Welcome back to the second edition of our Beatjoint news section.

First of all believe that this is nothing but quality here, as for example we bring you the full catalogue of this very ecclectic and always on point, damn fine label from the great North…Raw Fusion Scandinavia. From local Norvegian talents like the well named Future Beat Investigators (DJ Lil Tony from Nuspirit Helsinki) and his two partners Roberto Rodriguez (Sähkö) and Kimmo (Oksanen) with their beatdown techno / house grooves packed with futuristic bass lines and deep synthesizer sounds… to many international maverick producers pushing the right sound worldwide such as Brighton’s very own Spiritual South aka Mark Robertson’s spicing it up in
a latin jazz house flavour or Quasimode classy jap-jazz extravaganza, passin through the unique deep house / electric boogie moods of West London’s Dons, Restless Soul (aka Phil Asher and family) and all the way to the furious broken beat / high tech jazz fusion of Poland’s newcomers Innocent Sorcerers or even NYC producer Arch_Typ (aka Charles Noel, Arch Tight, Monochrome). Let it be known: it’s getting hotter and hotter up North!

Next up, here comes yet another bombastic tracky EP on his already classic Real Tone label, this time called “The Renegade” from our dear friend, THE man in Paris…Franck Roger. Mister Roger who delivers “Ninted House” and “The Clash”, two slices of dancefloor smashers instigating a dark and sexy atmosphere with an heavy dose of old school underground influence and a powerful vision to reinvent the content of house music today.

We continue with the last offering from the excellent label who brought us Franck Roger’s first album a few years ago, Seasons records. Their brand new twelve presents the soulful garage house sound of Kemal feat. Leslie Carter “Can't Help Remixes” with new tasty versions from Halo & Abicah Soul.

In the same elegant vein we couldn’t recommand enough the superb remixes of Atjazz feat. Ernesto “Put In On”, specially the deepest one made by Osunlade aka Yoruba Suite. A sweet and sensuous song that has already made his proof on the dancefloor for a little while…one of those great melodies that you can’t never get enough! Yes for those that know Atjazz rarely disappoint right?

And to move on here’s another funky German cousin of Atjazz, the sweet and discreet man who goes by the name of Lars Bartkuhn and his new project “Dimensions” on the very clever Sonar Kollektiv label run by Jazzanova outta Berlin. New signature in their staple Lars aka Passion Dance Orchestra from Frankfurt gives us his finest moment to date since the release of his classic album “Dreamland” on his own Needs imprint…heavy grooves, harmonies, complex strings and keyboard arrangements and creating something really timeless and unique over a syncopated funky beat and a colorful keyboard. On the flipside Marcus Worgull of Innervisions fame comes up with a very effective and DJ friendly remix, where the tension rises beat after beat. His version is a surefire crowdpleaser that will undoubtedly be pitched by DJs such as Dixon or Ame and that will make your heart beat faster and stronger on the dancefloor!

Which is also the case of Jimpster’s “Dangly Panther EP” On Freerange. Following recent remixes and productions for the likes of Sandy Rivera, MotorCitySoul, Justin Martin and Robert Owens, Jamie has managed to find the time to come up with this slow burning, deep house nugget which also includes his own Audiomontage Remix as well as a killer rub from Joris Voorn. The original mix of Dangly Panther should keep those who enjoyed his recent Square Up track on Buzzin Fly or his last Freerange 12 A Love Like This very happy indeed. The vibes are deep and rolling of course but with enough energy to keep the discerning floors reaching for the rafters. Joris Voorn ups the tempo for techier edged Black Panther version which will appeal to those whove enjoyed his recent output on Rejected or his amazing LP From A Deep Place. Finally, Jamie dons his Audiomontage cap to push the original in a more minimal, electronic direction, introducing a rave hook thatll wedge firmly in your head.

