
update: album 'Back to Light' (2010), singles 'Up the Mountain' (2010), 'Bug Powder Dust' (1994)

The Underbelly are a five piece uptempo funk band from Cornwall, comprised of tenor sax, alto sax, flute/baritone sax, guitar, drums and bass, delivering high energy dancefloor-friendly funk music. After being the resident band for Pete Isaac’s legendary Jelly Jazz parties, The Underbelly are now ready to launch their recording career with this debut full-length, for which they recruited the powerful voice of Dojo Cuts singer Roxie Ray on three tracks. Anticipated by the release of 45 "I Keep Heading On" sung by Miss Ray, with the driving rhythms of "Cold Toast" on the B-side, “Seven Feet Under” is set to redefine the modern funk scene.
The album kicks off to a strong start with the soulful, uplifting grooves of instrumental “V-funk”, and proceeds to capture all the raw, live energy that established The Underbelly as one of the most exciting funk bands to emerge today. From the fast-paced “Erik FM”, to the more mellow and laid-back jazz-feel of “Packin Up”, this album is by no means a typical debut, but rather a confident display of tight musicianship, innovative sounds and infectious breakbeats. Already counting on the support of DJs such as Craig Charles, who called them “the find of the year” during his show on BBC 2, The Underbelly put a modern, edgy twist on the classic sounds of soul and funk, resulting in an album that captures the ears and feet of anyone in a 5 mile radius, so careful how high you turn your speakers on!
Were proud to introduce you to the debut full-length artist album from Black Bridges very own Drop Logik.© Beatport
Hailing from the mountains of the Southwest United Crates of America, a sound physician was born. Making drum kits out of trash cans, empty paint barrels, and whatever the hell else made noise, Chad Dixon aka Drop Logik aka Crate Diggler, began rearranging sound from an early age. Moving on to simply looping beats from dual cassette decks to buying his first sampler and drum machine and so on and so forth. Its always been an outlet of inner combustion ready to be released into your headphones. Now is the time to press play!
Hot Box Studies bangs out space age mental gymnastics with crunchy samples and syncopated beats. Musical movements are cut together with turntablist acumen across a deep abyss of sound as swirly interludes play between the loftier scores. Stand out picks include the cut-em-up-flapper Hear To Wear, the sultry big beat Get!Get!, and the outer space gospel Out Of My Head. Finally,Smoke Ring Dreams brings us home and serves as your well deserved introduction to the one and only Crate Diggler.
Turntable genius and mixtape maestro Buddy Peace returns with his first official digital long-player, released on the Strange Famous label. Blending together supremely artful drum-sculpting with snippets of more abstract sounds (as well as a wide-ranging palette of vocal samples, this makes for one of this year's more interesting and organically experimental hip hop instrumental suites. More so than on most albums of this ilk, Buddy's music really takes you on a journey of some sort, but better still, along the way your travelling companions will be a dazzling array of beats, ranging from dark and jazzy, off-kilter figures (as on 'Hawkstring Corpse') to heavier, hiss-laden break treatments ('Arcade Murderflash'). Expertly put together and inventive throughout, Late Model Sedan comes recommended to all open-minded hip hop heads.
The debut album from the man billed as "the South West's answer to Cut Chemist", following on from a slew of mix CDs and scratch tools he's released. Fallen On Def Ears ignores current dominant trends in hip hop production and instead opts for a more vintage sound, full of cuts, scratches, reconstituted funk breaks and soulful vocal snippets. Obvious reference points would be... well, much of the Ninja Tune catalogue, although on a song like 'Save Your Breath' it gets even more Freshers Week-circa-1996 with a shameless nod towards big-beat, coming across as being a bit Norman Cook. Productions like 'Rescue Me' and 'It's The Hornet' are arguably more successful for sounding more like old 45s in their own right, and when it comes to stitching together samples in a classic cut & paste fashion, Para's clearly got a real craftsman's ear.
‘Smoothness Extract (Deep Night At Ishigaki)’ is Lambent’s third full-length, and his first on Project Mooncircle, following previous albums more rooted in experimental ambient electronics for Insine and Expanding.
This record presents his sound in the context of instrumental hip hop, with strong elements of electronica still present. You could group it with the recent wave of Dilla-inspired beats, but equally it could sit with Autechre when they’re at 90 BPM. The album came about after Project Mooncircle heard some of Lambent’s tracks and fell in love with the calmer and smoother parts of his often intense sound. Hence, Lambent compiled these seventeen extracts from the gentler side of his repertoire.
This album is made as his dedication towards a small Japanese island, named Ishigaki. Berlin-resident Lambent is originally from Japan, but he has never visited this place… ‘Smoothness Extract’ is the soundtrack to a summer night trip around the island, visiting the many different aspects of the scenery, nature, feelings, emotions, sights and sounds as Lambent imagines them.