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African excavation
Deep-digging archivists Fischer P and DJ Haul , the guys behind the excellent Booniay!! comp of obscenely rare West African funk, are back with The Danque! – a second volume of similarly rare 70s vintage Afrofunk scorchers from Nigeria and Ghana. Once again there’s no information about the various artists, and the recordings sound like they were dubbed from dusty vinyl, but it’s hard to fault the track selection, which includes unhinged jams from Brigth Engelberts , Smahila and the S.B.’s , Vis à Vis and Mustapha .
Brazilian beat
In Brooklyn, the hipper Williamsburgers know that the Black Betty club is the place to be on Sundays for classic raw Brazilian baile funk. For everyone else, DJs Sean Marquand , Greg Caz and Claudio Medusa have assembled a killer mix disc sampling of their popular night out, Brazilian Beat – Baile Funk , which includes hard-banging floor-shakers from Cassiano , Os Diagonais , Tim Maia , Hyldon , Di Melo , Miguel de Deus , Som Nosso , Hélio Matheus and others. Well worth tracking down. Check for it at www. turntablelab. com.
Soul of the Midwest
Chicago’s Aestuarium Recordings (www.aestuarium.com) come up with the soulful goods on their three 7-inch reissue set Chicago One-Stop: Staff Picks, Vol. 1 , which boasts the two most sought-after Wayne Carter funk bumpers, Mad Mouth Woman and Wahoo, Wahoo, Wahoo. Well worth the $12 U.S. the package will set you back. You won’t want to miss Joey Irving ‘s brilliant Don’t Throw Our Love Away or Sugar Hill ‘s That’s Love. Bring on volume 2!
NYC rocks back
Going by the New York bands showcasing at last week’s CMJ Music Marathon, you’d think 80s-style disco-punk was the only game in town. But the Enoch label’s excellent Gotham Garage survey indicates there are loads of great new rock ‘n’ roll thugs still thrashing away. Just sample the Tie Red ‘s Come On Let’s Go, Thee Minks ‘ I Lie To Boys and the ingeniously named Tampoffs ‘ All The Time and you’ll know that the Noo Yawk punk spirit ain’t dead.
