Matasuna Vinyl & CDs

Review: Banderas are that most rare of beasts: an eleven-piece salsa band from Japan. While they've been active for a while, their recorded output has been limited, to say the least. The two tracks featured on this tasty 7" were first featured on the band's 2016 debut release, which was never released outside of Japan. It's undoubtedly great that they're finally available to a wider audience, because both are potent dancefloor workouts. With its atmospheric, "barrio atmosphere" opening, jaunty piano build-up, punchy horns, sing-along Cuban style vocals and scorching salsa rhythms, A-side "Tema De Banderas" is particularly effective. That said, bustling B-side "Banderas Mambo", with its heavier rhythms and rousing mambo horn lines, is also pretty darn hot.

Review: Earlier in the year, Matasuna Records reissued two rare and exceedingly hard to find tracks by Peruvian band Bossa 70. They'll soon be offering up more original cuts from the band's sought-after debut album, but before then they're treating us to two dancefloor-focused re-edits of Bossa 70 classics by American DJ/producer Retro Roland Riso. On the A-side he delivers a DJ-friendly "Perfecto Edit" of Think, a horn-heavy slab of Peruvian funk rich in rubbery beats and hazy bass. Just as cheery and life affirming is his interpretation of "Get Out Of My Way". This is an altogether heavier, faster and more stomping revision, though it's the vibrancy of the psychedelic era Latin funk backing track that really sets the pulse racing.

Review: Stone cold New Jersey funk business; Calender's seminal "Hypertension" has been a waymark in dancefloor developments since '75 and its big strings, high energy and nagging vocals still have total resonance to this day as proved by this rolling, conga fuelled twist from Mexican maestro Hotmood. Flip for more relevance as "Ritmo Latino" (from Calender's '76 album "It's A Monster") gets a cheeky breakbeat facelift from Voodoocuts. Now there's no excuse not to get funky every single day of the year.

Review: David Hanke has only just started releasing music under the Dem Juju Poets moniker, and already he's managed to instil a very clear direction in terms of sound aesthetic and creative direction. This new two-tracker for the emergent Matasuna label is full of joie de vivre, with the opening tune "Barabara" managing to blend the best elements of funk, high-life, afrobeat, and generally coming up with a tune that's just so damn easy to dance to. "People's Republic", the flipside track, is a horn-led groover, another slice of worldly funk back by a bumpy, positive tribalistic tone that we instantly associate to the dance floor. Excellent stuff - let's keep it coming!

Review: Matasuna's latest must-have release comes courtesy of Dubben, an artist whose tasty, dub-fired mid-2000s reworks of Afro-Cuban and Latin tracks remain some of G.A.M.M.'s most potent moments. This is the producer's first release of any sort for nearly five years and continues in a similar vein. Check first A-side "Jesus Boogie", a samba-soaked, dub-funk fuelled revision of what sounds like a mid-1970s Brazilian MPB workout. Sweatier flavours are provided on B-side cut "Cachaca", where he dubs out and tools up a punchy affair that boasts a killer horn part reminiscent of The Champs classic "Tequila".

Review: For their latest release, Matasuna Records has put away their re-editing scalpel and instead decided to serve up two obscure old gems by Peru-based Argentine artist Enrique Lynch. Both tracks were recorded in the early 1970s and have become sought-after items amongst the Afro-Tropical collecting community. Having been re-mastered from the original master tapes, A-side "African Bump" - a jazzy, sun-soaked affair notable for its fantastic use of wah-wah guitar, Blaxploitation grooves and high-register horn solos - sounds better than ever before. The same could be said for Lynch's brilliant cover of The Nite-Liters' funk classic "K-Jee", which adds a little South American sunshine to the familiar grooves and celebrated horn lines.

Review: Berlin's Matasuna label welcomes a debut appearance from Afrobeat-flavoured outfit Heroes Of Limbo. We're not certain on where this band originally hail from, but they've got the vibe down perfectly on this smoking hot 7". "Madchester Woman" skits and scatters with loose in-the-room drums, a sassy brass section and sweet high life guitar licks. "White Noise" brings Clair Fallows on board for a strong vocal turn that turns the temperature up. This is soul-stirring Afrobeat in the mould of the originators, executed with respectful accuracy and played with passion.

Review: Matsuna Records' latest batch of Afro-Tropical reworks come courtesy of Kill Emil, a sometime hip-hop producer from Athens who has been delivering killer cuts for the best part of a decade. First up is "Matata", a mid-tempo Afro-Latin stepper in which our Greek hero wraps breezy, delay-laden vocal snippets, ear-catching horn lines and rhythmical guitar riffs around his own punchy, off-kilter MPC beats. Over on side B, Kill Emil gets even more tropical, brilliantly fusing chopped and looped sections of a vintage NYC salsa jam with toe-tapping, head-nodding hip-hop style beats fresh from his trusted beat-box. Like all good salsa jams, it comes complete with some seriously heavy brass.

Review: ***B-STOCK: Creasing on outer sleeve, also the record has light surface marks/scratches, but otherwise in excellent working condition***


The two tracks showcased originally featured on two separate 1967 seven-inch singles by Fred Ramirez, a self-taught Latin-jazz musician and bandleader who had a passion for recording salsa, rumba and mambo-influenced covers of soul and funk hits of the day. Both records are extremely difficult to find these days, in part because collectors rarely part with their cherished copies. The A-side version of Sam & Dave classic 'Hold On, I'm Coming' is simply superb, with Ramirez new arrangement including ear-catching Latin percussion, rousing horns and fluid style piano solos. Over on the flip Ramirez and his band interpret 1960s jazz standard 'Coming Home Baby', delivering a version that sounds like a cross between gangster movie big-band jazz, and Ramsey Lewis classic 'Wade in the Water'. Ace!

Review: Sangre Joven were a Peruvian band operating mainly throughout the 70s and, along with plenty of their own original material, the outfit also worked on versions of American funk classics, such as this reinterpretation, from 1975, of Elkin & Nelson's "Samba Samba". "Zamba Zamba" adds more flavor and percussion to the already tropical groove, making it an ansolutely addictive rhythm to own and play out on the dancefloor! The Matasuna imprint have gone above and beyond with this reissue, however, as Voodoocuts gets an edit in - it becomes more dance-centric and beat-heavy compared to the original cut. A quintessentially unmissable funk belter!