The Fort Knox Five - Blowing Up The Barrio

A quick post before I head out to celebrate New Year's Eve. I'm hosting a small pre-party and I'll be playing some deep house/lounge stuff but what I would really love to do is to organize a big block party and play something like Blowing Up The Barrio. It's the first Fort Knox Five tune I heard back in early 2005 and I've been a fan ever since. The track is truly designed to rock the dancefloor at your neighborhood (barrio) bloc party. The beat is solid and the horns are hot. Just the way I like it.

Happy New Year! See you in 2009.

The Fort Knox Five - Blowing Up The Barrio [320 kbps, direct link]

Earth, Wind & Fire - Gazillian Rhyme (Bozo Meko Edit)

The rumor has it that Gazilliain Rhyme is a Mark The 45 King remix. I'm not sure when and where was it originally issued but now it's available on a 7". A-side features an amazing party break edit of the classic tune Spread Love by Take 6. Anyhow, the original is a classic break but unfortunately it's not that DJ friendly since it's hard to mix and lasts for only a minute and a half. This Bozo Meko remix extends the tune and fattens the beat. This one is definitely on it's way to my Feel-Good Summer Anthem TOP 10.

Earth, Wind & Fire - Gazillian Rhyme (Bozo Meko Edit) [320 kbps, direct link]

Bobby Thurston - Check Out The Groove

Here's a great blend of boogie, disco and soul from the beginning of the 80s. The version I'm sharing with you is the extended 12" mix of Check Out The Groove. The album version appears on Thurston's 1980 LP You Got What It Takes. Make sure to check out the title song as well. It's a smashing club classic.

Bobby Thurston - Check Out The Groove [320 kbps, direct link]

It's christmas time in Hollis, Queens

I'm flying back home for the holidays today so I figured it's time for a some sort of christmas post though I'm not much of a christmas person. I really can't stand these cheesy sellout christmas tunes. Especially I hate all the wack christmas raps out there. Luckily there's a couple of classic christmas bangers that you can count on. Run DMC's Christmas In Hollis and of course the classic Christmas Rappin' by Kurtis Blow are the ones for me. The beat on Christmas Rappin' is so dope that I hooked you up with the instrumental as well. The Furious Five is killing it on the same beat live in 1981. Check it out via Outside Broadcast.

Kurtis Blow - Christmas Rappin' [320 kbps]

Kurtis Blow - Christmas Rappin' (Do It Yourself Version - Instrumental) [320 kbps]

Run DMC - Christmas In Hollis [320 kbps]

Happy Holidays!

P.S. Make sure to check the video for Christmas In Hollis. It's hilarious.

Rusko - Jahova

Rusko's Essential Mix 12/13 (BBC's Radio 1) from last Saturday is amazing. These tunes kick you in the gut and it feels great. If you're into dubstep, you're probably already aware of this and though you're not usually feeling dubstep, you might want to take a listen. And don't go easy on the bass, your neighbors will understand...not.

EDIT: Just noticed that the mix with a complete tracklist is also available for download at newmixes.com.

And here's my favorite Rusko tune Jahova from the 2x12" Bablyon: Volume 1 (2007, Sub Soldiers Records). It's a massive dubstep version of Rebel MC's Jahovia.

Rusko - Jahova [320 kbps]

Active Force - Give Me Your Love (Specially Extended Version)

I think it's time to post a straight up boogie tune for a while. Give Me Your Love is one of my all time favorites. Active Force cut their only album (s/t) in 1983 for A&M Records. Give Me Your Love was the single release and a biggish club hit. I used to think the 12" was ultra rare but it turned out that it's not that hard to find it for a decent price. The album was produced and arranged by Michael Stokes also associated with B.T. Express, Brass Construction and Smokey Robinson.

BTW, I just noticed that Give Me Your Love appears on DJ U-Tern's ODL #47 mix Patterns In The Sky. I haven't yet listened to it but at least the tracklist is tight. Listen here.

