24 August 2010

Radio Ponsonby Record Review: Keb Darge & Paul Weller Present Lost & Found: Real Rn'B & Soul













Keb Darge & Paul Weller Present
LOST & FOUND: Real Rn'B & Soul
[BBE]

This is a genuine treasure trove of a compilation, a joyous celebration of "dance" music put together by two of the most famously grumpy old men in UK music: Scottish DJ, label owner & "Deep Funk" aficionado Keb Darge; & the legendary English songwriter & musician Paul Weller.

Weller is an acclaimed rock star & soul music collector whose contribution to music is well documented - The Jam, Style Council & a successful solo career - while Darge is the man who coined the term "Deep Funk" & the co-founder (alongside fellow funk record collector Mark Cotgrove aka Snowboy) of that now globally recognised musical scene. He co-owns the Kay-Dee label with US producer, DJ & collector Kenny Dope (of Masters At Work); works as producer with one of the leading lights of the live band funk scene, The New Mastersounds; & is a former Tae Kwon Do World Champion.

For many years now Darge has been putting his name to exceptional compilations of heavyweight funk music, many of them for the UK label BBE, such as 'Funk Spectrum' & 'Keb Darge's Deep Funk'. His new 'Lost & Found' series, also on BBE, apparently sets out to expose lesser known or forgotten lights of soul music from the '50s & '60s.

Many of Darge's (deeeeep!) selections are definitely forgotten lights - but just as many of Weller's are not: Tammi Terrell, Margie Joseph, The Dells, Bobby Bland, Albert King, Jimmy Witherspoon & Slim Harpo are all still fairly well known, I would've thought. There can be no doubt though, that each & every selection is an out & out gem, entirely worthy of inclusion here.

The soul of the '50s & '60s is pure & honest, reaching parts that a lot of modern music simply can't. The lyrics are direct, the music similarly so - these songs hit you in the gut. These songs are for the heads AND for the feets! These songs take me straight back to the dancefloor at Keb Darge's Legendary Deep Funk night at the infamous Madame JoJo's in London's Soho...

"I look into the sea of smiling faces on the dance floor every Saturday night at Madame JoJo's, & get a feeling that somehow this music as saved these people from a false & dreary nightlife." Keb Darge

IN A NUTSHELL: a joyous treasure trove of old school dance music compiled by two deeply (old)-schooled selectors
NYNTEE'S RATING: nine dusty old funk 45s out of ten

Check out the Radio Ponsonby Record Review with Nyntee, on Murry Sweetpants' Breakfast Show on Radio Ponsonby, every Wednesday around 8.25am. Tune in! 107.7FM in Auckland & streaming live.

16 August 2010

George FM Playlist 15th August 2010

Maddslinky with Omar | Special
Maddslinky | Lost On Tenori Street
Daft Punk | Da Funk (re-edit)
Bulletproof with Tiki Taane | Soundtrack To Forever
Cream | I Feel Free
The Black Seeds | Make A Move (Downtown Brown remix feat. Mighty Asterix)
The Funkees | Slipping Into Darkness
Shuggie Otis | Sparkle City
Kologbo with The Deacon | Freedom Back
Kokolo | Girls On Film
Sola Rosa with Bajka | Humanised (moO (ISTANBUL Guitar Check) remix)
? | The Beat Goes On (re-edit)
!!! | AM/FM
Chic | I Want Your Love (Todd Terje edit)
Groove Armada vs The Temptations | Papa In Chicago (Sugamotor edit)
Michael Jackson | Rockin' Robin (Grant Phabao remix)
Mayer Hawthorne | Maybe So, Maybe No (reggae remix)
Kinny | Forgetting To Remember (Grant Phabao remix)
Sola Rosa with Iva Lamkum | Turnaround (TM Juke remix)
Yarbrough & Peoples | Don't Stop The Music (Professor La Criox re-edit)
Snooky | Ease The Pain
Tony Cook with Dam-Funk | What's On Your Mind (Nick M. remix)
Ron Richardson | Ooh Wee Babe

12 August 2010

Radio Ponsonby Record Review: Sola Rosa - Get It Together (The Remixes)










Sola Rosa
Get It Together - The Remixes
[Way Up/Rosa Recordings]

Over the last decade Andrew Spraggon has taken Sola Rosa from one-man bedroom recording nom-de-plume to fully-fledged, all-guns-blazing live band lineup, delivering a clutch of excellent studio albums along the way.

