Funk | Soul 146 Items

I’m Leavin is a tribute to Etta James, produced by the one and only Nottz (Busta Rhymes, G Unit, Pusha T, Dilla).
Shateish flipping the Etta classic into a updated tale of catching a cheater and the pain that comes along with it.
B side in the instrumental to the tune, giving us a chance to hear how Nottz smashed the beat closely.

Truth & Soul presents the second single from the newest band to come out of the burgeoning Brooklyn soul scene, The Olympians. Led by maverick keyboard player Toby Pazner, the Olympians second single is a perfect mix of deep soul and european library music. Recorded in Toby Pazner's bedroom studio, both songs are masterfully orchestrated, instrumental gems.

Robbie M of Midnight Express (Danger Zone) is back with his latest single! This is the first track from Robbie's Upcoming LP.

The Pretenders were the Carnival label’s main act throughout the 70s and up to 1980. By 1977 producer Joe Evans was embracing the disco era and recorded them on the excellent Kenneth Ruffin song, ‘Just Be Yourself’. Its furious yet solid rhythm and catchy title-line has captivated soul dancers for many years, making the originals expensive and very hard to find now. The flip was their final release, an updated and disco-slanted version of Lee Williams & the Cymbals’ ballad.

Straight up sweet cinematic soul from Seattle, WA via THE DIP!! Sweet horns, dirty drums, and a tight rhythm section makes for a fantastic debut 45 for Colemine. For fans of Daptone’s much-sampled Menahan Street Band. Hailing from Seattle, The Dip is an electrifying seven-piece ensemble that melds vintage rhythm and blues and modern pop with impeccably crafted, 60's-steeped soul.

Killer Al Green-like soul from SF!!

2 brandnew tunes from the modern soul legend!

With their full length getting wrapped up now, Big Crown Records is proud to present the
debut single from Finland’s own Bobby Oroza.
Side A, This Love is already an underground classic, and has been a huge hit with the
sweet soul crowd since it’s original release last year on Timmion Records. Produced by
Cold Diamond & Mink and recorded at Timmion Studios in Helsinki, Finland, this team has
clearly got the magic. With its tough drums, maverick guitar work, in the cut bass, and
Bobby’s calm yet pleading monotone vocals, this is one hell of a song and an absolute must
have for Soul collectors.
Side B is the never before heard and very well executed homage to Sunny & The Sunliners
classic song, Should I Take You Home. Bobby takes the task of covering a near perfect
tune and does it justice by making it their own while never losing sight of the magic that
makes Sunny’s original so sublime. This is going to take the sweet soul crowd by storm and
is a perfect follow up to the already beloved,This Love. Another Big Crown Sure shot.

Two quality New Orleans tunes from 1971, topside is an all-time great Northern Soul classic, flipside Is a currently in demand gritty "Heavy Soul" tune!

Driving up tempo 1969 Funk mover for the dancefloor available for the first time on a well-mastered 7", previously only available on LP b/w classic Brownstone label instrumental version!

Mr Fields is back with a funk burner sure to light up every dance floor it
plays to. There couldn’t be a better time for an optimistic anthem from the
seasoned wisdom of Lee. The Expressions tearing this track apart with
driving horns and guitars over monster drums and the slick arrangements
we have all come to love them for. Leon Michels & Tommy Brenneck’s
production bringing together some of the finest players doing it today with
Lee’s inimitable voice reminding and encouraging us to get together and
make some changes, changes that are ours to make.
Another Big Crown sureshot.

Big Crown Records is proud to present Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band’s new 45, “Scorpio” b/w “8th Wonder”. Coming after the smashing success of their debut full length “55” they drop 2 B-Boy classics back to back on this tough two sider that comes in a beautifully illustrated picture sleeve.
The A side “Scorpio” is a killer cover of the Dennis Coffey breakbeat staple. BRSB turn up the tempo a touch on the original doing the tune justice with crushing drums they have become known for. This is sure to be in every breakbeat enthusiasts box. The B side features the non album cut, BRSB’s cover of The Sugarhill Gang’s 8th Wonder, a tune that lends itself to pans like it was written for them. Another dance floor winner sure to be in DJs sets the world over shortly.