Active Force - Give Me Your Love [320 kbps]

Wee - Try Me

Numero Group is one of the best reissue labels around. They seem to find a hidden gem after another. Try Me by Wee, originally released on the Owl label trades for as high as $ 900 since it's ultra rare and extremely smooth mid-tempo soul tune. Thanks to Numero this product of the Ohio soul scene of the late 70s, recorded in Columbia in 1977 is available for $ 5. Flipside features a beautiful soul ballad Teach Me How.

Wee - Try Me [320 kbps]

20 Classic Hip Hop Album Covers Recreated In LEGO

20 Classic Hip Hop Album Covers Recreated In LEGO. Laughing out loud...

Rhythm Funk Masters - Afro-American-Arctic

Rhythm Funk Masters released their debut album, Afro-American-Arctic, last year. The title represents the content pretty well. It's a solid blend of afrobeat, funk and some nordic elements. I've been meaning to buy this one for a long time but since it's released only as a CD and I rarely browse through the CD shelves I have kind of forgot to purchase it. Well, today I found it from my local record stores.

I'm actually a bit surprised and disappointed that this record has been slept on by many people meanwhile some mediocre retroactive afrofunk bands have gotten a lot of hype. And these guys are anything but mediocre when it comes to hard-hitting instrumental afrobeat/funk/jazz. They have definitely listened their Fela Kuti records and blaxploitation soundtracks but they aren't simply copying or imitating those sounds. For me the highlights of the album are Nudinuff, a pure afrobeat groover and Bushman, a great tune that's a bit more on the jazzier side like Donny Hathaway's The Ghetto.

Rhythm Funk Masters - Bushman [320 kbps]

Rhythm Funk Master - Nudinuff [320 kbps]

Coffee Breaks, pt. 6

I've said this one before but I'll say it again. Leroy Hutson should be out there among the likes of Stevie, Marvin and Curtis but he rarely gets the credit he deserves. Besides having one of the smoothest voices in soul, he was an excellent multi-instrumentalist, writer and producer.

No Love (produced by Robert Bradford) appears on Badu's debut album Baduizm. The tune samples Hutson's Lucky Fellow that appears on Hutson, his second LP cut for Curtom Records.

Leroy Hutson - Lucky Fellow [320 kbps]

Erykah Badu - No Love [320 kbps]

Stevie Wonder - Superstition (Todd Terje Edit)

Klas asked me via email whether I could re-up Todd Terje's edit of Superstition that I posted back in September since the link is broken. The answer is hell yeah. This is such a superb tune that I'm happy to share it again. Enjoy!

Stevie Wonder - Superstition (Todd Terje Edit) [320 kbps]

Lee McDonald - I'll Do Anything For You (Red Astaire - Philly Mix)

Freddie Cruger aka Red Astaire has done it again. This time it's Lee McDonald's amazing tune I'll Do Anything For You from his ultra rare album Sweet Magic that gets a special treatment from Red Astaire. I've not yet heard a bad remix from him though I'm familiar with most of his work. The Philly Mix is super smooth and soulful and the long outro makes the tune dj friendly. Like the name suggest, the mix takes the tune from New Jersey to Philadelphia's soul scene of the 70s and gives it a magic touch of Gamble & Huff. This really sounds like a hidden gem found from the vaults of PIR.

The philly soul remix can be found from this 12" by Favorite Recordings or from the 5th issue of Soul Shaker -compilation. Favorite Recordings has released lots of good remixes and covers lately. Among others there's a bunch of other nice remixes of I'll Do Anything For You and some good remakes of We've Only Just Begun. Sound clips and more info for example from Beatjoint.

Lee McDonald - I'll Do Anything For You (Red Astaire - Philly Mix) [320 kbps]

Lee McDonald - I'll Do Anything For You (original album version) [320 kbps]

Joe Bataan - Call My Name

The father of salsoul, Joe Bataan, took a brief break of twentysomething years and made a grand comeback in 2005 with his album Call My Name. I wish all comeback projects would be done as properly as this one. Since I'm feeling lazy today I'll just quote the good folks at Dusty Groove because they've written a decent review about the album.