And we switch it up again with “Computer Incarnations For World Peace II”. Following the critical acclaim of the first volume Sonar Kollektiv and Gerd Janson of Running Back Records team up once again to the greater joy of all the Disco music lovers. Whereas the first opus of Computer Incarnations for World Peace focussed on the early 80s with a selection of forgotten gems from the new wave era, the second episode shows the recent evolution of Disco music, with 13 tracks from artists and producers who proudly reasserted their love for this kind of music and injected some new blood in the veins of a genre that deserted the dance floors in the 90s. Starting off with 3 previously unreleased tracks. Alex Storrer aka Lexx comes on board with an instrumental version of “Mahogany”. The Swiss DJ and producer, whose unconditional love of Balearic and Disco music is only matched by his passion for Hip-hop, has had releases on pioneer labels such as Bear Funk, Mindless Boogie and Permanent Vacation. He delivers here a stunning cosmic piece made of lovely keyboard melodies, guitars riffs and tight drum parts over dreamy pads and female choirs and with a very nice cosmic edge to it. The second track called “Reinbågan” from Nordic disco darlings Todd Terje and Prins Thomas, who released music and remixes for labels such as Rong Music, Eskimo Recordings, Bear Funk, Clone, Rekids, Compost, Feedelity, and Mule Musiq amongst many others.
This tune originally released as B-side of Terje’s 12“ Eurodans on Soul Jazz is a superb dub-disco cover of Cloud One's “Don't Let My Rainbow Pass Me By”. It is also a very sought-after cut, as only 60 copies of it have been pressed! The third track is an unreleased slow motion corker with beautiful layers of pads and ever-rolling arpeggios called "GRN Aventurine" from French dynamic duo Chateauflight aka Gilb’R and I:Cube of Versatile records fame. The cruise goes on peacefully with Keep On of British band Crazy Penis and reworked by neo-disco pioneers Daniel Wang and Brennan Green. The fine little label Sentrall hailing from L.A. is represented twice on the compilation with a heavenly cut called Blazer taking you higher with wonderful steel-drum parts and ethereal layers of synth and with the funky Maurice Fulton remix of Rollmottle’s Take A Break. Also selected “Lullaby for Robert” by Al Usher released in 2004 on Out Of The Loop Records, the groovy boogie disco number “Oddysey” by London’s Woolfy, “Fighter” by Birmingham’s wonderboy Mark E, which is a deep Balearic affair exclusively released on this compilation, and the electronic Soca-disco cut “To and Fro” from Ray Mang a.k.a Raj Gupta. To complete this retro futuristic disco journey, “Tyrant of Nat Rabb” aka San Serac originally released on Trevor Jackson’s Output Recordings in 2006. And with the dreamy and Balearic delight Shulme of Paul Murphy aka Mudd of Rong records fame and “Walking in The Rain” of Frontera, aka Pete Herbert and Phil Mison, who released a handful of records on Eskimo Recordings under the moniker Reverso 68, this incredible travel ends up as sweetly as it started.

Phew! You’ve had enough of this hectic disco dance? Well well let’s bring it down a notch with the phunky sound of Reggie B’s “Go”. Who’s Reggie B? A wonderful american artist fusing a decent futuristic soul album, with a wide range. So what is it? Hiphopsoulfunkalicious …with a voice and a care-free attitude which remind us Prince the purple dwarf as well the whole P-Funk movement of George Clinton, Bootsy etc…check it.

And we’re ending with some deep hip hop style strictly for the discerning beat heads! Super Smoky Soul “Cycling”. Six track ep from this Japanese trio , who were discovered when featured on Rush Hour “Beat Dimensions” fondamental headnod compilation as well as on Fat City's Producer 01 album. Various laidback and soulful instrumental hiphop outings, all very J Dilla inspired, and a definite check for those into Sa-Ra, Spacek and the likes.. Contains a mental remix by Hudson Mohawke (Heralds Of Change) too!

And last but not least The Big Payback “The Big Payback”. A duo consisting of French producer Onra (a great beatmaker we got high hopes for, check our previous new section for more on him) and his american net buddy, Byron (also featured on Rush Hour’s Beat Dimensions compilation). Various soul drenched offbeat- and hiphop cuts with keys on this 12. Features the vocals from Isis, Neco Redd, Peter Hadar, Dal-Gren. We go deeper!

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Greetings, we’re back with some digital freshness for all groove diggers.

