Singles & EPs Round Up - October 11th, 2020

Kibrom Birhane - Circles (Flying Carpet Records)

Direct to tape live recordings are a real rarity these days, ones this good even more so! Here Birhane cobbles together an outstanding crew of LA's international music talent and drops some of the heaviest Ethio jazz grooves recorded this side of the 70s.

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STR4TA - Aspects (Brownswood)

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If you're going to look back in time for inspiration, as STR4TA have done to the 80s and the UK jazz funk scene, you better come correct or else I'll just carry on playing the originals. Luckily they've captured the essence and kept the quality, with Demus tightening things up on the flip side remix.

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Trish Toledo - Thee Only One (Mango Hill)

This is a soul classic whatever the decade. Again on thin ice covering the classic sounds of a golden age, Toledo doesn't think twice before baring a slice of her soul on a 7" black plate for all to marvel at.

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The Whole Truth - Lord, Quench My Soul (parkway)

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The Whole Truth has been making a habit of transporting those soulful synth sounds of the 80s across the decades and into the present in recent years, and this could well be his finest moment. Makes me wish I still had my patent leather shoes, Willy Smith jumbo cords and was getting down at The Cathedral Club in Northampton still.

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Souleance - Les Mouches (First Word Records)

To counter all the throwback soul, jazz, funk flavours in this weeks round up, I thought I'd hit you with a release that takes all those great sounds, vibes & grooves & then twists them through a beat boy blender to give the 60's, 70's & 80's a new millennial mash up.

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Little Barrie & Malcom Catto - After After (Madlib Invazion)

Here Little Barrie team up with one of the UK's best drummers to lay down a consummate exercise in restrained, scuzzedup psychedelic funk where, like some super strong acid, the groove just never seems to stop.

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Zaza - Nduzangou (Secousse)

Soul comes in many forms, from many countries and this 5 year old slice of East African joy, has been given a proper rerelease after the internet gods sent it viral on Youtube. Lookout for the remix package on the label's Bandcamp page that has just dropped if you want some Anglo twists & turns on the original tune.

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Arp Frique - Minina Ben Li (Rush Hour)

Tapping into his Cape Verdean roots, Arp Frique uses the force and loads of vintage synths to propel the bygone sounds of the motherland to open minded dancefloors everywhere. Well once they open again anyway.

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Danielle Ponder & karate Boogaloo - Look Around (Hopestreet)

A fitting recommendation to see out today's soulful EPs roundup, as this NYC/Melbourne collaboration sees Ponder's vocals icing the Boogaloo's fine playing with a depth of delivery few can muster these days.