Joe Bataan is alive and well -- and to our ears, the king of Latin Soul is sounding better than he has in decades! This tasty little set really takes us back to Joe's classic work for Fania -- but it's also got a slightly different twist -- one that shows a new younger appreciation of the funk side of Joe's work that wasn't always able to come to the forefront in earlier years. Joe recorded the album at the Daptone Studios in New York -- so the sound of the set is spot-on all the way through -- perfectly recorded to bring out the soul in Joe's music, and handled with some great touches that make the instrumentation as wonderful as Joe's classic-styled vocals! And even more than that, there's also a heck of great new songs on the set -- tunes that follow very strongly in the spirit of Joe's older classics, but which have a freshness that makes the album a totally essential part of Joe's catalog.

The finest moment of Call My Name is its title track. Apparently Commonfolk Records shared my opinion since they recently released a 12" that features Call My Name (vocal version and instrumental) and a nice percussion driven instrumental tune I'm A Fool.

Joe Bataan - Call My Name [320 kbps]

Off-topic: I'm sure you know that the cyberspace is full of broken links thanks to Zshare. Zshare wet the bed but that wasn't enough. Today I noticed that all the direct download links on the blog are broken as well. WTF is it with these services....RIAA, UFOs. Anyways, I'll re-up the tunes (at least the recently posted ones) during weekend. If there's something in the older posts that you need really bad, drop me a line and I'll take care of it.

EDIT: I did some serious uploading today and now all the mp3's on the blog since mid-October are again available for download. Enjoy!

Ray Terrace - Home Of Boogaloo

Originally I bought Home Of Boogaloo because I had heard the killer latin groover, You've Been Talking 'Bout Me Baby, on a couple of compilations. Pretty soon I realized that all the tracks on the album are really tight, the cover versions as well as the originals. The songs are arranged by Marty Sheller and played by a tight little latin combo lead by Ray Terrace. It's a shame that the album cover or the linear notes don't mention the other members of the combo. The band plays really well combining latin, soul and rock with a sound that was fresh and new at the time but the star of the album is the vocalist Willie Torres. The best example of his soft and soulful voice is the opening track of side 2, Listen To Me. This is definitely one of the sweetest latin soul tunes I know. The original pressing of this album is very in demand but the vinyl reissue is a good quality pressing and can be easily found for a decent price.

Ray Terrace - You've Been Talking 'Bout Me Baby [320 kbps]

Ray Terrace - Listen To Me [320 kbps]

Quantic & Nickodemus - Mi Swing Es Tropical

A friend of mine hooked me up with a link to mixtapes they've done under the name of True Note DJs. They made these mixes consisting of all things groovy (rap, latin sounds, funk, breaks and whatnots) to promote the great parties they were throwing. If you're interested in the mixtapes, go get 'em here.

The second mixtape kicks off with one of my favorite tunes of 2005, Mi Swing Es Tropical by Quantic & Nickodemus. Yes, it's the track used for the iPod ad. This tune is especially convenient for these gloomy and cold winter days. It keeps me going though I'm freezing my nuts off standing on the bus stop in a blizzard. The reggae remix by ZEB does the trick as well. And yeah, it's okay to enjoy these tracks though you're fortunate enough to live in a warm and pleasant climate.

Quantic & Nickodemus - Mi Swing Es Tropical feat. Tempo & Candela Allstars [320 kbps]

Quantic & Nickodemus - Mi Swing Es Tropical (ZEB's Reggae Remix) [320 kbps]

Sharon Jones - How Long Do I Have To Wait For You (Ticklah Remix)

More Daptone greatness on boogiebanger.blogspot.com. I already mentioned Scion AV's Daptone remix project in my previous post. Ticklah, who used to play in The Dap-Kings but has since moved on to play in Antibalas, was asked to do a remix of some Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings' tune for this project. He chose their banging soul groover How Long Do I Have To Wait For You. Ticklah took the vocals and played all the instruments himself and created an amazing reggae tune that is completely different from the original banger. Like mentioned before, the remix appears on this compilation and on a Daptone 7" with a solid dub version on the flip side. If you're feeling this remix, you might wanna check out this one as well.