Favorite Recordings presents this single reissue released by SOL Discos, a new sub-label launched as a partnership between Pascal Rioux and DJ Waxist. Following their recent collaboration on projects like Lamar Thomas’ single and Caribbean Disco Boogie Sounds’ compilation reissues, Favorite Recordings offered the French DJ to become the coordinator and A&R of a new imprint aiming to reissue rare and forgotten music with a Tropical and Disco flavor: “Sunshine Music”…

Today, SOL Discos is delighted to introduce its very first release, with this official 7" reissue of Hiram & Direct. Initially recorded and released in Detroit (Michigan), it has been a hard to find record since then, with only a little number of known copies floating around and changing hands within the Soul collectors / DJ scene.

Musically speaking, the reissue has been switching tracks sides from the original release, putting the focus on “Love Flight” as the A side. Indeed, “Love Flight” has some strong dancefloor potential for any DJ into underground Disco & Modern Soul. Just listen to those synths! On the B side, you will find a different vibe with “Turn It Around”, an excellent ballad with beautiful vocals & harmonies. In the end, both tracks have nothing to envy to some of the best Soul classics.

It’s with great pleasure and honors that SOL Discos and Waxist make this little known gem more accessible to today's music’ enthusiasts, through this legit reissue!

Parisian DJ & producer’s duo, Cléon & Jazzy Pidjay, are back as Last Bongo In Paris, with a hot new 12inch filled with Latin & Brazilian soul-funk vibes... With raw drums, heavy breaks and jazzy flavor, these 5 tracks EP should quickly become a hit for all groovers and dancefloors!!
Cléon & Jazzy Pidjay have been united through their love of music and hip-hop culture for a while. DJ Cleon is one of the finest producer in France for breakdance battle music, also respected as a fine wax digger, mixing all kinds of music together, such as disco, funk, soul, jazz, breakbeat, hip-hop and more old and new records.
Alongside his mate Jazzy Pidjay and his great production and mixing’ skills, they give a new dancefloor life to hidden and forgotten musical treasures, through funky uptempo tracks.

In Demand Floorpackin' Early Soul/R'n'B/Popcorn/Mod Tune Self-Written By The Artist b/w Fantastic Texas Uptempo R'n'B Mover Which Is A Driving Version Of The Bobby Bland Classic!

In demand 7 inch sees a limited edition in translucent yellow vinyl. Regarding the album: "This has not been off the decks since I first got it and have been hammering it to death on the show. One of the Essential albums of 2011. Perfect in every sense and totally irresistable" Craig Charles (bbc 6Music) Two cover versions taken from the essential album Gitano Real. I Believe in Miracles is an overwhelming take on the Jackson Sisters classic in a rumba funk fashion. Party stomper!! And on the other side, a longer trip departing from McFadden and Whitehead's seminal Ain't Non Stoping Us Now and touching the revered latin disco version of Charanga 76, only to end up as a fabulous clap-driven rumba stormer. Two very necessary sun-soaked tunes for any self-respecting dj on neat black vinyl. And yes, it's a limited edition!

Brass Horizon only ever had one effort put out onto vinyl. The much sought after "We want to play" on the Minda Mark label. Currently commanding big bucks on the collector’s scene. The single also made it onto Keb Darge's Deep Funk LP. Now Super Disco Edits has dug deep again, and unearthed some killer tracks by the band. Brass Horizon were heavily into the Bay Area sound of the mid 70's and especially Tower of Power. The first recording to come to light from these dusty sessions is this one off studio mic take, introducing the band. Fully 6 mins long, we have trimmed it down, so it gets a 45 release. Part 1&2. polish your headspin hat, and hear all the components of the band, horns, keyboards, and last but not least a big arse drum break!! Beware you b-boys out there!

Stix Recordings rounds up all those essential Mato 7" anthems onto this extended player, with all the cuts remastered for the occasion! Includes two unreleased hits featuring Blackstreet (No
Diggity) & Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre (The Wash). Woopiwoop, that's the sound of reggae-hip hop perfection!

In demand New Orleans R'n'B/Soul floorshaker which is very in demand on the mod scene b/w tune heavily sampled by the likes of Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth, DJ Shadow & Cut Chemist and others through its heavy drums!

