Juno Recommends Funk / Rare Groove / Reissues : August 2023

Review: Dimitri From Paris has always been pretty much a whole sound world unto himself. He draws on disco and filter house in his own unique ways and never fails to cook up steamy cuts for sweaty clubs. This time out he is in edit mode and has carefully worked his magic on The Soul Searchers tune 'Ashley's Roachclip'. His version for this limited edition 7" via DFP Vaults has jazzy flutes leading the way over churning funk drums with plenty of guitar riffs adding some girt under busy trumpets. An original 7' edit is also included and is slightly less weighty in the low end.

Review: Since launching the series in 2021, Smoove has served up a quintet of 'Multitrack Edits' EPs. As the title suggests, each sees the North-East-based DJ/producer deliver his takes on classic funk, soul, disco and boogie cuts using the multi-track tapes. This sixth volume in the series features two more tidy revisions. On side A he does a brilliant job in stretching out and building up a version of funk favourite 'Brothers on the Slide', layering up various instruments in turn before unleashing the backing vocals and, eventually, lead vocals. On the reverse, Smoove does a terrific job lightly tightening up and extending Sly Stone fave 'It's a Family Affair', adding a touch of hip-hop swing to the legendary musician's groove while showcasing some of the instrumental flourishes buried in the original 1970s mix.

Review: Mysterious editor Shake Your Rump's entire statement of intent is, well... exactly that. This fresh 7" record by the artist and label hears two sides of edits magic, 'So Damn Hot' and 'Rumpashaker', both of which sample classic funk and soul greats, but with an added oomph and verve well-suited for hip-hop mixes. In this day and age it can be hard to motivate anything remotely resembling an activity worthy of rump-shaking, but Shake Your Rump serves to prove such reluctant habits can be broken.

Review: This is the debut release by the French duo Last Bongo In Paris, also known as Cleon & Jazzy Pidjay. Both are DJs and producers with a background in Latin funk and jazz-funk, and these influences more than strongly shine on 'Green Season', a release whose priority is heavy breakbeats backed by a whismical, live-instrumental flavour. The title track swims and sways through meandering kazoos and psychedelically-filtered falsettos, while the B-side brings up the flip with yet three more incredible live-but-edited-in-post numbers, plus a really weird, never-heard-before 'Bonus Scratch'.

Review: Domo Domo are the duo of Japanese sound engineer Yas Inoue and DJ Takaya Nagase, both based in New York. Their latest 'Happening In The Streets' pays due homage to jazz-funk supergroup The Voltage Brothers, who released their discographic standouts in the 70s and 80s. Two cleverly put-together edits of the eponymous rare groove original come with many filtrations, lengthenings, effects and sonic tweaks.

Review: .Back in 2021 when he first dropped this one, The Zone Identity had been away for two years. It was a fine return though that now comes with a special Japanese Edition sleeve. The project is an anonymous one but they excel at soul-jazz grooves and tasteful covers of classic material and that this one is led by drummer Jay Mumford. 'Knight Rider' is a super cover of the title tune of the iconic 80s show. It's replayed with heavy drums snapping beneath the classic synth phrasing and some extra late night vibes. J-Zone then offers a slow motion workout with '9 Breaks (The Warm Up).' Still fresh.

Review: .You'd be hard pushed to find a more lively collision of sounds than this one from Friends From Rio. The Brazillian outfit mixed up jungle funk, samba, Latin, soul and plenty more on their 2014 album Friends From Rio Project. 'Fogo No Chap (Fire In The Ground)' is one of the single rom it and here it gets an edit job by DJ Muro who draws out the good bits, lets the loose rhythms flow and gives plenty of room to the steamy wind leads. Flip over this fine 7" and you'll find another summer ready sound in 'Casino Bangu (Lembrancas Do Lincoln)' (feat Banda Utopia - DJ Muro edit) which is more percussive and just as vibrant.

Review: Comapared to many of his contemporaries, James Brown usually left politics well alone but this infectious funky single from 1974 does show shades of the empowering times he was living in, urging his audience to buy land and "save your money like the mob". As well as being well ahead of its time by mentioning rapping, this has everything you want a track from the Godfather of Soul, namely plenty of vocal gymnastics, a drum break that practically screams 'sample me', a rock hard rhythm section and scratchy superfly guitar. Gets our vote! It's backed up by The Vibrettes' 'Humpty Dump', another track whose breakbeat has been heavily plundered but remains vivacious enough to fill most dancefloors in seconds.

