Review: Bamma Gamma returns with a sizzling slab of funk in the form of 'Omelette' via Detroit's renowned Funk Night Records. This one is a digger's dream, raw, gritty instrumental funk with break-heavy drums, tight guitar licks and basslines so greasy they practically drip off the record. True to Funk Night's underground sound, Omelette is unapologetically retro and authentic and serves up irresistible dancefloor heat that feels like a lost '70s cut that has been newly rediscovered. For DJs looking to inject some analogue soul into their sets, it's a no-brainer.
Review: Brooklyn-born Dennis Harte might only have been eleven when he picked up a Sears Silvertone, but the music on this anthologyirecorded between 1973 and 1974iis anything but juvenile. Collected here for the first time on a single release, these four singles originally appeared under shifting monikers (Dennis Harte, Harte Attack, Harte Brothers and Pure Madness), a strategy cooked up by mentor Carl Edelson to maximise industry exposure. The sound veers between garage soul, basement psych, and scrappy blue-eyed r&bian adolescent echo of The Rascals, The Youngbloods or early Spoonful. 'Summer's Over', written by Edelson, is the emotional peak: a world-weary soul lament, rendered uncanny by Harte's teenaged delivery. 'Running Thru My Mind' plays it cooler but still flickers with melodic instinct and wiry guitar interplay. 'Freedom Rides' charges out with organ-stabbed garage grit, a protest anthem wrapped in biker-jacket energy. 'Treat Me Like a Man' flips a Beatles-influenced B-side by Long Island group The Shandels into something looser and more ragged. Harte would go on to tour with Wilson Pickett, but these early 7"sinever before compiledishowcase a raw, regional talent teetering on the edge of real experience. Efficient Space lands another killer excavation from North America's fringe.
Review: Following a string of praised releases for labels the likes of Dreamlord Recordings, Library Of The Occult and Up In Her Room, Jonathan Parkes (Korb) and Dom Keen (Studio Kosmische) team up once more for Bongo Express, a one-off vinyl drop via Crouch End's Feral Child. This time, the pair lean hard into their mutual obsessions: dusty mid-70s textures, radiophonic wig-outs and low-slung kraut-funk. Built around rattling bongos and scuzzy analogue synths, the record rides a hypnotic groove that sits somewhere between library oddity, imagined road movie score and late-night Berlin jam session.
Review: One of several debut singles by Khruangbin, 'White Gloves' sweltered in with a mellow sway that would soon become their calling card. 'White Gloves' rode a wistful bassline and slackened drums, built around a hazy guitar riff and Laura Lee's near-whispered vocal - "she was a queen" - as much lullaby as lament. As ever drawing from Thai funk, 60s surf and gospel, the track established Houston trio's knack for folding global references into something spare and dreamlike. Now again released via Late Night Tales offshoot Night Time Stories, it marked the start of their partnership with producer Steve Christensen, whose hands-off touch would help sculpt their fluid, lo-fi feel across their early run.
Review: Dynamite Cuts lives up to its name once more by unearthing a deep funk treasure here, and they do the right thing and serve it up for the first time ever on its own 7". Sound Investment's 'Funky Skunk' is a raw and rhythm-heavy rarity previously confined to album-only status. It's bursting with tight grooves, gritty breaks and irresistible energy and is a dream for DJs, collectors and crate-diggers. On the B-side, 'Dirty Man' keeps the heat alive by delivering more deep-fried funk goodness. Both cuts showcase the band's raw musicianship and groove-driven spirit. Authentic funk vibes don't come much better than this.
Review: Russian horror-surf-rock band Messer Chups reissue Don't Worry, Be Creepy, another addition to a discography committed to themes of horrification and gothic pop culture. Think Misfits, but surf and rockabilly, not punk. The tracklist on this 2024 last-judgment include such nightmarish thinkings-up as 'Mad Monster Party', 'Blood and Black Lace', 'Dracula Hates Killer Icicles' and 'Electric Zombierella', making four a corpse-bridal 13-tracker, whose clocking in at the fateful number, we're sure, isn't coincidental.
Ranil Y Su Conjunto Tropical - "Sonido Amazonico" (3:09)
Los Wembler's De Iquitos - "Sonido Amazonico" (2:32)
Review: Two cornerstones of rare Amazonian (!) cumbia appear together on 7" for the first time, as Vampisoul resurrect these wildly sought-after versions of 'Sonido Amazonico'. On one side is a hypnotic, percussion-heavy take by Ranil Y Su Conjunto Tropical, first and only released on LP. Led by Raul Llerena, this Iquitos band helped forge the sound of psychedelic cumbia through Llerena's Producciones Llerena imprint, now a holy grail label for collectors of such trove-bound tropical rarities. On the inverse comes Los Wembler's de Iquitos - of equal stature as one of the genre's most enduring groups - bringing their stomping rhythmoids to the same track; it also just so happens to remain one of their most defining anthems. The UK's not the only "jungle scene" out there - just listen to these killer, understoried sonic forests.
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