Freddie Cruger - Just Chillin` In The Spot (2008)

The name Freddie Cruger might be new to most, but for the past several years, Cruger's alter ego, Red Astaire, has been tearing up hip-hop and soul dance floors.

He first got in contact with hip hop when he started out as a break dancer in the early 80s. His electric boogie dancing brother was collecting records at that time, which introduced Freddie to the world of black dance music. Around 85-86 he worked weekends at a legendary import record store in Stockholm called Space (special job cleaning the toilet). At this time he started buying more and more records, mostly electro and rap records but also disco/funk 12"/7"inch classics. After years of work and a great trajectory in important labels (including his own Homegrown label) he became a swedish hip hop legend.

JUST CHILLIN' IN THE SPOT is Cruger's latest album with an eclectic mix of instrumental hip hop/downtempo tracks featuring his signature jazzy and soulful beats. He describes the album simply as “mostly instrumental”, making it a large departure from his vocal driven debut.
But it is bit more than that. It´s a fresh set of instrumental grooves, a nice blend of beats, loads of jazzy elements (horns and vibes), vocal samples, and fantastic rhythms. The beats are always inviting and mixes jazz, Latin, soul and funk without ever falling into one genre trapping or another, always in service of the beats & rhythms. There's a level of warmth here that's lacking in lesser producers, nothing revolutionary just high quality, compelling beatcraft.


Nice work! Nice chilling beats and grooves!

Tracklist:
01. Homegrown
02. Rock That Beat
03. Just Chillin' In the Spot
04. Keep On Knockin'
05. Psycho Cha Cha
06. Wind It Up Baby
07. Jazz Flow
08. Rainy Days (feat. ADL & LINN)
09. Love Like Ours
10. What Ya Sayin' (Nothing)
11. I Got...
12. Take You to El Barrio
13. Ain't Shit

DL 320

BUY IT!

Watch him!
Very short clip but you can fell the vibe of track nº10 at the second half of the video.



Catch da groove!

Flow Dynamics - Flow Dynamics (2007)

Attending resquest of a friend! Let`s funk it up!

Australian project Flow Dynamics has created boogie fever and booty havoc on dancefloors across the globe. Fusing live musicians with a pile of electronics and sampling, multi- instrumentalist and producer Dave McKinney (who also works full-time as a marine biologist with the Australian Institute of Marine Sciences) has proved to be a musical force on the world stage. When the first Flow Dynamics vinyl singles were released the reaction was immediate.

Dave's music has been played by heavy names such as Kenny Dope, Gilles Peterson, Quanti, Mr Scruff, Fort Knox Five, Askillz, Beatfanatic, Nickodemus, Krafty Kuts, All Good Funk Alliance, Freddie Cruger, UFO, Ed Royal, DJ Regal, Adam Freeland, and DJ Spinna.

His debut self-titled Flow Dynamics album brings full of funky jams and block party breaks! The record takes the listener on a journey through the world of funk and soul based beats with lots of uptempo party cuts, chilled downtempo grooves and everything in between. The album digs deep into the traditions of funk and soul, with lots of live musicians, heavy drums, funky basslines, tight horn sections, sharp cuts, and raw funk vocals!

I personally remember the times when it was release, almost got crazy on these nufunk groovy sounds…Highly recommended!

