluca Petrella has yielded some golden music in recent years. Nigeria originally came out in 2018, and then last year popped up on the duo's People Need People LP, but now it's getting a proper remix treatment which sees Tall Black Guy twisting the track out as a heady disco house roller for sundown moments when you need a little jazzy flair in the proceedings. That version comes in vocal and instrumental versions, and then the mighty Andres steps up for one of his simmering groove escapades as he delivers an extended remix of 'African Spirits'.

Review: Having already released a career-spanning retrospective, Twenty, Kraak and Smaak have decided to offer up this partner compilation - a collection of 'new and classic' remixes. As you'd expect given the depth and variety at the heart of their party-starting sound, the collected remixes touch on many sounds, styles and moods, from the head-nodding dancefloor soul of Moods remix of 'Squeeze Me', the revivalist P-funk-meets-neo-boogie colour of Jafunk's rub of 'UR Freak' and the horn-toting, Latin funk flex of the Allergies revision of 'Money in the Bag', to the dubby downtempo loveliness of Richard Dorfmeister's rework of 'Stumble', the woozy deep house lushness of Girls of the Internet's remix of 'Forgot About You', Psychemagik's deliciously cosmic re-wire of 'Corsica '80' and the acid house tweakery of Joe Goddard's interpretation of Romanthony hook-up 'Let's Go Back'

Review: Jitwam is an already accomplished, beatmaker who brings even more goodness on this new album. It is a work that fuses totters samples and edits with plenty of live instrumentals and brings to mind plenty of peaceful moments during the busyness of everyday life. The album was years in the making we are told and was inspired by time he spent in London but also his adventures in New York City. There are some guest features from Melanie Charles and Akhtari and a mixture of processed vocals, heady soul sounds and lush jazz moves.

Review: The new Balearic release from Italian producer Katzuma is a four-track compendium of futuristic slosh, blending the essence of a classic beachside party sound with the pristine synthetics of the 21st Century. Packed with three originals and a fourth, unprecedented remix from fellow pusher Al Kent, it's a release packed with both low-end propulsions and shimmering, pool-refractive strings, providing a nice sonic dialogue of tension and release throughout.

Review: Chaz Jankel was a founding member of the Blockheads and Flow is his new solo album. It is a triumph across 13 cuts of soulful, funky and jazz tinged tunes that will be familiar to anyone who has tuned into Ian Dury and the Blockheads over the years. Chaz is joined on this one by fellow Blockhead saxophonist Dave Lewis and trumpet comes from Bryan Corbett while two vocalists guest in Melody Palmer and Andy Caine, both of whom bring real soul. A new live show is to follow this and feature many of its tunes, so get well versed now with this CD version of the record.

Review: Following a rework of their 1991 hit 'I'm Gonna Love You' on Groove Culture back in April, Italian soul legends Jestofunk get their 1997 album Universal Mother reissued on IRMA. Comprised of northerners Alessandro Staderini, Claudio 'Moz-Art' Rispoli and Farias, they went on to release six albums. All the anthems you probably remember still sound as good on here as they did 24 years ago, such as the disco explosion of 'Be A Warrior' featuring vocals by legend Ce Ce Rogers, the deep down and dirty groove of 'Special Love' with the one and only Jocelyn Brown, to the funky acid jazz joint "If You've Got It, You'll Get It" with percussionist Bill Summers and Fred Wesley on the trombone. Timeless.