Sharon Jones - How Long Do I Have To Wait For You (Ticklah Remix) [320 kbps]

The Budos Band - Chicago Falcon (The Washington Sq. Lads Remix) feat. Wale

Because Make The Road By Walking was so amazing I've been listening to other Daptone related stuff a lot lately and rediscovered a nice remix of The Budos Band's track Chicago Falcon. The band is known for making raw instrumental afrobeat/funk whereas The Washington Sq. Lads Remix is completely different with electronic sounds and raps by Wale but still the remix works really well. The remix is taken from Scion CD Sampler Vol. 19. If you're not familiar with Scion AV, check it out. These samplers are part of Toyota's guerilla marketing campaign. The compilations are usually full of good tunes from independent labels. It would be nice to see more marketing campaigns like this one.

The Budos Band - Chicago Falcon (The Washington Sq. Lads Remix) feat. Wale [320 kbps]

Here's a cool video (made by pakratNYC) for The Volcano Songs that appears on The Budos Band's self-titled debut album (2005).

J.Rocc - Cooking Ingredients

Cooking Ingredients is a newish (spring 2008) mixtape by J.Rocc. I love the selection of the mix though I'm unfamiliar with many of the tracks...or maybe that's the very reason that makes it so great. J.Rocc mixes some really obscure jazzy funk and soul with style and grace typical of him. The mood of the mixtape is laid back and occasionally pretty hazy (in a good way) and then boom, all of a sudden you're run over by a killer break. Great stuff!

By the way, J.Rocc started a new blog last month. It's worth checking out. So far there's some Beat Junkies and Melo-D related stuff...surprise and a couple of mixes. Hopefully he keeps updating the blog.

J.Rocc - Cooking Ingredients [128 kbps]

Marvin Gaye - Turn On Some Music

"Now when the music starts,

I'm gonna groove you slow and quiet."

Midnight Love was Marvin Gaye's last album (1982). He made a great comeback with it before his tragic death. He wrote and produced some great tunes for the album. There's more to it than Sexual Healing, for example my favorite Turn On Some Music. It's an overlooked song that highlights Gaye's majestic and sensual voice. I don't know if it's just me or can you hear his life long problem of being torn between bible and bedroom from his voice on this track.

Marvin Gaye - Turn On Some Music [320 kbps]

Btw, if some of you happen to have the instrumental version of Erick Sermon's Music, I would love to have it. The song isn't anything special but I could use the beat on something.

Erick Sermon - Music feat. Marvin Gaye [320 kbps]

Patrice Rushen - Straight From The Heart

Straight From The Heart is Patrice Rushen's best and also commercially most successful album. It was released by Elektra in 1982. The album is best known (a bit too well known after Will Smith abused the tune) for the catchy hit Forget Me Nots. The album is a solid mix of melodic poppish r'n'b and smooth boogie/disco approach. If you exclude Breakout, I'm feeling all the tracks on the album. My favorites of the bunch are I Was Tired Of Being Alone, an upbeat boogiesh tunes and Remind Me which has been sampled on a lot of good songs, my favorite of those being Common's Reminding Me (Of Sef).

Patrice Rushen - I Was Tired Of Being Alone (Glad I Got Cha) [320 kbps]

Patrice Rushen - Remind Me [320 kbps]

Paul Nice - Journey To The Centre Of The Beats

Paul Nice is one of those talented DJs/producers that are consistently putting out excellent stuff but never get enough props for their work. If you aren't familiar with Paul Nice you got a lot of listening to do. Check out his excellent mixtapes Soul On The Grill vol 1 & 2, Sade Blends, Breaks For Days...the list is long.

The tracks that I'm sharing today are taken from Journey To The Centre Of The Beats released by Antidote Records in 2004. The mixtape contains some freestyles, blends and remixes. It's not as soild as Paul Nice's other stuff but the dubbed remix/mash-up of The Message impressed me back in the day and it still works for me. It really takes balls to change the beats of a Grandmaster Flash joint but Paul Nice pulls it off in style.

Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five - The Message (Paul Nice's Super Duty Bootleg Mash-Up) [320 kbps]

Sugarhill Gang - Paul Nice's Megamix [320 kbps]

Videos courtesy of MTV's music search.

Resense 006 12"

So far an Austrian label RESENSE has released eight EP's of great re-edits, mashups and other amazing funky latin stuff. RESENSE 006 is a 12" that consists of four latin flavored bossa brekabeat dancefloor monsters by The Captain, Sono Rhizmo, Palov & Mishkin and Mario's Tuna. I used to listen to this EP a lot last summer and now that the weather is cold, wet and gloomy at the headquarter of boogiebanger.blogspot.com it reminds me of those days in the sun and keeps me going.

The Captain - Every Man [320 kbps]

Sono Rhizmo - My House [320 kbps]

Tuomo - Don't Take It Too Hard

Active readers of BoogieBanger might have noticed the lack of posts lately. That's due to some EPIC problems with computers. First my external hard drive fell into pieces and I lost my backup copies and the majority of my vinyl rips. And then before I had time to buy a new external HD, the hard drive of my MacBook broke down and I lost ALL my files. Because I had Tiger as a OS instead of Leopard so I'm not able to recover the files. Well, now I'm back in business trying to get my schitt together but it will take time.

In addition to all this whining I hooked you up with a couple of excellent tunes. Tuomo Prättälä is a young Finnish pianist/composer/singer who influences in various great ensembles, e.g. Quintessence. Last year Tuomo released his debut solo album entitled My Thing. The songs that I'm sharing are taken from that album. Don't Take It Too Hard is an amazing upbeat northern soul banger in the spirit of Curtom Records. 26 is a more laid back tune that stresses Tuomo's skills as a vocalist. In my opinion he's easily the best blue-eyed soul singer of the 21st century.

Tuomo - Don't Take It Too Hard [320 kbps]

Tuomo - 26 [320 kbps]

Funky president

Congratulations for making the right choice. Way to go!

Fabulous Souls - Take Me

Take Me by an obscure touring funk combo Fabulous Souls is a great organ lead funky charger with nice interchanges of female and male vocals. Lamp Records released the tune on a 7" originally in 1971 and Stones Throw reissued it in 2002. The single itself is worth buying but the art work of the package is equally amazing.

If you feel like dancing to this tune but you don't have the right moves let this guy help.

Fabulous Souls - Take Me [320 kbps]

Coffee Breaks, pt. 5

What do you get when you take the best features of The Dap Kings, El Michels Affair, The Budos Band and Antibalas and mix them all together. The answer is my favorite LP of the year Make The Road By Walking by Menahan Street Band. The sound on the album is something amazing and what's even more amazing is that the album was recorded in Tommy Brenneck's bedroom on Menahan Street, Brooklyn.

The album came out just recently but the title song was released on a 7" already in 2006. Like so many times before Jay-Z was on the spot when hearing Make The Street By Walking. Or actually it was Diddy's Hitmen who found the tune and passed it to Jay-Z. You'll find more info on that here. I haven't been very impressed by Hova's production in the last couple of years but I dig Roc Boys or actually the whole album.

Menahan Street Band - Make The Road By Walking [320 kbps]

Jay-Z - Roc Boys (And The Winner Is...) [320 kbps]

Chairman Mao & Citizen Kane - The Greatest Part

I haven't posted a mixtape for a while so I decided to make it up by sharing one of the best soul/funk/disco mixes out there. This one dates back to 2002 and it was put together by Chairman Mao & Citizen Kane. All the tunes are solid gold and it's mixed together with finesse. What else can you expect from these guys.

I can't offer you a comprehensive tracklist since it doesn't appear on the sleeve notes. Most of the tracks I've spotted but there are some obscure ones I haven't yet identified so you'll be left with some record nerd detective work to do if you wanna find all the artist and the titles on the tape. You'll find at least one tune that I've posted on this blog earlier.

If you're feeling The Greatest Part, you'll most likely digg Selects 001, another great mixtape by the same duo. Check out also Chairman Mao's new solo mixtape Run For Cover featuring cover versions of both classic and obscure soul tunes. You'll find more of Mao's thouhgts on the mixtape and DJing from this article. And here's a good interview with Citizen Kane.

