Funkier Sounds July 2024

Hope you’ve been keeping well and funky. Here’s July’s edition of this newsletter thingy...

This month:

• A lovely free download for you…

• …and another (very special) one!

• Funkier Sounds with Solazz and DJ Laurel

• Funkier picks & mixes

• Gem of the Month

A lovely free download for you…

The first of this month's freebies is another one of my funky reboots of an oldie - this time it's the absolutely wonderful Till You Take My Love by Harvey Mason. I've got huge love for this track and play it regularly, but it's very short and I really don't like the key change, so it ends up being even shorter. So I've fixed all that and given it a little spruce up with some beefier bass, crispy percussion and judicious use of echo. It's funky, free… a gift from me!

…and another (very special) one!

On to more free stuff, and this one's an exciting one! I've teamed up with London disco afficionados Late Night Disco to bring you something very special to mark their 10 years in the game. We've taken a lesser known but very very good Sister Sledge track and made it our own. It's going to be available as a free download on Late Night Disco’s Bandcamp for 48 hours onlythis coming Monday. Click here for a sneaky preview, and click below then hit the big blue Follow button on their Bandcamp to be notified when it drops. I'm thrilled to be working with these guys!

Funkier Sounds with Solazz & DJ Laurel

There have been a couple of really strong guest mixes on my radio show since the last newsletter - I've had the pleasure of welcoming two of my favourite producers on to show us what they've got. First up we had Solazz, the genius responsible for one of my absolute fave tracks of the last few years, Work It Out. Oscar’s guest mix was just as wonderful as I’d expected…

And then Monday just gone I had the pleasure of hosting DJ Laurel, who created another of my favourite edits that I still play all the time, Hang On. Laur’s mix is filled with funky nu-disco delights, perfect for a chilled summer’s day.

Funkier picks & mixes

Here are some links to mixes that have been doing it for me recently - check ‘em out!

From the very first notes of this masterful two hours by Craig Smith you know that you’re going to be in for a treat. Craig does a monthly residency on Spin City, one of the best shows out there, and this one’s a wonderful trip through high quality, timeless music…

Sticking with Spin City for a while, this show by my good friend Wahine is well worth a listen. She hosted London sensation Tigerbalm, and together the two of them mixed up two hours of beautiful, eclectic and funky sounds.

Danilo Plessow has been one of the very best in the game for years now, and I recently found myself listening to this set of his from 2015. No issues with this one being nearly a decade old - the music is timeless. Starting off with beautiful curiosities, mixed on vinyl, and building to something tougher over a couple of hours - hear a master doing his thing.

And finally a cheeky plug for a guest mix I’ve done recently, for Ronald Koon’s DISCOnnect podcast. I was having so much fun exploring African sounds and housey weirdness that I almost forgot to play any disco, but I squeezed a little bit in towards the end of this 23 track journey.

Gem of the Month

Let’s go all the way back to the mid 70s for this month’s choice cut - Good Good Understanding by Matata. Starting out with a lovely funky bassline, then we get big jangles and a driving brass section. Properly joyous stuff right here, crammed into a compact 3 minutes. They don’t make ‘em like this any more.

There we go then, done. Take care of yourselves and love one another.

Tom xx