MR K Schallplatten & CDs

Review: We know that there are tons of re-edits around and some tend towards the pointless, but it's always worth paying attention with the editor involved is Danny Krivit AKA Mr K. His edits are rarely less than brilliant, in part because the veteran New Yorker is usually able to breathe new life into classic cuts just through rearrangement and occasional use of additional instrumentation. 'Street Player', his latest rework of the Chicago classic of the same name, is a brilliant example of this. We all know and love the original, but Krivit's take is vastly different thanks to a lengthy, percussion-heavy build up and next to no chorus. It's a genuinely brilliant revision. Over on the flip he presents a short 'breakdown edit' of a sweaty old James Brown jam.

Review: The tunes on this 7" have legendary status and are hard to find in original format. But Mr K serves up a couple subtle but essential reworks here that mean you don't need to look any further. Opening up the a-side is 'Love Is The Message', a perfect soul drenched and funky groove train that never lets up, with big sax lines and chunky drum breaks carrying you as far as you want to go. The flip side 'I Can't Turn Around' is a mainstay of the early house scene and has classic status to this day with its broad horns and tender male vocal.

Review: 1971: Isaac Hayes redefines what a movie theme can be with the worldwide sensation "Shaft," single-handedly making wah-wah rhythm guitar and racing hi-hats a prime ingredient for the decade of music to come. The huge success of "Shaft" meant Hayes was in demand to bring his vision of cinematic funk to other films, and in 1974 he scored (and starred in) the Blaxploitation B-movie Truck Turner. It's from this soundtrack that "Pursuit Of The Pimpmobile" is drawn. The progression Hayes made as a composer is clear: "Pimpmobile" uses complex layered guitar lines with brass and string sections that build and cascade over each other and takes the "Shaft" formula to an entirely new level.

The song became a firm favorite with funky DJs in the '70s, from the refined space of Mancuso's Loft to Bronx and Harlem jams. Indeed, when the Zulu Nation DJs began spinning at a downtown roller disco / dance club called The Roxy in the early '80s, it was firmly entrenched as one of their favorites. Another resident DJ at The Roxy was Danny Krivit, who was already well acquainted with the song and the effect it had on dancers. For this latest addition to Most Excellent Unlimited's steadily expanding catalog of Mr. K 7-inch edits, the master editor distills the sprawling nine-minute original down to a fit five-and-change, maintaining all the muscle that made this one a perennial champion of New York City's varied dancefloors.

The quirky "Isabelle And The Rain" was also a key cut for deeper DJs, uptown and downtown, albeit often on bootlegs as the original was, and remains, extremely scarce. Very little is known about the obscure jazzy cut, the work of a largely anonymous bunch of Los Angeles studio veterans led by keyboardist Mike Lang, whose electric piano solo is the song's defining feature alongside the driving drums, which get plenty of space to shine on Mr. K's Breakdown Edit.

The audio fidelity and peerless editing of these essential tracks - virtually nonexistent on 7-inch vinyl before now - makes the latest from Most Excellent Unlimited a can't-miss addition to the playout box of any DJ with a funky floor to rock.

Review: The Mr K Edits series continues to be a hotbed of crucial dancefloor wares, taking stone cold classics and giving them a gentle refinement to make the grooves stretch out that little bit longer. The latest in the 7" series focuses on The Police and two of their finest jams - the first is no stranger to revisions, covers and remixes. "Voices In My Head" has been tackled by many, not least 90s hip house upstart KC Flightt, but here the original version goes on a version excursion that brings out the best in the tune. On the flip, "When The World Is Runnin' Down" shimmers with uptempo new wave refinement that should set any open minded dancefloor alight.

Review: Two powerful edits from the Krivit vaults: "Live In Me" is a beautiful rearrangement of the Rod Temperton and Quincy Jones composed Rufus & Chakka Khan 1979 classic. Warm, touching with just the right amount of urgency, it's often overlooked as didn't enjoy a single release at the time. Flip for an equally stirring take on Pieces Of A Dream's "Warm Weather" and Danny ensures our full focus is firmed on that lavish bass and those purring honeyed vocals. Quintessential rare groove.

Review: Most Excellent Unlimited's Danny Krivit re-edit series continues with more, erm, "most excellent" material. He begins with the heavy drum breaks, guttural funk guitars, bombastic bass and winding saxophones of "City", smartly emphasizing the densely layered percussion and the original track's various instrumental solos. On the flip you'll find the equally intoxicating and mind-altering "Sun, Sun, Sun", where chanted vocals - in tribute to that big orange ball in the sky - rise over a metronomic synth bassline and an African-influenced rhythm track. It's a chunk of genuine dancefloor voodoo just crying out to be played at sunset and sunrise.

Review: Danny Krivit has been chopping, looping and rearranging music since the days of scalpels and reel-to-reel tape, so it's little surprise that his re-edits are constantly on-point. His latest release - a first on 7" for some time - serves up two more expert reworks. On the A-side, he serves up a tightened-up, cut-down and to-the-point version of Wood, Brass & Steel's much-loved disco-funk shuffler, "Funkanova", finally introducing the original version's spiraling synths midway through. The origin of flipside "Sex" is better disguised, though its' combination of thrusting, low-slung funk breaks, heavy bass, wiggling sax lines and occasional, James Brown-like grunts packs a serious punch.

Review: Seminal in every direction: Kraftwerk's "Trans Europe Express" gets stripped down to its bare drum bones by Professor Krivit over two sides. The beats mix pitches naked drums sculpted with clunking, chunky futuristic fusion while Part II provides the synthetic context. Breaking down Kraftwerk's original sci-fi suite into its key chapters at a slow, smouldering pace, it's the classic as you've never heard it before. Grab two to open up even more doors of serious DJ creativity.

Review: Two more sublime edits from the one and only Danny Krivit: "Happy Song" takes a Rare Earth sample and twists, carves and extends the Dickens out of it to hit near-shamanistic levels of drum heaven. "Erucu" is another consummate lesson in extension as Krivit takes the jaunty one-minute Jermain Jackson-produced score cut from Diana Ross-featured 1975 movie Mahogany and conjures it into a five minute exercise in groove magic. Edits don't get any better than this.