EDIT: When writing this I should have remembered to recommend Citizen Kane's excellent mix Adult Section but for some reason didn't remember to mention it. Go get it, it's worth it. It's available for purchase for example on Turntablelab.com

Chairman Mao & Citizen Kane - The Greatest Part [zip-file, click to download]

MTV's new music video search

Hi! Just droppped in to tell you that I've been wasting my day browsing through old rap videos on MTV's new music search. The quality of the videos is good and the memories are priceless. I'm really hoping the folks at MTV would finally realize that M stands for Music, not My Sweet Sixteen and all that wackiness.

Please MTV, bring back Yo! MTV Raps.

Donna Washington - You Can't Hide From The Boogie

Today's post features two text book examples of a certified boogie banger. Both tracks can be found on Just For You which was Donna Washington's third and last album cut for Capitol Records in 1982. The album is somewhat hard to find but at the moment there seems to be a good deal on ebay. But don't get your hopes too high. The rest of the album is far away from the tracks that I'm posting. There's also a 12" single (promo) of Do You Wanna Huh that sells for a decent price.

Donna Washington - You Can't Hide From The Boogie [320 kbps]

Donna Washington - Do You Wanna Huh [320 kbps]

Ann Sexton appreciation

In my opinion Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu is the best movie director of the 21st century. I was wathing his 2003 masterpiece 21 Grams yesterday. You really have to check it out in case you haven't. The flick is awesome and the soundtrack features Ann Sexton's classic You're Losing Me. I realized I hadn't been listening to Ann Sexton for a while so I decided to post all my favorite Ann Sexton tunes.

Her songs weren't very successful when they were originally released but later many of them have become popular on the Northern soul scene. I've always appreciated her voice that is equally great in smooth soul ballads and hard hitting souther funk. The first two songs appear on this 7" and the latter two on this 7". Both singles came out in 1973 under a small label, Seventy-Seven Records. All four songs can be found also on Ann Sexton Anthology put together by Soul Brother Records.

EDIT: This turns into a mega post but I gotta add this. I was looking for the trailer of 21 Grams on youtube and came across to this one. It's a clip from the Baltic Soul Weekend '08. Ann Sexton is in her 50s still rocking it harder than these whining, anorectic souls sisters of today. Amazing!

Ann Sexton - You're Letting Me Down [320 kbps]

Ann Sexton - You've Been Gone Too Long [320 kbps]

Ann Sexton - You're Losing Me [320 kbps]

Ann Sexton - You're Gonna Miss Me [320 kbps]

Malinga Five - Kaloule Woman

I've been banging this track on repeat for a while now. I don't know much about the guys behind this tune but what I do know is that they rock. Phukin' amazing stuff with great afrobeat elements, funky wah-wah guitars and great soulful vocals. If this doesn't make you dance, I advice you to see a doctor. There's something wrong with your hips.

The song appears on Rock Africa, an album produced by Alan Shelly, who worked a lot with Manu Dibango. It was released in 1977 by a French label, Barclay, known for issuing a lot of Fela Kuti's material.

Malinga Five - Kaloule Woman [320 kbps]

Steve Parks - Movin' In The Right Direction

Movin' In The Right Direction is a great blend of sweet and mellow soul, funk, nice jazzy vocals and brazilian rhytms. The album was issued by Solid Smoke Records in 1981. The pressing was very limited so the album is pretty hard to find these days but definitely worth the price. It's also difficult to find info about Steve Parks or the album but the tunes will speak for themselves. Enjoy!

Off-topic: I've had it with zShare. They are having too much difficulties keeping their site up so from now on you'll get to download the songs directly from here.

Steve Parks - Sadness In My Samba [320 kbps]

Steve Parks - Movin' In The Right Direction [320 kbps]

William DeVaughn - Be Thankful For What You Got

William DeVaughn had saved a couple of hundred bucks and wanted to record some songs he had written. So he went over to Philadelphia's Omega Sound Inc. and cut Be Thankful For What You Got plus a couple of other songs with MFSB's rhythm section backing him up.

