Laura Vane & The Vipertones – Steam

Some funky 7″ magic from those cats at Social Beats comes to us at the end of this month in the form of Steam (b/w Man Of Your Word) by Laura Vane & The Vipertones.  A project involving both Dutch and British artists, Laura Vane & The Vipertones consist of Phil Martin, Ton van der Kolk, Diesler and of course songstress Laura Vane, as well as a handful of other talented musicians to back them up.

The A-side, Steam, rides uptempo with a mean melody, funky drum break and comes backed with a slick Rhodes section and some sweet brass stabs.  Laura Vane provides the fierce, yet oh so soulful vocals, to pull it all together.  Their sound is clearly influenced by the classic funk-soul acts of yester-year, whilst it has been meticulously moulded and crafted in a contemporary fashion to offer a fresh approach with rich, but not overbearing, female vocals.  Easily on par with any other modern female-led funk act, LV & The Vipertones deliver a tight dancefloor number to get those feet moving.

Man Of Your Word features on the B-side and it has a fantastic groove throughout.  The infectious drum break is engulfed by a deep bassline, whilst the brass dances around the melody freely.  The tour de force is the shift in vocals from Laura Vane before the bridge – it takes the track momentarily in a different direction, before the drum break snatches the track back into the groove.  It has immense repeat factor and will grow on you like a violent moss in winter.  Top funk track that will fill those dance floors to no end.

mp3: Laura Vane & The Vipertones – Man Of Your Word

A solid debut 7″ from Laura Vane & The Vipertones – definitely looking forward to the full LP, which is due out within the next few months.  So look out for it!

Myron and E with The Soul Investigators – Cold Game

This is something a bit special.  New 7″ from Timmion Records of Finland right here.  It’s by Myron and E with The Soul Investigators – the A-side is the track Cold Game and the B-side is called I Can’t Let You Get Away.

First things first: in the contemporary soul circles, this thing is going off big style.  Initially 300 were pressed towards the end of last year, with more slowly trickling out into the new year.  Every soul loving vinyl urchin is trying to get their grubby little mitts on this, and for good reason too.

Cold Game pays homage to that sweet 60s sound, with laid back singing and a swinging beat.  The Soul Investigators do a mean job of providing the aforementioned beat, as well as guitar, strings and horns.  It has a real innocent and fresh sound about it – nearly tripping into full on care-free sunshine territory, before being whipped back in-line by the fierce drum break and tight instrumentation.  A real soul gem indeed.

mp3: Myron and E with The Soul Investigators – Cold Game

At this point it is worth mentioning a bit more about Myron and E.  Myron is a talented individual who has worked in the past with the likes of; Blackalicious, Mike Relm, Gift of Gab, Lyrics Born, Jankie Hotel Project and Indigo Soul Series.  Whilst E is actually better known as E Da Boss, an accomplished beat digger, producer and DJ from way back who has mixed with Mark the 45 King, Blackalicious, Gift of Gab, Lateef the Truthspeaker – as well as shared stages with artists like; KRS-One, Mary J. Blige, Missy Elliot, The Roots and Chaka Kahn.  So it is something a bit different, in a very good way evidently, to see two experienced hip-hop/soul heads singing on a throw-back soul track from a label based in Finland.  Full respect for flipping the game on its head like that!

As previously mentioned, this is a 7″ vinyl record that is generally in very limited supply, so if you want to get a hold of a copy I would advise you to contact those good people at Timmion Records and see what they can do for you.  Good luck!

DJ Hen Boogie – Adore feat. Kissey Asplund

I’m pleased to be able to share with you an exclusive track from Traveller Records of Finland, it’s by DJ Hen Boogie (of The Derelix fame) and features Kissey Asplund on vocals – the track is called Adore.  Out now through Traveller Records on 7″, the B-side contains the track Summertime, featuring vocals from Jeni Fujita, whom you may recognise from her work with the Fugees.

