STRETCH Vinyl & CDs

Review: Some 30 years after rising to prominence via a now legendary NYC radio show, veteran hip-hop DJs Stretch Armstrong and Bobbito Garcia have finally made a debut album. It sees them join forces with specially created nine-piece combo The M19s Band to serve up fresh covers of a range of well-known and obscure "dance floor bangers" (as the accompanying press release puts it). There are some superb interpretations, with the Police's dub disco jam "Voices Inside My Head" becoming a sweet soul-jazz treat, the Clash's "Magnificent Dance" reborn as a Latin jazz number (complete with Rich Medina spoken word vocal) and Womack & Womack's "Baby I'm Scared of You" a seductive, shuffling Afro-Cuban jazz standard. In a word: brilliant.

Review: Some 30 years after rising to prominence via a now legendary NYC radio show, veteran hip-hop DJs Stretch Armstrong and Bobbito Garcia have finally made a debut album. It sees them join forces with specially created nine-piece combo The M19s Band to serve up fresh covers of a range of well-known and obscure "dance floor bangers" (as the accompanying press release puts it). There are some superb interpretations, with the Police's dub disco jam "Voices Inside My Head" becoming a sweet soul-jazz treat, the Clash's "Magnificent Dance" reborn as a Latin jazz number (complete with Rich Medina spoken word vocal) and Womack & Womack's "Baby I'm Scared of You" a seductive, shuffling Afro-Cuban jazz standard. In a word: brilliant.