The Impellers - This Is Not A Drill (2012)

Starting as Ed Meme & The Forms, this 10-piece powerhouse UK band became the more pronounceable The Impellers when signing with Freestyle Records in 2008, a label on which they released their smashing first album Robot Legs the following year. They're now back with their second full-length recording, This Is Not A Drill, to be sorted in the Heavy Funk section rather than the Deep Funk one. This record is indeed a blast, with huge horns, a high-energy rhythm section, groovy Hammond licks and authentic soulful vocals from 'Lady' Clair Witcher. The single, Politiks Kills People, could be the answer to our recent Election Mix, so we played it in our latest Bag of Goodies selection, and we should also feature their Ting Tings cover That's Not My Name in a future Molesting Laura playlist… Well since this album's all killer, no filler, and full of heavy breaks, we could play any kinda track in there quite easily!
www.juno.co.uk

1. Intro (1:53)
2. Hear What I Say (3:54)
3. I Predict A Riot (3:38)
4. Pon Lo Afuera (4:31)
5. Do What I Wanna Do (4:03)
6. Signs of Hope & Happiness (3:43)
7. Took Me For A Ride (4:29)
8. Belly Savalas (2:46)
9. The Knock Knock (4:33)
10. Politiks Kills People (4:38)
11. That's Not My Name (5:23)
12. Close to Me (3:55)
13. Pull You Over The Line (4:05)
14. Last Orders (2:58)

James Andrews - The Big Time Stuff (2011)

You can hear, feel, smell and taste New Orleans throughout this recording. James Andrews is part of one of the largest and most diversely talented music families New Orleans has ever produced. There's an Andrews in just about every brass band in town, and the groove goes all the way back to Grandfather Jesse Hill. James' career has taken many shapes. From an early stint with “The Allstar Band”, to his "Satchmo of the Ghetto" cd on Allen Toussaints NYNO Records, James consistently shows his uniqueness.
He has a warm, smooth, classy delivery vocally, completely his own style. The sound of James Andrews horn is the true sound of Treme. He's a walking encyclopedia of the cultural history of the area he grew up and blew his first notes in. James soaked up the music and the culture from his early childhood on through his teens, playing at 2nd lines and Jazz funerals throughout the city.
On this recording, all of the aspects of who James Andrews is has come together in one of the tastiest musical gumbos served up in quite some time. A musical gumbo stirred up by Brian J of “The Pimps Of Joytime”, who has captured James at his best. Brian J has done sonically what many have tried and failed to do with a New Orleans artist of James Andrews caliber. James Andrews is the consummate entertainer who makes his audience part of the party from the first note to the last. On this CD, he'll make you a part of his personal 2nd line.
www.cdbaby.com

1. The Big Time Stuff (3:10)
2. Keep That Music Playin' (4:46)
3. Take a Little Trip (5:00)
4. The Treme Shuffle (3:26)
5. Night Life (4:47)
6. At the Jazz Fest (3:36)
7. Mr. Boss Man (4:22)
8. Bet You a Dollar (4:08)
9. Ghetto Funk Music (5:54)

mp3 / CBR 320 kbps / 90.1 Mb

Get The Blessing - OC DC (2012)

Get the Blessing trumpeter Pete Judge says this new album finds the exuberant Portishead-powered quartet "less afraid to be itself than it used to be". With its thundering rock-bass grooves and scorching early Ornette Coleman/Don Cherry horn sound, "afraid" doesn't seem to be in their vocabulary, but this spirited set suggests Judge means they have more eclectic tastes than they've previously let on. With appearances from Portishead guitarist Adrian Utley (bassist Jim Barr and drummer Clive Deamer share Portishead duties with Get the Blessing) and singer Robert Wyatt, OC DC spans sinister, Morricone-like atmospherics, the Miles Davis of Sketches of Spain, a Joe Meek 1960s rock sound, Ornette-sax soulfulness, and a kind of jazz-rock systems music. The title track is familiar Blessing territory (chunky bass-guitar vamps, dirgey horn counterpoint, patient harmony shifts). The haunting trumpet melody and Wyatt's doleful wordless chant on Americano Meccano opens up the Morricone world, Adagio in Wot Minor has delicious sax/trumpet harmonies driven by taut drums, and if the looping, handclappy Pentopia went on twice as long that would still be just fine.
www.theblessing.co.uk

