Two of Barcelona’s most enthusiastic DJs bring us moving trax on the first release of their Factor City label. Floating melodies, punchy basslines and driving beats texturize these dreamy dancefloor friendly cuts with a bright mood, fitting of their birthplace.
Los Hermanos Tres
DJ Rolando and Gerald Mithchell are two funky bros, never ceasing to astound us these days. Their third release on the LH label (branching out from UR’s sturdy trunk) gracefully and exquisitely weaves abstract, wakeful disco tunes and African beat trax in the best Detroit soul tradition.
Rebirth The Journey In
The Rebirth is a funky sextet from LA who is doing a great job of blending the future and retro sounds of soul music. This 12-inch has a nice summertime vibe, and sounds great with the top down. Noelle, C-Quest, and Loslito from Breakestra provide sweet vocal harmonies over a saucy, laidback groove.
THE KEYSTONES FEAT. MALCOLM CATTO Selections From the Original Motion picture Soundtrack Bloodhaul
If someone took the brass from Antibalas, some drum breaks from a nasty 45, and the freaky funkiness of Galt McDermott, you might be getting a little close to the sound of the Keystones. A truly funky record that entices some moody feelings about dominoes, drums and horns.
Rima Let It Go
Three fat mixes of this beautiful tune featuring the lovely Julie Dexter on vocals. The Rima house mix is nice ‘n’ deep, with enough bass to keep your booty moving. The Titonton & Tejada remix makes you wanna body-rock and features some extra funky vibes for your soul. The dub mix is my favorite, focusing on those Cazal-sounding keys. Don’t look back.
Buffet Style Organic Dishes EP
Picked up this little gem on a recent trip to Japan. DMR is one of the best record stores in Tokyo, and apparently helped on the release of this EP. The Toshiyuki Goto, Soul Bossa and Lava tracks are all nice, jazzy sounding bossa vocal tracks, but the real gem here is the Jazztronik cut. They balance a nice Latin guitar line with some funky ’80s synths and a super-soulful vocal performance from Asako Toki. This song makes you as happy as a fresh pair of kicks from Shibuya.
Death To Retro
XLR8R‘s Style issue is packed with tidbits to make our readers all the more hip. Our annual T-Shirt Roundup has grown in notoriety among streetwear trainspotters everywhere. Cover artists Numbers and Kid606 lead our extensive feature on ground-breaking label Tigerbeat6. Other features include Richard Devine, Bobbito, the photography of Jason Manning, Broken Beat Divas, Postal Service, Ellen Allien, Chris Clark, Phife Dawg, Fanny Pack, and more.
Various Lunatic Works Vol. 3: Loaded Music For Loaded Minds
With many labels as independent as Fox these days (read: the furthest limb of some giant sprawling media empire), it’s nice to see unknown musicians finding a home on truly independent imprints. LunaticWorks’s third volume serves up nine tunes by nine newcomers (many set to deliver full-lengths soon), and spans most bedroom producer styles and tempos. George Katsiris’s “1er Cru” rides a loping groove, with harp and bass sliding against each other in a concise summary of sampler cool. Fruitbat’s “Zenuba” goes in the other direction, mashing distorted darkcore bass against hectic breaks in a 13-minute jungle epic of the mind.
Rob Geary
Champion Soul Connecting To the Sign
Brooklyn’s Champion Soul represent the block with a single that slides from tough yet jubilant house (mixed down by their neighbor DJ Spinna) through Rhodes-drenched steppers dub that’ll be caned by Fran
Ocote Soul Sounds Divinorum
OSS trade in haunted Afro-Latin dirges from another planet. Planet Brooklyn, that is. Drenched in a dark tunnel of reverb, an explosion of free-jazz flutes, beaten-down brass and sashaying Afrobeat rhythms form a barbwire fence around this musical no-mans-land where only Fela and Ray Baretto have the proper diplomatic credentials. Enter at your own risk
