Soopastole Vinyl & CDs

Review: This is a much warranted reissue of another gem from the one and only DJ Soopasoul that finds him work his favourite artist, the Godfather of Soul himself, James Brown. Interestingly, the legendary artist doesn't actually feature all that much on the A-side vocal mix of 'Boston Drop', with Soopasoul limiting his involvement to a few excited yelps, grunts and instructions to the backing band. That's not necessarily a bad thing though, because the musical accompaniment - which can be admired further on the tight, DJ-friendly instrumental take - offers an enticing mixture of hard, sun-bright guitar licks, heavy drum-breaks, handclaps and chunky bass.

Review: As the title sneakily suggests, the latest volume in DJ Soopasoul's essential "Soopastole Edits" series sees the prolific re-editor and mash-up merchant take his scalpel to all time disco classic "We Are Family". We could be wrong, but it sounds like it was created using the multi-track parts, focusing as it does for much of the duration on a stripped-back, DJ-friendly groove, selected vocal snippets and delay-laden musical elements not always audible on the original version. Over on the flipside "Cosmo On The Groove" version, he takes a slightly different approach, adding a classic old school hip-hop acappella to an expertly cut-up version of the track that utilizes a little more of the sing-along chorus.

Review: Mash-up maestro and club-edit specialist DJ Soopasoul is back once again, hot on the heels of his 'Good Edits Part 1 & 2' only last month. This time he is offering his 'edit & Rebuild' versions of two funk gems on his own Soopastole label. 'Give It Up' is first and is powered by funky breaks and driving drums, with lithe bass and big horn work. On the flip is the blue-eyed soul come deeply funky fusion that is 'Rock Steady' with more crisp drum work and this time a soaring vocal. Two more floor filing gems.

Review: It is undervalued soul singer Esther Phillips's cover version of Gil Scott's Heron's cult classic 'Home Is Where The Hatred Is' that provides the source material for this latest edit from DJ Soopasoul. ON the a-side is a version pretty faithful to the original, only with more bulky drums, drawn out grovers and some extra drum fills for that more suitable dance floor feel. The strings will also soar on the right system. A dub pairs it back slightly to a raw funk groove with plenty of hard blue eyed soul also colouring the mix.

Review: DJ Soopasoul is reissuing some of his freshest edit works on his own self-titled label at the moment. This one is another doozy from the main man that finds him pay tribute to funk's late great drummer, Clyde Stubblefield. 'Ode to Clyde (Part 1)' naturally gives Stubblefield's break plenty of airtime, along with the song's hazy funk instrumentation and Brown's rasping lead vocal. Over on the flip Brown takes second billing to a spate of horn solos lifted from the legendary nine-minute version of 'Funky Drummer', with Stubblefield's incredible drumming providing constant dance floor pressure. Another great 7" to pump any party.

Review: Fast-fingered mash-up merchant and lauded scalpel fiend DJ Soopasoul can usually be relied upon to bring the goods. In fact, we've yet to hear an edition of his "Soopastole Edits" series that doesn't include the kind of sure-fire, party-starting fare guaranteed to get any DJ out of a dancefloor hole of their own making. Should you still doubt the validity of this statement, we suggest you check this timely reissue of the series' second volume, which has been going for serious bucks online. On side A you'll find a suitably punchy, funky and chunky revision of Kool & The Gang's Gene Redd produced 1970 jam "Give It Up" - the original source of one of hip-hops most familiar breakbeats - with a tight, club-ready revision of Aretha Franklin classic "Rock Steady" on the flip.

Review: DJ Soopasoul has previously breathed new life into tracks by Croatian producer Funky Destination, so it's little surprise to see him putting his spin on the Osijek-based artist's latest missive. He does a terrific job, offering up vocal and instrumental versions of "Come Back To Me" rich in long, tension-building intros, fuzzy funk horns, bass-heavy grooves, swirling orchestration and hard-wired guitar riffs. While the instrumental version is tidy, our pick of the pair is undoubtedly the A-side remix. We're not sure who the lead vocalist is, but her delivery is incredible. Don't sleep on this one!

Review: Johny Pate is a soundtrack maestro who had his work flipped superbly by Archie Shepp here. He pulled off something superb with this one which is a much-loved funk and rare groove breakbeats anthem and made it to 7" vinyl for the first time back in February but soon sold out despite the high price because it was a Japan-only release. It now gets this much-needed reissue, again in limited quantities and is backed with a lovely soul gem from Bobby Womack. Do not sleep on this one cause it might not come around again for a while.

Review: DJ Soopasoul is the studio wizard and cut up don who runs the Soopastole label and usually it is he who drops most of its heat. Here though we have a split 12" from Labi Siffre and Banbarra, whose tunes have had the New Super Funk Heavy edit. Now anyone who hears a-side 'I Got The' will recognise the main riff as it was turned into a super hit by rapper Eminem on his 'My Name Is' tune. It sounds great here going slow and funky with big string accompaniments. Banbarra's 'Shack Up' is a more strident bit of straight up funky with plenty of height in the drums, neat guitar riffs and a guttural vocal.