Diogo Strausz
Samba From Outer Space

Roy Hamilton, Cosmo Bowen and Dennis Palmer go back a long way to the early 80's when they were members of a 9 piece funk outfit called Breeze - playing regularly Upstairs at Ronnie Scott's along with bands like Hi Tension and Gonzalez. In 1984 they linked up for this one and only 12" on their own HBS imprint - a laid-back stomper that has become in-demand on the UK soul/funk collectors scene - now given a fresh new cut & press thanks to Freestyle Records' 12" reissue initiative!

Today, LA producer and underground dance-fantasy legend Benedek has shared his new EP “Zebrano” via Steven Julien’s Apron Records. It’s his first release for the London label, and features a stellar line up of featured artists, from rising Canadian-Ghanaian LA-based singer AKUA and DC's man of the moment dreamcastmoe, to R&B future icon Devin Morrison. It serves as Benedek’s first featured release since his 2011 single with Dam-Funk.While originally lauded for his own hybrid of boogie, garage house, and downtempo grooves, Benedek is traversing new realms with his esoteric innovations. These are all facets of Benedek's sunny and seductive hometown of Los Angeles, and are sonically expressed in his catalog. But as much as he’s embraced the shimmer on the surface, he’s also familiar with deeper, more hidden worlds. His work has found its home on such labels as PPU, LI.E.S., Leaving Records, Music From Memory and more. His expansive catalog includes collaborations with Steve Arrington, Delroy Edwards, Dam-Funk, Joyce Wrice, Tom Noble, Jamma-Dee, Kirin and more.

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Born in Roma in 1959, Guiseppe “Peps” Cotumaccio arrived in South Africa when he was two years old. He was the mastermind behind the band “Sweet Reaction”, singing and playing keyboards.In the early 80’s, the group used to back various artists including one of the South African top singer “Neville Nash”. Both artists were on the same record label: Music Team. Throughout his lengthy career, Peps has collaborated with Johnny Clegg, Ronnie Joyce, Sipho "Hotstix" Mabuse, P.J. Powers, Mark Alex, Neville Nash, and Mara Louw just to name a few.The lead singer of the band, Dion Williamson, started performing in Johannesburg’s nightclubs and got quickly very successful, always in demand! People loved his gravel and sensual voice as he used to sing some of Joe Cocker’s popular songs. Unfortunately, during the Apartheid, the South African Government were not allowing black and white audiences, and the band split.On this BIG5 Boogie#2, Enoch Ndlela produced 2 Modern Soul killer tracks.Recorded in 1981, "Take it easy", where the music is evidently influenced by Willie Hutch (Easy does it - 1978) offers Dion a way to fully explain himself doing his own version of the tune. And what an explosive result!On the same side of this 12”, our 2 Frenchies in Cape Town aka Simbad & Fred Spider enjoyed delivering us a fat broken beat version of the track, while the very “En Vogue” Aroop Roy from London turned it into a funky house summer hit.Side B starts with a superb composition from the band: “African Sunrise” where Dion Williamson is on top, this tune is a bomb!To finish this E.P, the well-known Kid Fonque from Johannesburg, who freshly moved to London working for the glorious house record label Defected, couldn’t wait to produce a super groove deep house refix. The result is a second essential dancefloor release from Voom Voom Records!

On 12” for the first time, Cloud’s ‘Visions’ featuring four versions mixed by Sean P from the original 1983 multi-track recording.Standing somewhere between the sounds of early 80s disco club land, electro-funk and synth-pop, the ‘Visions’ recording session has remained silently spooled amongst the tape archives of producer Alan Osbourne since it’s first mix-down. Previously released in 1983, a stripped-down cut of the recording appeared on the segued track compilation Designed For Dancing Volume One (Design Communications) blended with the tail end of Toney Lee’s ‘Love So Deep’.Recorded two-months before Cloud’s final single ’Steppin' Out’, the band had a new line-up and a new sound; Shelley Law on lead vocals, Mark Mansfield on bass, Mitch Keene on guitar and Mike Allen on keyboards, with Alan Bateman on sax. and Cloud’s original drummer Paul Holmes.By this time, a younger underground scene had emerged, and electro-funk was at the forefront. David Joseph’s ‘You Can’t Hide Love’ topped the disco charts and popular b-boy anthems ‘Hip Hop Be Bop’ by Man Parrish and ’Jam On Revenge’ by Nucleus got UK releases. Along with the changing sound of brit-funk related bands and artist aspirations to produce popular records, the Mansfield and Law writing team were a good combination for Cloud. The result was a more contemporary 'sound of Swindon' that kept it's jazz funk roots under the musical direction of Osbourne.