Adore is a solid, yet smooth, laid back track with tight beats and a sweet melody.  Kissey Asplund’s vocals then serve to act as the proverbial cream over this fine dessert which DJ Hen Boogie has concocted.  DJ Hen Boogie said himself that the collaboration with Kissey came about back when MySpace was slightly less of the ‘cesspool‘ it seems to have become.  Kissey heard the beat to Adore on his page and proceeded to contact him with regards to laying some vocals over it.  The rest, as they say, is history.  So, see this as a little precursor (if you will) to the recent Kissey Asplund LP Plethora – and it is most definitely then worth getting your hands on this little 7″ (only) nugget!

mp3: DJ Hen Boogie – Adore feat. Kissey Asplund

PODCAST: Soul Food

A guest podcast today for you lucky, lucky people, direct from groove-weaver extraordinaire Orsi and also with words from groove-weaver extraordinaire Orsi…

January is the first month of the year, and consequently also a month when people don’t have a lot of money (after having spent most of it during the holidays). And if that wasn’t enough to turn the milk sour, it is also a very cold and gloomy month for us living in the northern hemisphere, not leaving much to smile about. But have no fear my dear Jus Like Music friends! In an attempt to make life more peachy, I decided to throw together this tasty little dish especially for you, containing some very groovy and funky ingredients. I hope your taste buds are ready for this explosion of booty-shaking flavours!

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Guest Podcast Tracklisting:

01. The Soul Snatchers – People People Feat. Jimi Bell Martin
02. Breakestra – Little Miss Funky Sole
03. United 8 – Getting Uptown to Get Down
04. Lettuce – Move On Up feat. Dwele
05. Ruckus Roboticus – Here We Go
06. Diplomats of Solid Sound – Come in My Kitchen Feat. The Diplomettes
07. Baby Charles – I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor
08. The Jazzinvaders – Perugia
09. Brownout – Latin Asscape
10. The Apples – The Bell Step
11. The New Mastersounds – Idle Time (Lack Of Afro Remix)
12. INO Hidefumi – Blood Is Thicker Than Water
13. The Bamboos – Can’t Help Myself Feat. Ty
14. Medeski, Martin & Wood – Where’s The Music

mp3: Lettuce – Move On Up feat. Dwele

PODCAST: Jus Like Music Volume 29

Volume 29 has arrived! First off, thanks to both Micro Matic and Medley Megamix for holding the podcast-fort recently. Alas, 29 is here and it’s chock full of goodness. This hour long baby includes bangers from the likes of; Bullion, Funkshone, Kinny and AFTA-1.

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Volume 29 tracklisting:

01. Bullion – I’m Waiting For The Day
02. The Avalanches – Run DNA
03. Funkshone – Stop The Bus
04. Kings Go Forth – One Day
05. Kinny – Idle Forest Of Chit Chat feat. Souldrop
06. Amplive – Nudez (ft. Too $hort & Mc Zumbi of Zion I)
07. Ammoncontact – One In An Infinity of Ways
08. Backyard Bangers – If Nothing Else Then This
09. Computer Jay – 1000 Fold feat. The Gray Kid
10. Boy Robot – Set It For Me (Bud Robot Mix)
11. AFTA-1 – The Time In Between
12. Dorian Concept – Seek When Is Her
13. Mayer Hawthorne & The County – Just Ain’t Gonna Work Out
14. Slum Village – Fall In Love
15. Illa J – Sounds Like Love feat. Debi Nova
16. Jazzanova – I Can See (Circle Research remix)
17. Dimlite – Bougainvillea Chamber

Bit of a mixture of new and old, as ever. I’m really digging the new Funkshone album, Shining, and also the upcoming Kinny album, Idle Forest Of Chit Chat. Been revisiting some recent classics too, like 2007’s Pet Sounds: In The Key Of Dee by Bullion and Dorian Concept’s Seek When Is Her from 2006. It’s all solid stuff as you’ll find out for yourself when you listen.

mp3: AFTA-1 – The Time In Between