Back in stock: Funk

Review: When Danilo 'MCDE' Plessow and Bobby van Putten established their Space Grapes label last year, it was their stated intention to present 'the best in contemporary live dance music'. What they meant, we suspect, was releases like this debut album from van Putten's Another Taste combo - a four-piece whose colourful and sonically authentic sound rooted in boogie, 80s electrofunk and obscure, private press disco. The results are undeniably impressive, sounding something like a long-lost album from 1983 - complete with kaleidoscopic synths, soulful vocals and killer basslines - of the kind that dusty-fingered crate diggers consider a 'holy grail'. Highlights include the Plessow co-produced boogie brilliance of 'Anything You Want' and the funky bassline driven mid-tempo disco-soul of 'Time Is On My Side'.

Review: The 80s Japanese pop culture is back with the re-release of Toyama 'Penny' Hitomi's two popular albums. Among them, the 1983 album Next Door is a perfect blend of American and Japanese city pop, making it a must-listen for music lovers. The black vinyl pressing of this limited edition album is of high-quality Japanese import, bringing back the nostalgia of a classic era. This is the first time it has been released on wax since 1983, making it a rare and valuable addition to any music collection.

Review: On their debut album, 2016's the Tony Allen Experiments, Naples twosome Nu Guinea re-invented tracks by the legendary Afro-beat drummer as synth-heavy chunks of deep jazz-funk and nu-Balearica. For this follow-up - their first full length entirely made up of their own compositions - the duo serves up a set of jazz-funk, disco and boogie cuts rich in both their trademark colourful analogue synthesizer sounds and live instrumentation. It's a formula that guarantees a string of memorable highlights, from the sun-kissed peak-time brilliance of "Disco Sole" and rubbery, funk-fuelled "Je Vulesse" (a killer vocal number), to the wobbly downtempo trip of "A Voce E Napule" and Mizell Brothers fizz of closer "Parev Ajare", the album's most synthesizer-heavy cut.

Review: First time on a 45 with a killer string laden funk instrumental on flipside