Record Kicks is a Milan-based indie label which specialises in off the wall soul, funk and jazz as well as lots of other stuff too. From time to time they issue compilations to show off their proud catalogue and this new 18 tracker is the latest. It’s been put together by DJ Smoove (he of Smoove and Turrell fame) and he’s chosen a set of tunes which combine rare B sides, new remixes of old Record Kicks favourites and a few new-to-CD tracks. They are – by and large – all loose funk workouts – most of which are instrumentals and a few feature vocals.
To give you the flavour, go straight to Mr Comicstore’s ‘Are You Ready’. This is very loose, leggy and wild and features a brief vocal from the redoubtable Nicole Willis. More funk? Well, the Third Coast Kings’ ‘Spicy Brown’ is an unashamed James Brown pastiche – complete with grunts! In honesty, though, dip in anywhere with the remote and you’ll hit some wild funk but sadly the overload means that it all kind of melds together and nothing really stands out.
There are just three cuts that don’t fit the template. William Joseph Fowler’s ‘Prophets Bound To Christ’ is pure gospel… a possessed preacher ranting over a messy soundscape; the Liberators’ ‘Rags To Riches’ is straight Afrobeat’; and the Crabs Corporation offer some reggae in the form of ‘Let It Go’.
Labels like Record Kicks do a great job in supporting new music. Maybe their artists offer more enthusiasm than slickness but that’s no bad thing and you can discover more at www.recordkicks.com
(BB) 3/5
