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.

[youtube:http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=sEDNa-jS5fs]

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

Illa J – Yancey Boys

Illa J is the younger Brother of one James Yancey, AKA J Dilla, who sadly passed in February 2006. J Dilla was a legendary beatsmith, perhaps revered more posthumously, yet that cant mask the creativity and sheer talent he possessed. His parting gift for younger Brother, Illa J, was some beats. So here is Illa J, emceeing over said beats, for his debut LP on Delicious Vinyl. The LP is called Yancey Boys and it’s available now.

Rich and soulful, Yancey Boys spans 14 tracks and 48 minutes of music. It features appearances by Guilty Simpson and Debi Nova, yet refreshingly isn’t totally engulfed by cameo appearances. I find that to be commendable in a time where one way to shift units in the form of a hip-hop album is to cram as many familiar names on there as possible – which 9 times out of 10 actually has a detrimental effect on the album.

What follows is a review of Yancey Boys written by the wonderful Orsi, exclusively for Jus Like Music…

Tracklisting:

01. Timeless
02. We Here
03. R U Listenin’? feat. Guilty Simpson
04. Alien Family by Frank Nitty
05. Strugglin
06. Showtime
07. Swagger
08. Mr. Shakes (Skit) aka Affion Crockett
09. DFTF feat. Affion Crockett
10. All Good
11. Sounds Like Love feat. Debi Nova
12. Everytime
13. Illasoul
14. Air Signs

The first Illa J track I ever heard was We Here in early October 2008. My friend Thristian was spinning it in the club, and I was thinking “what’s this? This is good…” and slowly started nodding my head in approval (you know, like all those cool hip-hop cats do when they are digging the beats they are hearing). Safe to say that by the end of the first chorus I couldn’t control myself anymore and had to go up and dance. I remember having a nice little giggle at the Krusty Kreme reference in the second verse, and I begged Thistian to hook me up with a copy of the song. Of course, he never did, and I forgot all about it. Until Gav sent it to me whilst I was stuck and bored at work (Australia-UK time difference can be a bit tricky like that). I got so excited I made my boss play it for the entire office. Since then I have been listening to the album at least twice a day, and I have to admit, I’m feeling it more and more for every time I hear it.

The short piano intro on the first track Timeless makes you think jazz for nine seconds. Then the beat appears, shortly followed by soulful vocals that will make even the most uptight suit from the city relax. What I especially like with this song is that the piano actually follows through the whole track, and adds that extra jazzy/groovy touch that sort of lays there in the background, but still manages to become defiant at times and grab your attention. A perfect start to the album if you ask me.

R U Listenin’? feat. Guilty Simpson is one of my favourite tracks on Yancey Boys. I usually put it on in the morning when I’m on the bus. I close my eyes and imagine myself in the sun on some distant island, with the ocean close by and light breeze in the air. Don’t know why… might be because the beat that screams Dilla, or maybe it’s the chilled out flow Illa J has when he raps (I love it when emcees rap effortlessly), whatever the reason is, the track is definitely one of the best ones on the album.

mp3: Illa J – R U Listenin’? feat. Guilty Simpson

If you’re a fan of old school hip-hop then DFTF feat. Affion Crockett might tickle your fancy. The scratching at the beginning makes me think of early Common songs, and takes me back to when I was the only white girl in the neighbourhood running around in Adidas Superstars trying to learn how to breakdance and had just fallen head over heels in love with hip-hop (good times, people!). Just like most of the tracks on this album, DFTF is very laid back and chilled out.

And I think that’s why Yancey Boys is one of my favourite hip-hop albums of 2008. The beats are top notch and have that “Dilla sound” that I have always loved. It’s not crammed with a million featuring artists (that most of the time serves no purpose in my opinion), and I think Illa J’s method of producing effortless and laid back raps adds to the cool vibe and relaxed atmosphere that the entire album projects and seems to be consumed by.

Could Illa J ever replace Dilla? No, but I don’t think he is trying to either (and good for him, that would be some pretty big shoes to fill!). Does he have the potential of becoming something amazing? Yes, I think he does, and Yancey Boys is a damn good start if you ask me. 2008 had some good hip-hop releases, but this was the album that made me think that hip-hop might not be dead after all. It’s fresh, but timeless. So if you haven’t had a listen yet, make sure you do!