1. OC DC (4:37)
2. Americano Meccano (5:20)
3. Torque (4:57)
4. Adagio In Wot Minor (5:09)
5. Between Fear And Sex (5:00)
6. The Waiting (6:07)
7. Low Earth Orbit (5:14)
8. Pentopia (8:02)

mp3 / CBR 320 kbps / 103.1 Mb

The Dynamites feat. Charles Walker - Burn It Down (2009)

Funky and soulful, The Dynamites’ Burn it Down is an awesome musical anachronism. This release boasts all the groove and passion of funk and soul from a bygone era. At the forefront is the phenomenally powerful voice of Charles Walker, but the dynamites are much more than a vocal showcase; funky guitars and a lusty brass section give Burn it Down a rich, multi-layered sound exploding with energy and a generous helping of groove. The Dynamites usher funk into the new millennium with energized hits like “Treadneck” and “Somebody Stop Me.” Dynamites’ composer, guitarist and producer Bill Elder, aka Leo Black, smoothly merges classical funk and soul, while adding a new kick. Burn it Down is a stellar album with chart-topping power, regardless of the decade. www.thedynamites.net

1. Burn It Down (3:50)
2. If I Had Known (4:23)
3. Sombody's Got It Better (4:18)
4. Can't Have Enough (4:34)
5. Do the Right Thing (4:15)
6. I Got Love for You (4:35)
7. Treadneck (1:50)
8. Somebody Stop Me (4:29)
9. It's a) Sunny Day (4:42)
10. The Third Degree (3:42)
11. If You Don't Mean It (5:09)
12. The Real Deal (4:42)

mp3 / CBR 320 kbps / 115.8 MB

Breakestra - Dusk Till Dawn (2009)

In 2005, Breakestra, the Miles "Om" Tackett-led band, released their full-length debut, Hit the Floor, an album praised for its loyalty to preserving the sound of the funky breaks later sampled in hip-hop. Four years passed between Hit the Floor and Dusk Till Dawn, but despite (or perhaps because of) the time elapsed, their sophomore follow-up lacks cohesion, feeling instead like it's been cobbled together from songs Tackett's been working on in fits and starts since the last album was completed. He is far and away the driving force behind the record, and the band (while they tour with an eight-piece, Tackett plays guitar, bass, keyboard, cello, and percussion on Dusk Till Dawn, sings on a handful of songs, and produced, wrote, and recorded everything), which perhaps explains this, but unfortunately doesn't help the fact that the album often feels as if it's dragging on far past where it should have stopped. It's not that Dusk Till Dawn is slow: it is a funk album, in fact, full of fast-paced songs that are quick and light on the beat, with plenty of horn and guitar riffs, and so tracks move along at a good clip. But because many of the songs are instrumental and structurally simple, when they stretch past the five- and six-minute marks, which they often do, it's hard to stay focused on what's going on. It's also not to say there aren't some bright spots here: "'Posed to Be," featuring Chali 2na and the late DJ Dusk (Tackett's old DJ partner) should have been a Sugarhill Gang hit, and "No Matter Where You Go," with vocals by Mixmaster Wolf, is a fun namecheck of contemporary soul and funk bands worldwide (the New Mastersounds, the Dap-Kings, the Bamboos, etc), and an acknowledgement that they know they're not doing anything new, that they're part of a scene. But this is also the problem with Breakestra: they are just part of a scene, and not at the top of it, so reminding listeners of the other bands also reminds them what those bands do better (vocals, hooks, choruses, etc), and ultimately, makes the weak parts of Dusk Till Dawn more memorable than the highlights.
www.myspace.com

1 Need a little love 4:53
2 Dark clouds rain soul 6:08
3 Come on over (feat. Afrodyete) 4:26
4 Back at the boathouse 3:21
5 Get it right 3:12
6 Show you the way 4:53
7 Me & Michelle 5:00
8 I dont wanna wait 2:51
9 No matter where you go 5:51
10 Posed to be (feat. Chali 2na, Mix Master Wolf & DJ Dusk) 5:20
11 North-East to Nippon 5:29
12 Lowdown stank 6:41
13 Joyful noise 5:36
14 Youll never know 5:58
15 Set the Sun (for Dusk uno) 4:35

mp3 / vbr v0  / 110.3 Mb