Tracklist:
01. Flow Dynamics - Intro
Written-By, Producer - Dave McKinney
02. Flow Dynamics - Live In The Mix
Flute - Graeme Blevins
Turntables - DJ Pawel
Vocals - Sunny Amorganda
Written-By, Producer, Bass, Drums, Guitar, Horns - Dave McKinney
03. DJ Regal - Shock Ya Mind (Flow Dynamics Remix)
Bass - D. Alderson
Congas - F. Poncin
Drums, Percussion - Dave McKinney
Guitar - Jon Clements
Vocals - Eleanora Tomahu
04. All Good Funk Alliance - Superjam (Flow Dynamics Remix)
Keyboards, Bass, Drums, Turntables - Dave McKinney
05. Flow Dynamics - Up In The Party
Bass, Drums, Turntables - Dave McKinney
Guitar - Howie Morgan
Human Beatbox - Philani Mbana
Saxophone [Tenor], Arranged By [Horns] - Paul Millard
Trombone - Jeremy Grieg
Trumpet - Mark Underwood
06. Manteca - Tremendo Boogaloo (Flow Dynamics Remix)
Drums, Percussion - Dave McKinney
07. Speedometer (2) - At The Speakeasy (Flow Dynamics Remix)
Drums - Dave McKinney
Guitar - Jon Clements
Saxophone - Troy Roberts
Vocals - Sunny Amorganda
08. Flow Dynamics - Just Expressin'
Keyboards, Bass, Drums, Turntables - Dave McKinney
Trumpet - Matt Jodrell
09. Flow Dynamics - Better On Stage
Bass, Drums, Clavinet, Horns - Dave McKinney
Turntables - DJ Selekt
10. Random Heroes - Cmon & Get It (Flow Dynamics Remix)
Bass, Keyboards, Drums, Horns - Dave McKinney
Flute - Paul Millard
Turntables - DJ Finatik
11. Flow Dynamics - Cut Edit
Written-By, Producer - Dave McKinney
12. Flow Dynamics - Straight From The Ground
Written-By, Producer, Drums, Turntables, Bass - Dave McKinney
13. Flow Dynamics - Steady Rockin'
Guitar - Felix Poitier
Vocals - Eleanora Tomahu
Written-By, Producer, Bass, Keyboards, Drums, Turntables, Horns - Dave McKinney

DL 320 (two of the tracks are vbr2. If you can point a better link, please let me know..)

BUY IT!

Check it out! (not the funkiest tracks in the album)

Up in the party

Tremendo boogaloo

Just expressin

Have fun!

Jestofunk - Universal Mother (1998)

"write it, cut it, paste it, save it, load it, check it, quick rewrite it": almost all I`m doing at the moment..

Jestofunk started in the early 90`s with three Italian DJ's (Claudio 'Moz-Art' Rispoli, Francesco Farias and Blade) and since that they`ve done an irresistible mix of Funk, Soul, R&B and House music.

With a groovy fusion between the DJ style and the live instrumentation, connected with the Afroamerican side of contemporary music, Jestofunk arrived to this second album after a six years itinerary through Jazz, Funk, Soul and the most experimental sounds generated for the Dancefloor.

Universal Mother is a summit of the past experieces of the band, a tribute to the jazz funk of the 70's but also to modern technologies. This work is clearly a continuation of their previous album, maybe the group has expanded its sound a bit, but there really isn't much room for improvement here, only small refinements, as Jestofunk was already at the top of its game. From funky-soul-jazzy rhythms to electronic vibes, featuring very special guest (Jocelyn Brown, Freddy Mc Gregor and once again Fred Wesley and Ce Ce Rogers) the group serves up some of the finest jazz-dance music around.

Can`t say more about it… just go ahead and try it!

Tracklist:
1. Universal Mother [Let Yourself Flow] (1:47)
2. Be A Warrior (5:33) - Vocals: Ce Ce Rogers
3. Colour (5:48)
4. Universal Love (5:31) - Vocals: Freddie McGregor
5. If You've Got It, You'll Get It (6:14) - Featuring: Fred Wesley
6. Special Love (5:06) - Vocals: Jocelyn Brown
7. Happy (5:15) - Vocals: Ce Ce Rogers
8. Jestofunk, Jestofunk (3:45) - Vocals: Ce Ce Rogers
9. Try My Love (5:57) - Vocals: Ce Ce Rogers
10. We Are (0:43)
11. Nel Nome Del Suono (6:04)
12. Why ? (6:04) - Vocals: Ce Ce Rogers
13. PFunk Station (5:06)
14. Earthquake (4:51)
15. Reflexion (0:55)

DL 320

This one is a MUST BUY!

Some videos here (maybe not the best tracks in this album…just my poor opinion)

Jestofunk – colour

Special love


Happy

## I`ve seen different album chart arts, maybe `cause there are different releases. To the best of my knowledge, the content is the same in all of them.

See you in the next month`s posts!

Kilowatts - Ground State (2007)

Hi there!

I was out for a while, and now back for few...

It`s time to leave some more recent and modern ingredient to feed our ears here. We can´t exist without a past, but can`t live without the future......ok, that means nothing..