None are finer than last year's Get It Together: a body blow of significant proportions & a vastly under-rated album. Get It Together is all killer & no filler, boasting one of the biggest local tunes of the year (nay, decade!?) in Turnaround (featuring the bluesy, soulful vocals of Iva Lamkum), lovingly enshrined in the warmest, fattest production this side of the Black Stump.

So, I must admit it was with some trepidation I cracked the seal on Spraggon's latest venture, Get It Together - The Remixes.

Remix collections are notoriously hit & miss affairs, with some veering into the outer limits of what's enjoyably listenable simply for the sake of having the latest, coolest DJs involved; while others are blanded out beyond muzak in a half-hearted effort to please most-of-the-people-most-of-the-time.

This isn't like either of those. At all.

Sure, there's a host of globally recognised names involved: DJ Vadim, The Nextmen, Biggabush, TM Juke, Beatfanatic, Yes King, J-Star; alongside the lesser known likes of Thomas Blondet, Moo, Mr Boinkin & our own/adopted Jason Eli - but this is top drawer gear, mate! Each of the producers involved bring something fresh to the tunes they've tweaked, without losing the heavy-lidded, borderline Tex-Mex flavours Sola Rosa so consistently cook up.

The vocalists from the original Get It Together album all line up here again (longtime collaborator Spikey Tee, German songstress Bajka, US emcee Serocee & Wellington's waaay-more-than-promising Iva Lamkum), while the CD closes with a genuine highlight & new take on the instrumental track Del Ray, featuring a seamlessly flowing rap delivered in his native tongue, by the Chilean rapper Four-D, who sent his "mash-up" version to Spraggon over the internet, completely out of the blue!

Put simply: these remixes could play alongside most of Sola Rosa's back catalogue without sounding out of place at all. Being that Spraggon took the best part of a year sifting through remixes to select & program this collection we shouldn't be at all surprised. After all, the man's inescapable attention to detail as seen us all rewarded with a fine swag of musical riches for more than 10 years.

Here's to another ten - Viva la Sola Rosa!

NYNTEE'S RATING: seven & a half Cuba Libre's out of then
IN A NUTSHELL: Sola Rosa slide in sideways with a selection of top drawer. heavy-lidded remix treats

Check out the Radio Ponsonby Record Review with Nyntee, on Murry Sweetpants' Breakfast Show on Radio Ponsonby, every Wednesday around 8.25am. Tune in! 107.7FM in Auckland & streaming live.

09 August 2010

Black Is Back!










Just as it says on the tin: Black Is Back!

Join Nyntee & his new family at Sugar Bar THIS Friday night - BLACK FRIDAY! - for an evening of funk, soul, disco boogie & rare groove, spun with love & happiness by yours truly, in the lush, sexy surrounds of Sugar Bar - surely Newmarket's best-kept secret...

From 8.30pm 'til just after midnight & no cover charge! Seeya there...

02 August 2010

George FM Playlist 1st August 2010

Leon Ware | California
Leroy Hutson | Cool Out
Aloe Blacc | Billie Jean (live)
The Roots with Monsters Of Folk | Dear God 2.0
Seu Jorge & Almaz | Cirandar
Mayer Hawthorne | Maybe So, Maybe No (reggae version)
Quantic Presenta Flowering Inferno | Portada Del Mar
Saravah Soul | Mussum
Jimi Tenor & Kabu Kabu | I Wanna Hook Up With You
Vampire Weekend | Cousins
Funeral Party | NYC Moves To The Sound Of LA
Hudson Mohawke | FUSE
Groove Armada | Purple Haze
Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti | Round & Round
Woolfy | Odyssey
Quantic Soul Orchestra with Alice Russell | Take Your Time, Change Your Mind (Faze Action remix)
Waajeed | Kilode
Gilles Peterson's Havana Cultura Band | Roforofo Fight (Louie Vega remix)
Quantic & His Combo Barbaro | The Dreaming Mind (Pt. 1)
Jackie Wilson | Higher & Higher
The Black Seeds | Make A Move (Downtown Brown remix feat. Mighty Asterix & MC Switch)
Dil Jackson | Make Me Feel (MCA version)
Starkey with Anneka | Stars
Dam-Funk | Burgundy City
Breakage with Roots Manuva | Run 'Em Out