As we begin this wild ride with a futuristic p-funk fanatic, the voice called Reggie B. Remember the “Go” album released on Circulations in Japan around September 2007? Also his 12” with Daru previously released on 4lux White? Well this time here comes his solo project “A Few Steps Forward“ here in the form of a tasty album sampler (perfect introduction to his second album “Get down with me” out soon on 4lux) with on the A-side the booty-shaking tittle track “A few steps forward” produced by the prolific cat called Saadiq from Platinum Pied Pipers. Also “Do your dance (testify)” produced by 4lux boss Gerd and Paulo (who just released the Milez Benjiman project on Ubiquity and Tru Thoughts). On the flip side we got the bouncy “Spiritual Fi”, a club banger produced by hip hop producer Lenny Dee (not to be confused with the hardcore techno dj from New York!) then let’s grind to the seductive sound of “Evil Woman” a slow and nasty dancefloor bubbler and slide finally to “Outergalactic Funk” an instrumental bonus track with a sleazy spacey groove oozing with sweat and sweetness.

Next up, big up to our tough number two: C.O.N.E."Electric Theory Vol. I" on Bagpak Records! Remember those letters.: C O N E…an up and coming Dj/Producer/live act hailing from Rotterdam. An eclectic, smokin’ hot dude whose production influences range far from Broken Beat to Detroit Hip Hop to Dancehall riddims and beyond. C.O.N.E. is a bad man…and he’s also currently working on the Crazybreed LP (alongside veteran singer, writer, producer and musician Colonel Red whose debut album "Blue Eye Blak" was released with People Records back in 2005 and who has been dazzling audiences with his soul-drenched vocals, compositional vision and production talents with also Alex Attias or the Bugz!). This volume 1 album features the future classic “Victim”, also released on the almighty Coopr8 (CO-OP). A must for all appreciators of Afronaught and IG Culture twisted beats. Hear this massive: broken beat ain’t broke yet!

Third release in this third Beat Joint news section… "Thirdiq" by Monologue. A Japanese combo sweet like candy, showing us a bit more laidback side of the land of the risng sun (much more mellow than Soil & Pimp for instance)! This original jazz combo with nuff keyboards, guitar, trumpet, drums, and percussion sometimes hits an electric 70s jazz-funk fusion style with echoes of Herbie and Miles, at other points they're much more introspective, nicely experimental without going too far out though! Best titles include "I Hear The Music", "The World Is Wideopen", "Fragment", "Monologue" and "Break Of Dawn Before 4AM".

Our number four is strictly for the discerning dancefloors, Roberto Rodriguez on Compost’s Black Label #33. And yes, for those who did’nt knew yet Roberto rodriguez is part of the Future Beat Investigators (Raw Fusion). And fyi Mister Rodriguez is also known as the man behind Track n Field's "Marathon" album on Nine2five recordings and some might also have heard of him as a part of the Acid Kings (Sähkö recordings) or for the 90s deephouse he dropped via Stereodeluxe. So you can expect nuff quality tunes like "Ride With Me" a killer bumpy track feat. Max c's old school-ish vocals. The inspiration to "ride with me" initially came from an Al Green song. Max C came up right after with the idea of combining vocal elements from modern hip hop club tunes with classic house vocals. The b-side "too late" is a pure deep house odyssey in the vein of Innervisions deep techy house. And while we’re on the subject of Reverend Al Green look out soon for his new album with mad beats from Quest Love from The Roots.

As we glide all the way live with number five : Nneka “No Longer At Ease” Heard the name before? You won’t forget it. The Nigerian sensation Nneka (now living in Hamburg, Germany) has made a big name for herself in a few years as a very special singer, creating a intimate link beetween African blues and his American incarnations like soul and hip hop through songs full of life, wisdom and experience.Working closely with DJ and Hip-Hop beatmaker DJ Farhot, this phenomenal woman behind the mic is aiming high as she’s willing to be one of those few carrying the torch of afro revolutionnaries like Fela Kuti and Bob Marley into the now. A nu soul right (indeed…but much better than another “nu soul” named Yaelle Naim even though Nneka hasn’t got the same huge popular appeal yet, but in a near future who knows?)… Nneka stands out as a potentially mainstream artist with much soul and sincerity in the vein of Mos Def and Lauryn Hill. Also check her performing live we heard she’s fire!