Now let me show you an artist I`ve found times ago when I was looking for downtempo/chilling things: KILOWATTS

I really got surprised when first heard it. A real groovy experiment mixing elements of different styles like ambient, dub, psychill, idm, glitch and even techno and breaks. The notorious results this complex styles equation is what we find in his 5th album realease, GROUND STATE.

You can read many review (1, 2) doing a fast google on it that are better than I could do by now. I found even a track by track review here.

But if you`re sick of reading or if you don`t care about what others say, then you can check it by yourself below.


Pure groovy/techy chilling effects.

Tracklist:
1. Astral Accident (7:21)
2. Two Parts (7:36)
3. Deep Sea (8:00)
4. Old Twisted Trees (8:23)
5. Dub Serious (7:33)
6. Azure (7:58)
7. Hang Gliding (6:27)
8. Monument (8:32)
DL 320


BUY IT!

Take a look....
..At club playing "Dub Serius"


..Clip of "Monument"


.. and that`s all

birdy nam nam again..

Ain`t got time at all to manage things here.. I know you might be starving but sorry, no feast by now..

This one are just some videos about Bird Nam Nam. Some fo the vids are presentations at DMC. If you don`t know what it is you can get informed here. Briefly it`s a DJ`s competition..just for the tough ones..
Now let`s start! Have fun!

Here you can see DJ Pone:



Here is DJ Crazy B:



DJ Need:



And here is Little Mike:



Every freak chimp can do what these guys do, ah?
Now start to join their skills just a little..



..and then a little bit more..



The result of this complex audiological mixture is Bird Nam Nam sound.
If you liked it, you can know more about their work in previous post.

Flevans - Unfabulous (2007)

This one is just a copy & paste from wherever...mixing things, you know.

Flevans began making music in his home town of Brighton using a 4 track cassette recorder on which he'd spend hours looping breaks and hooks to create tracks. More than that, as a trained multi-instrumentalist – playing guitar, bass and piano, amongst others – Flevans had always incorporated some of his playing skills into his music.

Retaining the cheeky, dancefloor friendly attitude of his earlier releases, "Unfabulous" additionally benefits from an altogether more polished sound, unashamedly merging his trademark use of eccentric samples with the funkiest of breaks, a smattering of horns, and plenty of wah-wah of guitars. Essentially, it has all the ingredients you need to get the party started.

This a high-end Nujazz stuff. Check it yourself..

..Funky rhythms, mind blowing sounds, sexy vocals, grooves!.. it`s about music with feelings. Highly recommended.

Tracklist:

1.Greeting Song
2.Loose Gardener
3.Newton's Blues
4.12 Apostles
5.To Wonder Why
6.Funz
7.Lost/Found
8.Sounds Good
9.Cold Hands
10Pickinit

DL 320

Believe me! It sounds better if you BUY IT!

Afrique - Soul Makossa (1973)

Born from Cameroon-born and Paris-based jazz saxophonist Manu DiBango`s "Soul Makossa" track and with the participation of heavy studio musicians that could keep the grooves on, this 1973`s album is one of the killer instrumental funk ever!

The 13 artists involved include the baterist Paul Humphrey (also played with Marvin Gaye, John Coltrane and others), the guitarist David T Walker (played with Aretha Franklin and Pharoah Sanders), the organist Charles Kynard (some pleople say he could have rivalled Richard 'Groove' Holmes in speed and accuracy) and 10 others who created not only a hit of the Dibango`s original, but an entire set of groove-driven instrumentals. "Soul Makossa" and "House Of Rising Funk” are certainly true gems that have been sampled all around.

A real dreamy 70`s-afro-jazz-funk mixture! Highly dangerous! Highly recommended too...

Tracklist
1- Soul Makossa
2- Kissing My Love
3- Sleepwalk
4- Let Me Do My Thing
5- Slow Motion
6- Hot Mud
7- House Of Rising Funk
8- Duelling Guitars
9- Hot Doggin’
10- Get It

DL 320

This is worth value!! BUY!

1# Due to a failure to register copyrights the album title track have many differents version around of different groups from that time (I`ve already listened some but I read there are 23 versions or more).

2# Unfortunately, these high-minded musicians got gathered just once and this is their only release. (Do your homage: play it out loud!!)

"Soul Makossa" (poor audio but it`s nice to see the people dancing..)

"House of Rising Funk"