Thanks to killer reissue labels like Four Flies Records out of Italy, we can experience the easy/cheesy listening sounds of 1970s Italian movie soundtracks. From the label’s Bandcamp site: “Four Flies’ 45s series continues to pay tribute to the golden age of Italian film music, this time with the first Continue Reading
Soul
James Brown – Living In America
Is there a better song for today than James Brown’s classic?
Jonny Benavidez with Cold Diamond & Mink – My Echo, Shadow and Me
Finland’s Timmion Records has released Chicano-soul rocker Jonny Benavidez who provides a radio-friendly (for 1965) soul cut that sounds so authentic that it takes you back at least two generations, which seems to be a specialty for the record label.
Nicola Conte – Umoja
My friends, mark your calendars for June 30, 2023. This is the date that Italian DJ/bandleader/impresario and all-around man of good taste Nicola Conte releases his latest album under the banner of Far Out Recordings, who have never let me down on a single release all these years. As Nicola’s Continue Reading
Felix Lebarty – Girls For Sale
It’s safe to say that 1976 Nigeria was a somewhat different world from today’s. The Edo-Delta region must have been a rather swinging place if this reissue of Felix Labarty’s classic, Girls For Sale, is any indication. The music is lush, perhaps a little tinny, disco mixed with reggae vibes Continue Reading
Groove Paradise – 欲望
I have to say that I know next to nothing about vaporwave and the history of the scene. Most of what I’ve heard is, to put it mildly, awful. However, Groove Paradise, a Spanish artist, left me with a more positive view of the genre. The music sounds like something Continue Reading
Akshin Alizadeh – Reasons
We have here a slab of R&B and modern soul courtesy of Akshin Alizadeh, the wunderkind originally from Azerbaijan who records for Cold Busted Records out of Oregon. It’s strangely radio-friendly, but the funk is pleasant on this single
Bobby Oroza – Get On The Otherside
The Finns are noted for not only being great musicians, but are masters at cultural adaptation. They make tango even more melancholy than their Argentine friends do, and now, I guess I have to admit that they’re more than holding their own in soul and R&B if this latest album Continue Reading
Cinnamon Soulettes – I’ll Show You How
This is some beautiful soul from the Pacific Northwest. The Cinnamon Soulettes were, apparently, from Seattle and recorded this private single sometime during the 1970s, but according to the Bandcamp site, “Unfortunately, most information the estate had was lost in a flood and none of the collectors and music historians Continue Reading
Dur-Dur Band Int. – The Berlin Session
Somalia’s Dur-Dur Band have released fresh material, so if you’re interested in Somali music, Afrobeat, funk or soul, you might want to pick this up quickly. From the band’s Bandcamp site: “The Berlin Session travels far beyond the gems collected from dusty cassettes. It is a bridge between the sorrow Continue Reading