NYE funk and hiphop events in the UK

Just a little heads up on three events that are coming up in dear old Blighty.

Merry consumerism folks.

Modern Funk V/A

Tracklisting

I’ve recently acquired this funk album straight from one of my favourite labels, Freestyle Records. I haven’t had the pleasure of listening to any of their previous funk compilations but if this is any indicator of the quality then I’m pretty damn sure they’ll be worthy of a purchase.

Artists range from Sharon and Dap Kings and Charles Bradley through to the more anglophile sounds of (now Cali based) Quantic and Lack of Afro.

One of the stand out tracks in my opinion would have to be the fat drumbeat laden track “Strugglin” by The Snugs, which you can hear by clicking on the previous link to their website. They are a collective of musicians and DJ’s hailing from the south west country and this track, with the vocal powers of Leah Symons, seriously warrants turning the stereo up to max, even if it does piss off the neighbours.

Fans of Rage Against the Machine will be humoured to hear the cover of Killing by Israeli funk group The Apples, I luckily managed to snaffle the 45 from the first press of the single. Another album I’ve copped recently was from the “deep funk super group” that is the Sound Stylistics, a group of seasoned musicians consisting of members from Jamiroquai, Brand New Heavies, Galliano, The New Mastersounds, The Herbaliser and the James Taylor Quartet. Their ‘Shake And Hip Drop’ track on this comp is surely not too be missed.

Artist video links:

Quantic Soul Orchestra

Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings

The Apples

The Fantastics

The Bamboos

Speedometer

The Sweet Vandals

Lefties Soul

Though it must have been seven odd months since the official release of Lefties Soul Connection’s album Skimming the Skum, I still think it’s never to late to elaborate the raw funk goodness of this pinnacle release on Olski’s infamous Melting Pot Music label.

This collective of nu-funksters formed in Amsterdam in 2002, influences vary from the JB’s and the Meters and into the realms of hiphop with the likes of J5 and the Roots. It’s good to hear a band such as Lefties are pushing the boundaries within live funk music by actively incorporating various hip hop production styles and structure into the core of their album. I can’t imagine it will be that long until some producer samples the hell out of their breakbeats.

Here’s the video of ‘Fais Do Do‘, a single they released which popped up on Youtube.

You can check out samples of their tracks here.

Label

Official website