Back catalogue: Funk

Review: It would be fair to say that Bristolian selector Andy Smith has extremely deep crates. It's for this reason that he's been responsible for tons of killer compilations over the years. This one, the second in his disco, boogie and proto-house focused "Reach Up" series, is another gem. It cheerily moves between disco old and new, mixing tried-and-tested classic cuts from the likes of the New Jersey Connection, Ted Taylor, Chain Reaction and The Gibson Brothers with more recent retro-futurist cuts (see his subtly house-friendly re-edit of Will Session and Amp Fiddler's superb "Lost Without You" and Full Intention and Nick Reach Up's modern electrofunk treat "Night of My Life"). While confirmed disco enthusiasts may own some of the tracks already, there's enough lesser known goodness to make the compilation an essential purchase.

Review: Given the depth of his record collection, you'd expect crate-digging hero Andy Smith to be able to put together a rather good disco and boogie compilation. That's exactly what he does here. Named after his disco-themed DJ collective, Reach Up does a great job in joining the dots between familiar anthems (Disco Dub Band's "For The Love of Money", World Premiere's "Share The Night", Freedom's break-diggin' fave "Get Up & Dance" and Sure Thing's modern electrofunk smash "Holding Me Tight") and slightly deeper, often overlooked selections (Advance's boogie killer "Take Me To The Top" and Jimmy Bo Horne's "Is It In" being great examples). Smith's mix on disc one is typically smooth, entertaining and on-point, while the unmixed second disco offers an opportunity to own the same cuts in full-length, DJ-friendly form.

Review: With a collection that takes in everything from jazz, hip-hop, soul, funk and boogie to house, garage and broken beat, DJ Spinna is in an ideal position to assess the work of Perception and Today Records, two of New York's more interesting underground labels of the last 50 years. Here he picks out two discs' worth of highlights from the imprints' combined catalogues, presenting a fuzzy mix of blistering funk (see Debbie Taylor's "Too Sad To Tell"), quirky jazz (Dizzy Gillespie), heavy soul (Madhouse), Latin flavours (Astrid Gilberto), string-laden sweetness (Black Ivory) and piano-laden sunniness (Tyrone Washington).

Review: The 5th instalment of the definitive vinyl junkie compilation series is the world's first official breaks mix CD.'The Kings Of Diggin' series brings you a selection of rare and classic tracks hand-picked by the top names from the genre in question. Next up, Kon & Amir and DJ Muro blow the dust off some of their favourite hard-to-find vinyl breaks for the two-disc 'Kings Of Diggin' album. Kon Taylor and Amir Abdullah started as fans of hip-hop and then as the music slipped and slid into the mainstream, they worked backwards just to find a new and fresh sound through dusty vinyl. Amir is the Vice President of Sales and A&R at Fat Beats Distribution, and Kon is a fixture as a DJ in Boston and in NYC. Kon & Amir rose to recognition with their unofficial bootleg 'Ontrack' mixtape series, which took them to 'platinum' status on the streets. DJ Muro has been constantly reinventing the shape of Japanese hip hop for over ten years. As a DJ he has played venues over the world and is also well-known as a label owner, A&R producer and owner of the hip hop store Savage. His Blue Note & Stones Throw compilations for the Japanese market have both sold over 10,000 copies. The 5th instalment of 'The Kings Of Diggin' series features artwork from Rolling Stones photographer Michael Joseph. The CD also comes in a reversible English/Japanese package. The tracks on the album have never appeared on a compilation album before. Therefore the sounds are fresh, will make you smile, dance and start diggin' in the crates yourself.