J-Zen
Managua

After a series of funk and jazz flavored singles and production credits for the likes of Large Professor or Diamond D, The Funk League, aka Hugo and the Soulbrother Suspect, is now ready to spread more groove with the release of a full length album this fall, "Funky As Usual".Both from the east side of Paris (20th district), rare groove connoisseurs and vinyl collectors, Hugo and Suspect would eventually meet half a decade ago at the later then-gig (with label mate and collaborator Cleon in the lineup), the "Soulbrothers Break Party", an event where Paris top notch breakdancers and latin/funk listeners would gather round monthly during four years.Quickly, the two began trading records and gathering their best breaks to improve each other productions and DJ sets. They would ultimately record a few demos together, one emerging as their first single as The Funk League, "On & On", featuring Bronx legend Sadat X from Brand Nubian, in 2009. The release featured some tight up-tempo rhythm as well as cold chilling boom bap tracks with swinging sleigh bells, establishing their sound identity, courtesy of that vintage and crispy SP1200 sound, analog equipment and precise turntable wizardry.Still developing this formula, the League then released another EP, this time with Diamond D, Sadat and Andy C on the mic duties on some jazzy baselines and swinging drums, and a 7" single with Swedish crew Speech Defect, showing skills on the deep funk tip. As Hugo and Suspect kept working together on a daily basis, it began clear than the collaboration would go beyond singles and EPs, and that it would give birth to a full length album. "Funky As Usual" is this collection of grooves, covering that three year time span as if it was a single day - and night. A day in the life of two funksters, but also a blend of the duo’s favorite tunes and flows, put together with a precise production trademark (highlighting strong influences of Jazz, Fusion and even Brazilian music), and a subtle sequencing of the songs and interludes through the whole album, thus creating different atmospheric tones and patterns.Same goes for the mic duties, handled by no less than Large Pro, Diamond, Sadat, Gift of Gab from Blackalicious, but also underground favorites Ugly Duckling, Abdominal, or even songstress Kylie Auldist from Aussie funk sensation, The Bamboos, on an all-acoustic acid jazz track performed and co-composed by label mates, The Joyous Juice.As vintage sound doesn't necessarily mean nostalgia, "Funky As Usual" appears as a 2011 update of those legacy sounds we continue to love, from modal jazz to deep funk to nowadays hip-hop or broken beats, holding down the groove traditions for now and beyond.

Beatsqueeze Records presents a new opus of his Dj Tool / Battle Skip-proof 7inch vinyl by Moody Mike coming in a beautiful orange marbled version.

You have to know how to move away from the rich, strong and noisy streets, if you want to discover another Havana. A Havana far from the tourist circuits and preconceived images. A Havana where one discovers bucolic, but hard and stripped too after slow journeys in the crowded buses, a Havana with which Al Quetz maintains a passionate history since more than fourteen years.Installed in one of those neighborhoods that can only be reached by going deeper into the alleys, from the open window of the studio comes the sound of banging drums and thumping bass. The sound reaches the streets on which the day rises. The place wakes up in a growing tumult, with some rare engines coughing, conversations under the windows, songs of the street vendors , an urban ballet sets up as the sun darts its rays. Far from the musical clichés with percussions and horns, Cuba is an island bombarded with influences that one discovers. An island which vibrated for the jazz, the soul, the psychedelic rock , from the waves coming from the Caribbean to those of the bulky neighboring ogre.A musical flowering as varied as abundant that the glorious post-revolutionary label Areito has on thousands of recordings, and that Al Quetz has designated as the sole source of his samples to compose Habanologia. From the ambiences that punctuate the local daily life caught by his samplers, he let the melancholy infiltrate his hip hop beats, the nostalgia melting in the depths of his grooves. Nostalgia in the Cuban air, even during moments of intense laughter, which never totally disappears.Habanologia restores these moments when the song of the birds has extinguished those of the cars. Where, sitting on a doorstep, we comment on the life of the neighborhood, we watch the women's swaying at eye level. The whole day if necessary, the coffee at one peso, after a certain hour, which leaves its place to the Planchao rum. Wandering through its streets where a chance encounter can itself bring others and lead to the essence of the habanera life. From Regla, after a short trip on the bus-boat that crosses the bay, savor the end of the day, observe the capital from afar, let the nocturnal insects ensure some arrangements and drift towards mysterious horizons, bringing to the contemplation of the place and the moment. A flute, a keyboard, percussions or a voice. Al Quetz also invited his friends from the island or elsewhere to decorate his productions with their live touch. To share with him this Havana for which he covered his tracks, mixed times and distorted space-time to make it timeless.To write with Habanalogia, a declaration of love to the Cuban capital, to make Havana, His Havana.

Walter Mecca releases his debut 7" on Favorite Recordings!"Watch Out" feat. Jessica Pepper is the dope title track, a tough but heavily boogified future classic! On side B is a beautiful track including soulful outerspace grooves and an awesome melody that really grow on you.