Back catalogue: Funk

Review: The Sitar Beat series is built with the DJ in mind - collecting some of the wildest, heaviest and most psychedelic Indian funk recorded and presenting it loud, and ready for the turntable. The first four volumes were assembled by one Indian music aficionado... For the first time, a "guest compiler" was brought in to lace you with some obscure goodies for volume five. As always, we continue the dig into Indian deep funk and psycho-psychedelic masterpieces recorded for the Bollywood film industry. And this time we're even going straight to Indian VHS Videotapes to issue incidental music never before released on vinyl... Sitar Beat Volume Five offers up the sought after title track from RD Burman's "Burning Train" soundtrack alongside Indo-disco (including one helluva Kraftwerk rip off!) and promises to be the first time that many of these songs are heard by the record-buying public - at least in this form. Edits remove any bobbing and weaving, leaving funk that only flies straight ahead!

Review: Those Scandinavian merchants of mischievous beats known as GAMM turn to the Catalonian sun for their latest twelve inch excursion, as Pablo Sanchez adds to his production CV with two cuts. The A Side sees "Yes We Can Can" from Pointer Sisters tuned inside out and embellished with some mid tempo bombastic disco dub sensibilities that further demonstrates the Barcelona based producer's skill at chopping samples. On the flip Sanchez melds some of Thelonius Monk's finest jazz flourishes to a classic jeep beat bump which should satisfy anyone who is down with the likes of Keepup! Records.

Review: For those of you with a sweet tooth for gamm, raw fusion, and some soul-jazzy delicacies, here's the first release from the label Down The Bush. They start with a combination of all new artists from the label. U-man drops 'Champion' on the A-side, kind of electric soul with some rough dubbing reggae vibration, followed by a totally different remix by not-so-new-comer Chalice Cooper for a bit more of a Latin touch. The B-side introduces Callaloo with a nu-jazz bomb called 'Green Note' and there again, followed by a revamp dub cut version from main man behind the label, U-man, simply called 'Bush Wants You'.

Review: Originally out in 1985, Peoples Potential Unlimited reissue this soul boogie jam from Uku Kuut (who was born In the Soviet Union, raised in Sweden and now lives in Estonia) featuring Marju Kuut on vocals. On the flip is a mellow instrumental in homage to Uku's home for the past 20 years, now available for the first time on cute 7" vinyl. Top release!

Review: 'Way Back When' is a club favourite from the 80's. This re-edit will melt you down!

Review: The A-side is Seawind's 'Free'. Gorgeous! This is a damn fine re-edit of a B-side jam.

Review: A hot and steamy funk jam on the A, a swooning samba with a hectic climax on the B: dynamically this is pretty much the perfect 45 as it ticks all funk dancefloor scenarios. Sonically it's just as sweet with widescreen production, fireside harmonies and pianos that could meander on for days and you'd never get bored. Previously rarer than unicorn knickers, this Underground Resurrection re-release comes our way the same week as the Second Resurrection 45. AOTN are clearly working on biblical form right now.

Review: Raw Fusion offshoot G.A.M.M. pretty much ruled the vinyl roost a few years back with a slew of boogified hip-hop blends from the likes of Red Astaire, Beat Conductor and some cheeky scamp called Todd Terje. The illicit imprint are slowly picking up speed once again with this double drop of reworks from DJ Prime the third G.A.M.M. release this year. Widely regarded as the inspiration for UK reissue label BBE, Universal Robot Band's boogie standard "Barely Breaking Even" gets toughened up with some additional house flex. A similar treatment is afforded to Marvin Gaye's "Praise" on the B Side, with the gospel tinged soulful original augmented by a neck snapping break. This heavy syncopation and some neat tape loop edits are all that is needed to exploit the tracks dancefloor potential. More please G.A.M.M.

Review: DJ friendly boogie edits, block party anthems and mid-tempo disco-rock mash-ups. Can you dig it?

Review: Even by the dusty-fingered standards of arch crate diggers People's Potential Unlimited, this is something of an obscurity. During the late 1970s, Surinamese musician Usje Sukatma recorded a number of groovy, disco-influenced stoner rock gems most of which barely registered outside of his home country. Back in 2011, PPU rescued the superb "Waiting For Your Love" - his only song in English - from obscurity, sticking it out on an in-demand 7". Here they press it up again, this time on a single-sided 12" alongside "Pepundeku", a reggae and doo-wop influenced chunk of saucer-eyed sweetness sung in his native tongue. Like the A-side, it's something of a surprise killer.