Big Crown Records presents the second single “Smiling” from Lady Wray’s “Queen Alone” album. The single is an instant feel good anthem, “Smiling” finds Lady Wray reminding us to keep our heads up and keep a smile on our faces through whatever life deals us. With production from Leon Michels and Thomas Brenneck that rides the line between bubblegum pop and lo fi tough grit, Nicole lays out with a voice as encouraging as the lyrics she is singing. Listeners will be hard pressed not to find themselves singing along after the first listen. A proper good vibe tune guaranteed to move dance floors the world over. The B-side “Make Me Over” is a lushly scored tale of letting your guard down and letting the one who loves you take care of you when you are down and out. A relatable tale of having expensive taste and empty pockets, Nicole finds herself asking for a little help so she can get a break from being strapped for cash promising to take care of her man as soon as her check comes in.

For the fourth edition, the duo left behind their perennial favorite, Trinidad and Tobago, and headed for Jamaica and Brazil, trekked across South America to Peru, navigated across the Pacific to Japan, down to Australia, and then set sail for South Africa, went overland up to Tunisia, and finally put down their bags in France.
Along their perambulations around the globe, they handpicked a number of rare and often unique pearls that they found, at times in damaged shells, at others barely surviving in abused, large record collections. Guts and Mambo patiently selected these tracks with the intent of creating a vinyl barrier reef, an atoll of sound safe from the rising tide of noise pollution that the music industry spews forth every summer.

The 2016 edition once again treats listeners to an incredible diversity of styles and ambiences, ranging from jazz-funk to samba-rock, disco, soul, and reggae. Because in the end, the geographic origin matters little. Even if the golden triangle of Brazil, Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago remains the largest supplier, “Beach Diggin’” is above all a way of being, a way of living the moment and life in general to the fullest. Permanent coolitude on the BPM, fast or slow, an epicureanism that is equally at ease whether its produced with a sense of Amazonian luxuriousness or the sparse comfort of a deserted beach, a reserve of a few degrees of heat to put on the turntable when it gets cold outside.
So, it’s not surprising that tracks from Eastern Europe, North Africa, or the US have quickly received their stamp of approval. In this fourth compilation, just as in the previous three, the rule remains: “Beach Diggin’” still is a state of mind.

Big Crown Records is proud to present the first single from El Michels Affair's forthcoming full length "Return To The 37th Chamber".

West Coast singer Lynn Varnado is known for her northern soul masterpiece ‘Wash And Wear Love’. The record is so expensive that its flip, ‘Tell Me What Is Wrong With The Men’, rarely gets the exposure it truly deserves.
To make this release irresistible we have added the sister funk masterpiece ‘Staying At Home Like A Woman’, which makes its 7” debut here.

Louisiana-based singer Camille “Lil” Bob was one of the most successful R&B stars of southern Louisiana. His recordings for Goldband, La Louisianne and ANLA are the highest quality soul and funk.
These sides have caused a storm on discerning dancefloors. ‘Stop’ is an incendiary cover of the Howard Tate number, whilst our flip is a 100 miles-per-hour slice of hardcore funk.

Two of the classic floor fillers from the Acid Jazz age released on 7” single for the very first time. Pianist Mabern’s take on the Jackson 5’s US #1 is propelled on a non-stop rhythm courtesy of Idris Muhammad and fiery trumpet from Lee Morgan.

‘Sister Janie’, clearly influenced by James Brown’s ‘Sex Machine’, is as funky as jazz ever got. This Indianapolis group show why they are so highly rated by DJs everywhere. A 33 1/3 rpm release.

Top Originally Unissued Killer Sixties Northern Soul Mover Outta Philadelphia For Upfront Deejays Which Is Taking No Prisoners!

Gregory Porter’s debut studio album Water was released in 2010 under the Motéma Music label, and will be re-issued on Blue Note on April 8, 2022.

The album was recorded in the summer of 2009. The tracks include love stories, such as Illusion and Pretty, or protest for African-American civil rights, such as 1960 What? which recounts the 1967 Detroit riots. Gregory Porter also covers saxophonist Wayne Shorter's Black Nile with added lyrics. He also did an a cappella rendition of Feeling Good, made famous by Nina Simone in particular

Water was hailed by fans and critics alike, elevating Gregory Porter to the status of the next great male jazz star and marking the beginning of his successful career:

“Porter aptly refers to Water as “an album of love and protest,” though love is the clear victor. From the starkly beautiful “Illusion”, a hushed ode to a lost paramour; and rapturous “Pretty”, reminiscent of “A Taste of Honey”; to the percolated joy of “Magic Cup”, Porter knows how to get to the heart of the matter." - Christopher Loudon, JazzTimes

Gregory Porter pulls off a masterstroke on a debut album that should mark the beginning of a fine career" - JazzMagazine/Jazzman



Phil Johnson of The Independent wrote "Tipped by Jamie Cullum as one to watch, Porter is a deep-voiced vocalist from Bakersfield, California. There's an obvious debt to Kurt Elling but Porter seems relatively unbound by technique, sounding less mannered and more soulful as a result".