Review: 'Good Good Music' and 'Chicago' are two gems taken from Roy Ayers's 1983 disco funk album Silver Vibrations, which was last reissued back in 2019 by BBE. This 7" pairs off two of its most vibey cuts. 'Good Good Music' has mad synth squelchy, big organic disco licks and a diva vocal full of soul. On the flip is a late-night romancer, a slow motion smoother with under vocal wishers, low slung funk bass and rich, golden chords for a luxurious feel. Two very different but equally devastating tunes.

Review: Steel City electro-funk wizard BusCrates shows that not only American counterparts like Dam Funk can lay down seductive funk smoochers with his second full-length album, Control Center. Soraya Watti is on hand to provide smooth and soulful tones on 'On My Way', the only track with a voice, and its beautifully downbeat gem that harks back to classic Erykah Badu tunes from days gone by. Elsewhere there are whimsical synth laced daydreams like 'Four Track Mind' and sax-led slow motion funk wigglers like 'Prisms'. It's a gorgeous album for both background play and up front listens.

Review: This is a posthumous album by the Nigerian drummer Tony Allen, one of the pioneers of Afrobeat music and a longtime collaborator with the genre's founder, and activist, Fela Kuti. The album features Allen's last recordings before his death in 2020 - which were in turn produced by the American composer, lawyer and producer Adrian Younge, otherwise known for his most prominent work with rappers Ghostface Killah, Kendrick Lamar and Jay Z. Guided by Younge's chops on production, the album hears Allen's trademark stark, cacophonous funky-drummed rapture, amid a heavenly collision of keyboard janks and offbeat shoulder-raising shrugs.

Review: American jazz drummer and singer Grady Tate was a busy man back in the day - he released some 38 odd albums from the mid-60s onwards and many big tunes. 'Be Black Baby' is a proud celebration of his race at a time when it was no doubt hugely risky to do so - right in the midst of the civil rights movement's peak days. It's a funked-up number with a potent message delivered with belief and empowerment. This unique 7" repress pairs a stereo version with a mono recording.

Review: This is the latest single material from Robert Dubwise Browne, a Jamaican guitarist whose shoulder-rub credits include the likes of his father Dennis Brown, as well as Gregory Isaacs, Beres Hammond and Toots Hibbert. Vortex, the Japanese reggae specialist, provides ample shelter for this gemlike pair, a cool behemoth of future-jazzy production, as well as multi-stylistic dancehall and dub tropes. Browne's virtuosic guitars glide over this gold-coated sonic snack, like sound-barrier-breaking appendages.

Review: .US soul combo The Sextones duo have plenty of authentic soul chops - so much so that this one sounds like it could be a long lost 60s classics. But no, it's a new tune from their forthcoming album. The first press sold out instantly and so a reissue is already here. First up is 'Without You' which is an uptempo burner, showcasing playful call-and-response vocals, xylophone and horns over an unapologetically locked-in rhythm section. Turn it over for 'Love Can't Be Borrowed', a mid-tempo slice of soul magic that muses on relationship difficulties.

Review: Djar One is a master editor of funk, soul and hip-hop classics and his crown is once more gilded by this release, 'Sliced Tomatoes', which contains reworks of two Northern soul gems: Just Brothers' 'Sliced Tomatoes' and The Showstoppers' 'Ain't Nothing But A House Party'. Extra bump and bounce is lent to the original rarities tracks, making them more than suitable for modern dancefloors, as well as for Northern soul heads who don't mind a bit of extra pizzazz.

Review: A series of Prince albums are being reissued by Warner, including this one from 1994. By then the legendary funk artist's relationship with his label was hugely stringed and he had recently change his name, for the first of several times to [Love Symbol]. This album was one of a number that the Purple One wrote in a short space of time in order to free himself from his contract with the major label. Despite those circumstances, it is still a standout record that managed to get to Number One in the UK despite a lack of support from Prince himself upon release.

Review: Djar One is something of a hip-hop and funk titan who can make fresh new beats or mixed up and edit the classics with equal aplomb. For his latest outing which finds him step away from regular home Burning Sole, he lands on Beats House and tackles one of the most well known breaks you can imagine and one which was made so famous by Fatboy Slim. Here 'Sliced Tomatoes' has the nice crisp back beats and the warbling guitar line running on endlessly to get you in the groove. Flip over the 7" and you'll find another old school funk bomb in 'A House Party' which has some big vocals and bumping grooves next to potent horn stabs.

Review: .They don't come much tighter than the legendary New York City outfit, Budos Band. The acclaimed funk outfit has long been associated with Daptone Records - for over two decades, in fact - but here they land on new label Diamond West with latest EP Frontier's Edge. Across five cuts it has their famously tight grooves under pining each track and the whole thing is said to have been written in just a few days. The lead single and title track is a menacing head banger with bone rattling guitar and tejano-flavored horns.This one comes on lovely opaque lime vinyl.