Released: 09/02/2009

Originally a prolific club night deep in the south west of England, Good Groove was known for serving up a unique mash up of disco, funk and breaks. Naturally, when the guys behind started their own record label it was going to revolve around that sound – with the ambition that their releases never would leave a dj’s record box!

This EP is the eight release of the “Regrooved” series (the label’s 12th release), and it continues to deliver a good blend of funky house, disco, latin and breaks – all made for the dancefloor. 

My favorite is the Breakbeat Junkie’s “Here’s the funky beat” which is a soulful house number with those lucid and funky little piano lines, old school rhymes and good grooves. This is definitively going to be a hit with a lot of dj’s out there – including me. One the same side, the Sly Players turns the funk and tempo up with “Turn you one”, combining the breakbeat and disco elements neatly. One the flip, Calagad13 joins in with a re-work of an old disco classic, while DJP goes into latin territory. A decent package for several occasions, but prominently lead by the Breakbeat Junkie.

PS! Check out my review of “Featurecast – Take a ride” on the same label.

Fat City | MySpace | Juno |

Released: 30/04/2007

Flow Dynamics is Australian Dave McKinney. He released his first album last year, and what a debut! It is all about catchy dancefloor funk, full of jams, old school party breaks as well as soul and more downtempo grooves.It is really the complete package.

As the sleeve notes says, it was recorded with real musicians rather than samples. This makes it able to keep that organic funk vibe from the 70s while upping the stakes production wise without sounding overproduced. It is 70s funk reincarnated – with all the obligatory heavy drums, funky basslines, tight horn sections, sharp cuts, and cathcy funk vocals. 

I read an interview with Dave the other day, and noticed the quote “Music makes me happy”. Well, his music makes me happy as well, and with support coming from the likes of Fort Knox Five, Dj Spinna, A.Skills, Quantic, Flevans and the Wiseguys Mr. McKinney has done alright. 

Dave also records under the alias Soul Harmonics where the soundscape turns towards house and nujazz. 

MySpace | Last FM | Amazon | Freestyle Records | Official | Beatsource

Released: 17/06/2006

Bugz in the Attic is West Londons finest broken beats crew. The collective includes djs and producers like Afronaught, Seiji, Daz-I-Kue, Kaidi Tatham, Mark Force, and Alex Phountzi. When talking about genre defining artists, you could definitively throw in the Bugz.

They were first brought together by Orin Walters (Afronaught) and Seiji during 1997 in Orin’s attic studio. Since then, they have released tons of singles, an album and brilliant compilations for the likes of Fabric and DMC’s “Back to mine” series. Each individual member have also produced lots of quality stuff under their own names. If you haven’t heard their 2004 hit “Booty (la la)” – check it out!

“Move aside” is taken from the 2006 album “Back in the doghouse.” It is an attitude filled nu funk breakbeat number not to far off from what Amerie did to top the charts. Remixes on this 12″ comes from Thylord & Alex Phountzi and A.Brucker & Sinden.

Bugz.co.uk | MySpace | YouTube | Juno |

Released: 18/08/2008

I first took notice of Feature Cast when he released the magnificent “Channel Surfing” (which ended up on an Apple iPod tv ad) and “Recipe for the perfect Afro” on the highly reliable Brighton label Catskills. It has always been all about the funk and the breaks for this dj and producer.

It is three tracks on this release. I concur with the sentiments saying “Take a ride” is a modern day “Rappers delight” with familiar samples. If you have heard his Bomb Strikes! releases (massive!) or his DIY edits (like Stomp) you will know the sound of this one. It is disco and funk food for your feet. “Let’s get up (get down)” and “Top billing” follows the same recipe, but is the first one which stands out for me.

Good Groove | Catskills | MySpace | Last FM

Another great mash up by the mighty Zamali. From the unlikely home base in Belgium (!) these guys are delivering funk gems faster than Coca-Cola bottles soft drinks! The keyword is combining and editing old Motown classics into contemporary dancefloor favorites. This 7″ single combines Jackson’s ABC and a great funkbeat from Krafty Kuts.

The b-side mash up Jurrasic 5 and The Detroit Spinners – decent enough work, but compared to the flip it is never able to compete.

Fat City | MySpace |