Water got nominated for the Grammy Awards for Best Jazz Vocal Album in 2011.

TThe two best tunes from his 1979 album "Love City" on Cotillion Records, both are in demand modern Soul dancefloor gems with the flipside getting its first time ever 7" release.

Limited edition for Record Store Day 2016!

Two Established Modern Soul Room Movers From 1980 Finally On Limited Reissue 45!

Original founding members of New England's premier reggae band, The I-Tones; Jon Gorr (Keyboardist), Tony Allen (Drummer), and RAM (Vocalist) released their side project "It's No Lie" in 1983 on Massmedia Records.

Just check out these Northern Soul mega-classics back to back!!

First in a series of split 12inch singles, PPU-019 features the rare 80s funk recordings of Durham North Carolina’s Willie Hill and Milwaukee Wisconsin’s Roshell Anderson. “Delicate Rose” blossomed on the PPU Video Party DVD, due to many requests for it PPU decided to release the vinyl. “Wild Dreams” originally released in the late 80s only came out locally in Milwaukee on Deerfield Records.

Driving Uptempo 1969 Funk Mover For The Dancefloor Available For The First Time On A Well-Mastered 7", Previously Only Avalable On LP b/w Classic Brownstone Label Instrumental Version! *LIMITED 'WHITELABEL' 7" DEEJAY PRESS, ONLY 50 COPIES MADE!*

Back in! Obscure Philly disco from 1984 recorded at Sound Modification, includes Tom Noble Edit on the flip!

Back in! It all started in a local club in Pine Bluff Arkansas where Mojo and Spider played in their first group together Zodiac in the mid 70s. Spider played lead guitar, and Mojo held the brass section. Sam "Spider" Rice was also the music director for a vocal group called "La Pinch" which included vocalist Gary Pinchom (Pinch). As the 80s approached La Pinch was looking for a new sound. After relocating to the East Coast "The Pinch" was born. New York and Jersey was quite a change. Spider wanted to write a song to address the drug abuse he was seeing all around him. "Shot Out was a street term we used to describe someone with an excessive drug habit", recalls Spider. "We built a voice box from a horn driver, a couple of switches, and some tubing". They had some money stashed from a Zodiac gig and picked up a Prophet 5 and Roland Drum machine. After recording the track in 1981, the song was mastered at the legendary Power Plant in NYC. That would prove to be the major limitation for the release, since they were out of money now and could only afford to press 200 copies of the 7". Distributed in Texas and locally on the east coast, "Shot Out" would be the only release from The Pinch. UNTIL NOW! Re-mastered for the first time on 12" vinyl, this 80s funk masterpiece is finally back on wax.

Here comes the highly anticipated album release from Aaron Abernathy featuring Black Milk, Deborah Bond, Nat Turner, Phonte (of Little Brother + The Foreign Exchange), Zo!

Aaron Abernathy, is a jazz pianist/soul singer and multi-talented entertainer. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Abernathy comes from a long-line of historical pioneers including Civil Rights Leader, Rev. Ralph David Abernathy and student of the same high school music program as the late R&B great Gerald Levert.

He joined the ranks of artists like Donny Hathaway and Roberta Flack as a graduate from the prestigious music program at Howard University, where he sharpened his piano playing and musicianship by majoring in jazz piano. With outstanding talents as both a pianist and a vocalist, he has acted as musical director for global touring acts Black Milk and Slum Village and collaborated with Grammy-nominated artists including Jack White, The Foreign Exchange, and Eric Roberson.

