Aaliyah
Ultimate Aaliyah

Hot Casa's latest deep dive into the Afro-funk archives takes us to the Democratic Republic of Congo at the turn of the 1970s. It was here, in a nation brimming with post-independence confidence, that a funk band called The Soul Kids briefly burned brightly. This reissue of their impossible to find debut album should be essential listening for anyone interested in West African funk. It contains a mixture of sizzling self-penned instrumentals and inspired cover versions of American funk standards, including a memorable take on Wilson Pickett's cover of Beatles classic "Hey Jude" and two fantastic versions of James Brown's "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag".

We won't make the obvious joke about buses - you know, the one about waiting ages for an Autechre album and then two turn up pretty much at the same time. But we will say this. If Plus, the second of Sean Booth and Rob Brown's two albums to drop within a fortnight of each other after a lengthy absence, were a bus, it wouldn't be headed out on any recognisable route that we know about. You might find the odd bit of scenery that feels vaguely familiar - the tension-laden strings of 'ii pre esc' or the scrambled drum & bass machinations of 'X4', but in the pair's hands they are splintered and re-assembled very much in their own image, one foot in the frenetic exhortations of electro and the other deeply planted in the land of industrial experimentation. Closing track 'TM1 might bear a slight resemblance to the squelchy acid of Drexciya, for instance, but its occasionally four-to-the-floor beats stop and start with a wonderfully disorientating playfulness. Brave and original, as ever, this is not for the faint hearted but at the same time takes you places you never thought you'd encounter.

Biguine en provenance de la Guadeloupe sortie chez Aux Ondes dans les 70's !

Little Sister of Brother From Different Mothers, HSS is introducing you to a strictly limited tape mixed by Judaah and DJ Tarba.While Judaah is well-known for his outrageous rhum drinking skills and his love for crackling dancehall 7’’ , BFDM affiliate DJ Tarba is bringing Junglism monthly on LYL Radio with his Strike A Posse show (he’s also quite good in rhum drinking).« Songs Harder Than My Mother’s Belt » hits definitely hard - two mixtapes to get lost in dancehall, hardcore, breaks, and rhum madness

Melbourne’s Left Ear Records return with an EP release extracted from a lost ’93 CD only album by famed Nigerian artist ‘Jay U Xperience’. Here, modern technology meshes with timeless African Rhythms and the heartfelt influences of New York City.Jay U Xperience is the pseudonym of acclaimed Nigerian musician Justus Nkwane.His first release ‘Enough Is Enough’ was a heavy blend of psychedelic rock and funk epitomising 1977 and yet foreshadows Justus’ experimental and genre-spanning inquisitiveness. Justus wouldn’t record another album until 1993 while living in New York City. Here he emerged with ‘Ancestral Call’, an album that he describes as a “once in a lifetime event”, something from his “inner spiritual guts”. Equipped with a Roland R-5 drum machine and a Roland U-20 synthesizer to extract melodies he was able to create tunes that encapsulated contemporary technology with timeless traditional African rhythms, creating a work that sounds just as relevant Today as it did then. Tracks like ‘Back To Motherland’ & ‘Ancestral Call’ personify this sound, while ‘Okokobioko’, is an onomatopoeic excursion in losing yourself to the rhythm, the EP is then rounded off with the title track ‘Abuja’, a ghostly striped back piece.