Number six in the mix, we switch to Mister Modo And Ugly Mac Beer “Modonut”. After those two being previously the creators of Mo Dougly Weird Stories (feat. Mike Ladd, Thirdsight, D-Styles, MF Grimm, Monsta Island Czars) on Pascal Rioux’s Favorite Records, they’re back in full effect! Watch out for the dangerous combination of Mister Modo and Ugly Mac Beer as the awesome duo hit us this time with the first 7" off of their album to come, “Modonut”, a respectful headnodder’s nod at Jay Dilla’s Donuts beatheadz classic. As many of his contemporaries following Dilla boom bap path, Modo is an insatiable loopdigga, and his dexterous MPC feels like the extension of his hand. Mac Beer (the boss of the label Diess Prod with hyperactive turntablists such as DJ Troubl', DJ Kodh, Le Jad, Scratch Science) is a gifted scratcher and sequencer. On side A, after an intro reminiscent of blaxplotation moods, the duo welcome the warm voice of soul-jazz singer Jessica Fitoussi. The B side holds a Gainsbourg-inspired instrumental track and a jumpy interlude, both working up ones curiosity as to what lies ahead for the second 7 and their album to come. Give me Mo’!

Seven… we’re on our way to heaven with a top notch selection by Karen P... "Broadcasting Ep" : Following on from Jazzanova and Dirk Rumpff (Off Track), up and coming radio producer, DJ and media consultant Karen P recently delivered what is already the 3rd in the successful ...broad casting mix series. Now Sonar Kollektiv releases an exclusive 12" vinyl release including three of the stand out tracks from the mix CD. Karen started out on Gilles Peterson's acclaimed Worldwide show and she keeps going from strength to strength. This superb EP kicks of with a raw track by Stereotyp (discovered on G-Stone then Compost, Klein Records, Kitty Yo, Fabric and Ninja Tunes) “Take The Wait” in a warm and soulful house vibe. Si Begg (best know for his work on Novamute but has also released under his aliases Si Futures and Buckfunk 3000 on other labels such as Tresor, Cheap, Skint and Shitkatapult) signs “Into The Deep Water” which takes in elements of dub-step and soul to make a fresh sounding track (exclusively available on this 12"). Like “Into The Deep Water”, “Unite” by Tettorybad also features new Swedish vocal talent Fatima (Hudson Mohawke’s famous flatmate relocated in the UK). Nuff talents to seek out for…

Like this week’s number eight from Break SL “Laguna Seca”. Dresdens Sebastian Lohse aka Break SL with the follow-up to his respected debut on his own imprint, Philpot Records. Four tracks that range from raw dubby house to floating ambient techno, showing his massive skills on the buttons, creating moody atmospheres to get lost in like a warm never ending night.

The number nine is nothing but a mighty fine album by beatdown scientists going by the name of Soulphiction "Do You Overstand?!". Following on from his 2006 LP “State Of Euphoria”, Soulphiction aka Jackmate, and Michel Bauman brings us a fresh new album on Sonar Kollektiv. As well as having had releases on Sonar Kollektiv and his own labels Philpot and Phil E, Soulphiction has also put stuff out through Perlon, Playhouse, Moon Harbour, Liebe/Detail, DIY, Mule, Resopal and Freude am Tanzen.The album is full of suprises such as “Ghana Wadada”, a dark dance-floor romp displaying haunting flute melodies and ethnic African chants. Or the brillant “Prison Song” on which the beat is the rhythm of a genuine chain gang. Soulphiction moves in so many musical directions at the same time, taking in influences from hip-hop and jazz resulting in a truly experimental feel: there's a great roughness to their sound, a minimal deepness making sense in the vein of some Theo Parrish, Moodyman or Omar S works.

Last but not least, the number ten on this list comes from the very gifted Mark E “Slave 1” on his Running Back label. After many great disco / r’n b / beatdown house edits, the Birmingham wizard now returns to Running Back for another EP of original productions. Always delivering relentless sensuous and effectively simple tracks of pure dancefloor bliss. Number one song is “Slave 1" that keeps building up untill you’re locked in and hooked for ever. The flipside flips the script with first “Pulse Friction” full of synthesizers for your long lasting pleasure. Finally, the incredibly bouncy “Human”, another oh so joyful moment thanks to Mark ...and don’t forget, E stands for ecstasy! Enjoy!

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