Mastered for vinyl from the original master tapes. Recorded around 1972, these tracks were a result of Band Manager Robert Hosea Williams who had the foresight to preserve the master tapes from those early sessions and these masterful tracks were released on a 2011 Numero LP. Permission was given for Soul Direction to Master these two tracks from the original master tapes

Emotional Rescue looks back again with a 2022 repress, digging deep in to the early 80s Bristol post punk scene of Pig Pag, the Wild Bunch and the Dug Out club. A short lived project of just 3 releases, Mouth trail-blazed leftfield percussive jams in the rich vain of Liquid Liquid and ESG but in their own jazz-infused way. Centered round the cultural melting post of the St Paul's district, it's pubs, clubs and blues parties threw together young and old to the sounds of dub, funk, jazz and soul and took the spark lit by punk rock and new wave and spawned music that still resonates today. Consisting of a floating line up based around main members Andy Guy and Rob Merrill, alumina included a young Nellie Hooper before he would go on to be a founding member of the Wild Bunch and on to produce the likes of Bjork, U2 and Madonna. Based around a hard tribal drumming, mixing guitar, trumpet, shouted vocals and effects, the thrown in the mix nature was inspired as much by avant-jazz than punk's do it yourself attitude. Here then, on one EP are their complete recordings, including as the title cut, their best and deepest, Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea. Featured on a compilation LP from the legendary Y Records, its bottom heavy dub sound is augmented by female and toasted vocals riding a top a heavy stepper style riddim. This is followed by an increasingly dizzy array of percussion jams. Acab Part 2) is all skips and trumpets, while the versions of Take Your Coat Off perfect skat vocal / tom interplay, before the finale busts out the rockabilly influences in full effect with jagged guitar, skipping hats meets double bass punk style.

Authentic Blue Eyed Soul. Jamie Lidell fans, listen up!

Repress of sought after Habibi Funk release from 2016! Carthago: Rare Tunisian Disco Including Unreleased Instrumentals And Eight Page Booklet! When we first decided to start Habibi Funk, a label dedicated to re-releasing "funky" Arabic music from the 1960s to 1980s, a band called Dalton was the first release we worked on. Dalton was a band from the Tunisian capital of Tunis and they played a unique mix of soul & funk with an Arabic DNA. We licensed the release from the band's composer Fawzi Chekili, and when we spoke to him on the phone in preparation of the release he mentioned another band he was part of, called Carthago. Our work with Habibi Funk is like a big treasure hunt. There are too many great bands that fully vanished into obscurity and didn’t leave any traces in the digital sphere yet. We are so used to the internet providing all informations we might be looking for, but Carthago was one of those bands where the internet largely failed to provide any infos despite the fact that Carthago created some incredible music in the form of an highly infectious Tunisian take on disco music. Luckily most of the members of the 1970s musical scene of Tunis are still around to tell their story.

Carthago was founded in the late 1970s as a fusion of Dalton and a second band called Marhaba Band. Both bands frequently played at hotels and night clubs in Tunis and Sousse. They had similar musical influences and despite the fact that they were competition for the most part, they came up with the idea to join forces for a new band. Musically Carthago kept on walking on the musical path of Dalton and Marhaba but incorporated disco music, a new style that was making its way to North Africa from Europe and North America. The band had quite some success on local radio and played a number of big shows with thousands of people showing up. The band’s concerts were a mixture of their own compositions as well as cover versions of the hits of the time from Stevie Wonder to Chicago. At the end of the 70s they went to Paris to record their only, self titled album. For our reissue we picked out two of our favorite tracks: „Hanen“ and the outstanding disco version of the Dalton track „Alech“ which has proved to work on every dance floor we played over the last two years.

When I came to Tunis for the first time after the Dalton reissue I met Fawzi in person. He still lives in Tunis and still works as a full time musician though his focus has shifted more towards Jazz over the years. Luckily he did not only keep a spotless copy of the Carthago album but he also kept the master tape of the instrumental versions of the album which to this day were unreleased. Being able to add exclusive content to a reissue is something that is rare and we feel highly privileged to be able to do so. Futher more we are so happy that we will be able to add something new to the bands legacy not only musically but also visually: One day I realized that most of the releases from Tunisia I liked, be it from Dalton, Carthago or Marhaba Band had the same photographer credit.

Hassen Turki started taking photos at a young age and when he was 18 he started going to the gigs of the bands of the time that were playing in the Marhaba Hotel which was managed by his father at the time. He became friends with the bands and ended up being the person to be asked when it came to shooting the photos for the covers of the records. After some research I managed to get in touch with Hassen and met him in his hometown Sousse. Luckily he kept most of the negatives of the photos he took so we’re more than happy to be able to share these unseen photos with whoever is interested.

Charles Bradley's third album is highly anticipated and very emotianal again.