Category archive: Funk

After a few days of hard work, sunshine and hearing no postworthy music at all, I finally ran into something sweet from The Noire. The duo consists of brainchild Deshon Thrower and Saoul Bumbu who together bring some new Funk in the form of “Fire To The Flame”. Make sure you visit their Bandcamp page and grab this on a ‘name your price’ basis.

The Noire – Fire To The Flame

Thanks to DJ Notoya “Nu Funk Classixx” mix, I heard this funky creation from Benedek featuring Pasadena’s DaM-FunK on the vocal tip. Must have missed this one when it came out, so now is the right time to bring this one up again. Hope you guys enjoy “That’s My Jam!” plus the downtempo remix on this late Sunday night.

Our homie DJ Notoya from Japan really put some time and effort in his latest “Nu Funk Classixx” Vol. 1 mix. This carefully selected collection of Funk bangers will keep you satisfied for days. Heard some Moovmnt classixx on here as well as some jams we slept on or had almost forgotten about.

Kan Sano‘s brand new vocal project Bennetrhodes is just amazing and already running for top 10 album of the year. The “Sun Ya” album was released on Gruntstyle (Wax Poetics Japan) digitally and on CD. More info on this masterpiece soon!! For now just buy the album at and if you’re fast, grab a limited free download of one of the songs (time’s up, but either way just visit) Kan’s Soundcloud page. Wanted to add that all the vocals were sung by Kan himself. Truly magnificent!

Bennetrhodes – Svara

Bennetrhodes – Electrified Feeling

Two of Japan’s most respected hip-hop labels, Jazzy Sport and Origami Productions, decided to team up and launch a collaboration album between local Japan heroes Gagle (DJ Mitsu The Beats, MC Hunger & DJ Mu-r) and the Ovall instrumental band led by producer and bassist, Shingo Suzuki. If you’re into soulful Japanese Hip Hop, I guarantee you’re going to love this new “Gagle X Ovall” album. The guys get a little help from UK Soulstress Shea Soul on “Heaven”, but for the rest it’s an all Japan affair. Make sure you visit for some of that digital niceness!

Gagle X Ovall – Solitude

Gagle X Ovall – Heaven Ft. Shea Soul

As mentioned before, Juicy Tunes just released the second installment of his Sunrise Blend Vol. 2 compilation album. Here’s an example of a nice little freebie containing music from Ta-Ku, Evill Needle, Midnight Runners and many more. Nothing mind-blowing here, but a great way to check out some newcomers. This is definitely worth the download so don’t forget to grab a free download and judge for yourselves.

Sivey – A Little Help

Evil Needle – Groovin’ In Heaven

The Indonesian, Midnight Runners, duo just dropped some new Funk joints. One they had tucked away safely on their computer and the other one is off the Sunrise Blend Vol. 2 compilation (which is available as a free download). We thought you might like to hear some of this new Indo Funk. In case you like it, go ahead and head on over to their Soundcloud page and start following them.

Midnight Runners – Night Groovin’

Midnight Runners – Found

We’re cutting it close again, but right on time as usual. This month’s “Glimmering Fractions” mix is full of soulful goodness for your ear. And since I was chilling on the beach in Barcelona, there wasn’t a lot of time left. So I decided to cut this one a little short, but don’t worry…it’s still full of little pearls. Listen to this month’s mix on Soundcloud (download available) or Mixcloud (stream only).

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A nice surprise from Morocco’s Faraji ibn Hussein in my inbox about his brand new project “Faraji Heritage Experiment – ART“. The spirit of this project is to bring together musicians with various backgrounds and skills and let them use their swahili nicknames, the same way Herbie Hancock did back in in the 70’s on his Mwandishi LP. The first three tracks are available for stream on Faraji’s bandcamp..

I was unfamiliar with Ken Hopkins aka K-Maxx till I stumbled upon this 45″ containing “Superdrunk” & “Love is Comin'” on the Sound Boutique website. It seems like this is some old material from K-Maxx’ 2009 album “The Whole Woo Wop”, but nevertheless this sounds like some slick Bay Area Funk. Thanks to the Frisco’s Sweater Funk family for supporting their local artists.

K-Maxx – Superdrunk

K-Maxx – Love is Comin’