Those songs were issued by Roxbury Records in 1974 on an album entitled Be Thankful For What You Got which became a million-seller chart topper. I suppose that doesn't happen very often to a singer-songwriter coming from nowhere.

Before leaving music business DeVaughn cut a new version of the tune in 1980. It's pretty much like the original but it's more upbeat and it has a nice kick drum making it perfect for the dancefloor.

William DeVaughn - Be Thankful For What You Got (album version) [320 kbps]

William DeVaughn - Be Thankful For What You Got (new version) [320 kbps]

Starvue - Upward Bound

Starvue was a Chicago based soul collective that released one album, Upward Bound, during their career. The cover art of the album is something horrible but don't judge this one by it's cover. The content is amazing. I can't praise it enough.

Upward Bound was released in 1980 by a private label, Midwest International Records. The album, that is produced by Clarence Johnson, contains a massive slow jam, Body Fusion, that was also released as a 12" single. The album is ultra rare and Body Fusion 12" is even harder to find, but if the money is tight don't worry. There's a reissue of the album (not very easy to find though) and a CD issued by P-Vine Japan.

Love Affair is a great uptempo soul/boogie tune with good vocals, handclaps and horns plus a great synth line. A definite dancefloor killer.

Starvue - Love Affair [320 kbps]

Body Fusion is a perfect tune for those moments in the bedroom with that special someone. Well, it could work on the dancefloor as well. The strings on the track are amazing.

Starvue - Body Fusion [320 kbps]

Atlantic Star - When Love Calls

When Love Calls is the opening track of Atlantic Starr's third LP entitled Radiant. It's a great midtempo boogie/soul tune with quality instrumentation and really soulful and soft vocals by Sharon Bryant.

Most of the tracks on the album are upbeat boogie/club stuff. The content is a bit mainstream but not too much. As a whole album, Radiant is better (musically and commercially) than Atlantic Starr's earlier albums. Perhaps it's thanks to James Carmichael who stepped in to produce the album. Carmichael produced also their following album Brilliant that features Circles, a great club classic.

Atlantic Starr - When Love Calls [320 kbps, zShare]

Gwen McCrae - On My Way LP

On My Way is finger snapping, hand clapping, food stomping and hip shaking modern disco soul at its best. It's Gwen McCrae's second LP recorded for Atlantic. The album came out in 1982 right after her self-titled first album (1981) that featured the massive cross over hit Funky Sensation. On My Way is at least as good as her first album. You just don't come across to it very often so make sure you cop it if you see it for a decent price. Both songs that I decided to share were released also as 12" singles but these are the album version.

Gwen McCrae - Keep The Fire Burning [320 kbps, zShare]

Gwen McCrae - Doin' It [320 kbps, zShare]

Leo's Sunshipp - Give Me The Sunshine

This tune comes highly recommended by Boogie Banger. It's amazing, so mellow but at the same time it's a definite groover. The song appears on We Need Each Other. The album was originally released by Lyons Records in 1978 and reissued by Expansion Records couple of years ago. The album is pretty solid as a whole. It's ideal for djs/producers cause it has 4 vocal cuts and instrumentals for the same tracks. Among others, it features the original version of I'm Back For More that became a big hit for Al Johnson few years later.

Leo's Sunshipp - Give Me The Sunshine [320 kbps]

The Alexander Review - I Want You

Today's post is a great latin funk version of I Want You (She's So Heavy). The arrangement is completely different from the original which in this case is a must. I really can't tell a lot about The Alexander Review (neither could discogs or allmusic) but I guess it's enough that I'm really feeling the track. It appears on the band's self-titled album released by Vaya Records in 1975. The song can also be found on Latin Breakbeat, Basslines & Boogaloo, an excellent compilation issued by Harmless Records.

You probably know (at least you should) that the song is written by THE duo Lennon-McCartney. The original version that appears on Abbey Road is one of my all time favorite Beatles' song. For some reason it's a bit underrated, I guess mostly due to it's length that doesn't make the song very radio friendly. Anyways, it's a massive song.

