Back catalogue: All genres

Review: Drunkenstein is back on his 7" saga grind with this slow burning banger 'Beat Down Life Up' on the A-side, chopping out a downtempo breakbeat over a seriously groovy yet purposefully monotonous psych-tinged guitar line; the instrumental cut flirts with the jazz-funk meanderings of library music yet retained within the confines of boom-bap subtlety. On the B-side, we get a sleepy remix of Fatlip from The Pharcyde's 'Here Comes The Lip'; smothering the MC's fluid bars under a reverberating break and off-kilter organ samples, with some ever-so-slight dubs applied towards the backend to add another layer of drugged out despondency at odds with the animated yet distantly delivered bars.

Review: Mple Soul's Fat Jon is back on top form with this new slice of blissed out hip hop. It comes in 7" form on Ample Soul and opens up with the a-side roller 'Your Purpose' which was originally featured on the Samurai Champloo series. It has dreamy chords and gently tumbling drums that are imbued with an enchanting melody line. Flip it over and you will find 'Why We Dream,' a cut with noodling bass and airy broken beats and that is no particular hurry to go anywhere specific. Add in the cute vocal stabs and there is enough soul to keep you warm for weeks.

Review: The Dolfin label has been rolling out some high quality jams of late and are currently building up to a much anticipated album from Blaque Dynamite that is worth keeping an eye open for. Now they look to Felix for this hand-stamped vinyl 7" 'Kween In My Eyes'. It is a slow, low slung and heart-warming deep house sound with a hooky beat and jazzy chord draped over the drums as a smooth r&b vocal is smeared into the mix. On the flip is the even more downbeat and late night 'Domelo Ance' with its lazy and heat damaged chords making for a super seductive sound. A steamy 45 then, for sure.

Review: Filofilx is a classy beatmaker who has been turning out some top notch albums for a while. His last one was Close Distance on the Melting Pot label out of Germany back in April and now come, we assumed based on the shared title, some of the key cuts that we can only assume never made the album. Elements of soul, funk, downtempo, jazz, Balearic and R&B all get mixed up in his studio and out com the sort of lush beats that you hope never end.

Review:  A Fly Guy dropped his Fly Guy Rap 12" in 1980. It is now hard to find and has sold for as much as 750 quid int he not so distant past. It's a bit of a cult classic and the one and only release the artist has ever been credited for. The raps are lively and fun, the production a mix of disco and funk, hip hop and squelchy synth work. It is the sort of characterful tune that will enliven any party and get people demanding to know the ID.

Review: Frank Ocean's 'Pink + White' was produced by Pharrell Williams and features some uncredited backing vocals from Beyonce. The track details Ocean's memories of his youth and a time when someone close to him died - someone who had taught him lessons that stayed with him - and so naturally the theme of mortality features a lot. The title comes from the sky he saw while driving with this old friend and it's a gorgeously deep and sultry piece of r&b that comes backed with 'Nights' on this limited edition 7".

Review: This new 45rpm from Hot Rox is limited to just 300 copies globally. It features a couple of brilliant hip-hop sounds from Ronnie Frazzle. 'The Doom Sessions' (mix 1) will be recognisable to anyone who has an ear to the hip-hop scene and is familiar with Roots Manuva. It rides on heavy bass with twinkling synth explosions and rugged bars up top. 'The Doom Sessions' (mix 2) is a much more funky bit of work with neat bass licks and golden chords spreading warmth and soul. The bars up top this time are more smooth too, making this a great yin to the a-side's yang.

Review: The Hot Rox label drops more glowing nuggets of hip-hop goodness with a second offering on 7". These are party-starting b-boy breaks with plenty of big samples and lively beats to get the floor rocking. Ronnie Frazzle's 'The Bronx Rocker' is just that with its hi swinging claps, old school raps and al the bells, horns and whistles you'd expect. On the flip is a DJ tool in the form of the main refrain from the Queen classic, 'We Will Rock You.' A useful weapon for your arsenal for sure.

Review: 'Most Wanted Hip-Hop' is exactly what it says on the tin, offering two high-quality versions of hard-to-find and poorly ripped 90s rap tracks from the golden era. Ronnie Frazzle himself is undertaking work of the utmost importance, restoring and maintaining a physical archive of musical greatness - this being the follow-up to the 2022 disc 'The Doom Sessions', featuring a mix of MF DOOM tracks. Side A is Citizen Kane's 1997 track 'Elements of Mind (Black Rain Remix)', which can't be streamed currently so you are forced to either have it in your collection or scour YouTube for a rip. Sampling their 1996 cut 'Black Rain', Erf's production on this is like butter on a slope for the Canadian duo to slide straight down with these effortless flows. Side B cuts a little deeper, a high-quality pressing of Big Squig's 1995 hit 'Keep it Going', a combination of a Tribe Called Quest interpolation and a 1971 organ jazz number by Isaac Hayes.

Review: Two tracks off the legendary 1993 tape-only release 'The Rhyme Wrecka' EP by Manchester hip-hop Group Freakin' Inglish, featuring Red Venom, on vinyl for the first time. This is a raucous Britcore gemstone, and an important window into a style that should be known to many more hip-hop enjoyers than most mainstream vernacular histories have allowed thus far. Seguing through the interweaving, but toothy, flows of Venom, alongside crewmates Eric-T and Yozzer, using the half-American accents informed by the predominance of gangsta rap at the time, this is still a killer record with a distinctly Northern - Salford to be precise - sound. 'Wrecka' is an apt description indeed.

Review: It is said that obscurity gives things an extra air of reverence amongst record collectors and that is probably true of this one. 'Sunshine Men' by Freestyle Fellowship is a long lost rap classic that has here been edited by the one and only Cut Chemist. He flips it into a vital beat that will warm through any floor with its well swung drums and smooth flows. On the flip, he takes his trusty sonic scalpel to another great join in the form of 'We Will Not Tolerate.' Drop this and watch them go wild.

Review: Oscar Jerome, Oscar Worldpeace and Franc Moody have got new music coming on the latest Blue Note Re:imagined compilation this year which is already getting us hella excited. Before we hear what is sure to be a contemporary great, we get treated to a couple of singles from it on this tidy 45 rpm. Jerome Oscar & Oscar Worldpeace go first with '(Why You So) Green With Envy' which fuses jazz styles for across the age with Worldpeace's tight and thoughtful bars. On the flip side is Franc Moody with 'Cristo Redentor' which balances jazz's traditional past with its freshest future.

Review: The seventh in this series of 7" singles is by Bristol and Avon's Kinlaw and Franco Franco and it is a rare mix of sounds with R&B, Italian rap and twisted basslines all defining the tracks. 'Crocs On The Plough' is industrial and experimental in its production - earth-shattering bass, police sirens, and soot-black synths, but background chords bring light as the vocals are delivered with guttural rawness. On the flip, the OSVMVSM version slows things right down to a crawl and the distorted synths and crunchy textures take on even more otherworld character.

Review: Smoove's Wack Records is back with another sure shot 7" of boom bap hip-hop goodness, as the seasoned producer serves up a killer flip of Craig Mack's classic 'Flavour In Your Ear'. There's some serious weight to this version - a real neck-snapper with some big band sass thrown in for good measure. On the B-side, Frezidante steps up with a bold re-imagining of Eric B & Rakim's 'Technique', working some 70s soul tones into the mix to provide you with another party-starting anthem, no questions asked.