Funk charts

Review: After two 45s on Les Disques Bongo Joe, Dutch Afrofunk space cadets make their debut on Soundway with their first full EP. Hurling all their roots and inspirations into a heady, bewitching brew of west African, Columbian, Caribbean, Latin and all-round cosmic fusion, the results are four slabs of world funk gold. "Down In The Basement" updates highlife styles with a salubrious big-bottomed disco twist, "The Opposite" ups the tempo with a little more cumbia charm while "Continue The Fun" adds a dub mentality to the mix as we're chugged to oblivion with heads down introspection. Finally "Tuto Bay" closes somewhere on a Cuban beach with rum-warmed harmonies. Beautiful.

Review: Vampisoul dedicate one more 7" to another fresh-from-the-woodfired slice of modern cumbia, this time from the eponymous La Cumbia Moderna De Soledad band and Machuca Cumbia respectively. On the A, the former band offer up a two-toning cumbia version of Rod Stewart's 'Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?', sparse but well-wrought in its sound. The B is a treat that vibrates at a different, but equally as effective frequency, being a convincingly retro take on the Bee Gees' 'Stayin' Alive', and lending the song's ineluctable melodies a Latin twist by way of hypnotic percs and guitars.

Review: We really have a soft spot for the Four Flies late out of Italy. Their mix of world, Latin, library, jazz and plenty of other cultured in-between sounds always brings a smile to our face and dancers to our dance floors. This new 7" takes the form of a second single to be taken from Psyche's (aka Naples collective Marcello Giannini, Andrea De Fazio and Paolo Petrella) debut long player which is due in May. It's a compelling cut that offers a rich exploration of rhythm and the movements of an imaginary ritual dance. Synths and drums, guitar and bass and percussion all interplay delightfully.

Review: Not to be confused with 80s synth-poppers or an early Carl Craig alias, Psyche is in fact a crack team of players from Naples who have been active for some two decades. In more recent times you might have heard Marcello Giannini, Andrea De Fazio and Paolo Petrella playing as part of Nu Genea's touring band, but after their first tour in 2018 they formed this project as a means of exploring a more minimal, flowing approach to playing their chosen instruments. If Psyche is in some ways a back to basics record, it's also a showcase for their incredible talent at weaving gently psychedelic grooves from simple ingredients. The sound has a perfect treatment, with plenty of reverb and analogue warmth in the mix, all the better to savour the laconic instrumental pieces the band perform.

Review: Late last year, El Palmas Music dropped Color De Tropico, a terrific collection of vintage Venezuelan music that showcased far-sighted fusions of cumbia, salsa, and numerous American and European styles (jazz, rock, soul and so on). This speedy follow-up covers similar sonic ground and is every bit as essential as its predecessor. Highlights abound from start to finish, but our picks include the rocking, organ-laced psyche-cumbia of Los Kings' 'Empecemos (Let's Start)', the Venezuelan reggae-soul of 'Buena Suerta' by Las Cuatro Monedas, the percussion-and-synths brilliance of Mario Y Sus Diamentes' 'Santo Domingo' and the plucked guitars and infectious rhythms of Anselmo Y Su Conjunto's 'Seis Pajueliao'. The latter is a bona fide tropical treat!

Review: Initially discovered by the label via cassette tapes picked up in Jo'burg's Kohinoor store back in 1995, The Movers feature on the 35th in Germany's Analog Africa's series of band spotlights. As its title suggests, this captures the band's work across the lion's share of the 70s, and tracks like 'Hot Coffee' and '2nd Avenue' are irresistibly, instantly groovy, but also a fascinating sonic crossroads where African jit music meets the funk and soul of the US and the funkier end of the guitar music coming out of the UK and Europe at the same time. All executed In the most natural, free flowing, as well, which makes this package even harder to resist.

Review: Cumbia or chicha is a richly and widely infused sound that brings together a multitude of influences. It has styles from Colombia and Cuba, plus Western influences including the likes of 60s beat and psychedelic rock, plus an exotic array of indigenous melodies from the Amazonian jungle as well as a weakth of traditional Andean songs. The music that realists is vibrant and vivacious and packed with life and is all perfectly showered here on this superb new collection of tracks by the most important bands of the golden age of the sound.

Review: Living High in the Brass Empire is Mitchum Yacoub's latest showcase in personal stylings of tropical funk, afrobeat, cumbia, and soul; a musical patchwork threaded by a heavy, hypnotic rhythm section and powerfully vibrant horn lines. What sounds like a 12-piece ensemble was actually mostly recorded and performed by Yacoub at his home in San Diego, featuring a few close friends from local groups Sure Fire Soul Ensemble and Boostive. You'll hear rhythms from Colombia; folkloric Cuban percussion; interlocking grooves a la Fela Kuti; a 70s r&b influence and something ineffably brilliant gluing it all together.