The Alexander Review - I Want You [320 kbps, zShare]

The Isley Brothers - Take Inventory

Take Inventory appears on Get Into Something that was published in 1970 by the Isleys' own label T-Neck. The track is really tight and not so often played. Well, I'm not gonna babble on the tune. Instead I'll let the music speak for itself. And just for the record, I disagree on the message of the song.

The Isley Brothers - Take Inventory [320 kbps, zShare]

Pamoja - Oooh, Baby

This is an amazing dancefloor funk groover with a great break. A perfect tune for a perfect girl. Originally released by Keiper Productions in 1975 as the b-side of Only The Lonely Know. This is a true hard-to-find record but luckily there's a good quality repress issued by Lotus Land.

Pamoja - Oooh, Baby [320 kbps, zShare]

DJ Waxtastic - Månsteri Mixtape 1.0

I haven't posted a mixtape for a while so I figured now's the time. Månsteri Mixtape 1.0 is an excellent and versatile mix of all things funky. It was put together by a friend of mine, DJ Waxtastic, the music slave of The Original Hamsters. He has uploaded a couple of other solid mixtapes as well. You'll find them here. Enjoy!

At the moment DJ Waxtastic is located in Montreal without his turntables so he's getting serious withdrawal symptoms. So if you're in Montreal and planning a party, help the man out out and book him. I can guarantee that he'll make those asses shake.

DJ Waxtastic - Månsteri Mixtape 1.0

Har-You Percussion Group - Welcome To The Party

In 2007 Jazzman Records re-issued an amazing and very rare 7" by Har-You Percussion Group. Welcome To The Party that appears on the a-side is guaranteed to work on the dancefloor. It's a solid latin groover with great congas by Montego Joe. The name of the band comes from the fact that the members were part of Harlem Youth Opportunities Unlimited.

Har-You Percussion Group - Welcome To The Party [320 kbps, zShare]

DJ Mark The 45 King Appreciation

DJ Mark The 45 King doing what he does best. Amazing stuff. No Serato, no high end turntables or mixers, just skills and love for the beats.

I know you are here for the free downloads so here you go. I uploaded the classic joint in case you don't have it and as a bonus Eli Escobar's 2k8 remix.

The 45 King - The 900 Number [320 kbps, zShare]

The 45 King vs. Pase Rock - The 900 Number (2k8) (Eli Escobar Remix) [320 kbps, zShare]

Hörselmat - Right On

Nice video clips that I had slept on. How great would it be to go crate digging with Kon & Amir. If you watched the videos you might remember Amir telling a story in the beginning (2:00-2:30 min) of the latter video about a record he bought for 500 bucks. He was having difficulties pronouncing the artist. It spells Hörselmat. Yep, you try pronounce it. I wonder where he got the information about the album cover saying "If there's someone selling this one for over 20 SEK (about 2 USD) don't buy it", because the text on the cover art is in Swedish. Anyhow, it was a funny story at least for Swedish speaking people.

Well, the song is really tight and the album is really rare so Amir spent his money right. The track made it to the CD version of Kon & Amir's compilation Off Track - Volume 1: The Bronx. If you dig the track, the whole album seems to available for dowload here so go get it.

Hörselmat - Right On [320 kbps, zShare]

C-Mon & Kypski - Shitty Bum

I just love the video and the song is great too. The track appears on C-Mon & Kypski's Static Traveller EP that came out in 2004. Download it here.

I would really like to see them live. I've read that they produce songs from scracth on stage with the help of sampling, looping, effects and Kypski's scratching. Their performance is also said to be visually very strong. Sounds like a winner combination. Check out more from their website.

Ray Barretto - Together

It's sunday and I feel like I should post something mellow but I chose to upload two and a half minutes of hard hitting latin funk just because this track is so amazing.

Together is a great tune by Ray Barretto. It originally appeared on his LP Together (Fania Records, 1971). Vampi Soul released a re-issue 7" that has Barretto's 1969 latin soul groover Hard Hands on the b-side.

Ray Barretto - Together [320 kbps, zShare]