New Fast Automatic Daffodils - Get Better (Extended) (Playtime, 1991)

Corking, groovy indie funk juggernaut.

Long version of the opening track from New Fast Automatic Daffodils' debut album. It's a rhythm-heavy monster with a tight, bass-led groove. It's 'baggy' alright but more intense and taut and aggressive.

Download New Fast Automatic Daffodils 'Get Better (Extended)' (Playtime, Baggy, Indie Funk, mp3) (Divshare)

Prince - The Ballad Of Dorothy Parker (Paisley Park, 1987)

More exquisite lo-fi funk genius from his purple period.

I've listened to 'Sign Of The Times' a lot recently after not touching it for years. It's by no means a perfect album but it's a great use of the double album, taking risks, experimenting, throwing in some sure-fire hits and sprawling out over four sides of vinyl.

'The Ballad Of Dorothy Parker' is a cute slice of lo-fi, skeletal funk. It's whimsical (obviously) and funny and playful.

Prince recounts a tale of a liaison with Dorothy Parker who is somehow waiting tables in a late night diner from beyond the grace. They exchange what contemporary youth would call 'banter' and she makes a pass at him. Of course.

With lyrics like "I needed someone with a quicker wit than mine. Dorothy was fast" it's just Prince at his absolute peak.

Download Prince - The Ballad Of Dorothy Parker (lo-fi funk, mp3) (Divshare)

Caribou / Manitoba - If Assholes Could Fly, This Place Would Be An Airport (The Leaf Label, 2003)

Tight, funky dancefloor electronica.

Beautifully spring, tight, tech funky electronica business from 2003 before Dan Snaith was forced to change is nom de tronica from Manitoba to Caribou.

Intelligently mental stuff from the ever-reliable Leaf Label that just stops short of a 'woo!... yeah!' moment.

Download Caribou / Manitoba - If Assholes Could Fly, This Place Would Be An Airport (The Leaf Label, techno, electronica, mp3) (Divshare)

Pleasure 'Joyous (DJ Harvey Re-Edit)' (Nuphonic, 2003)

Slinky, sinuous dancefloor jazz action, originally released in 1977. Acceptable sax interlude (skronk).

Is it Rare Groove? Dancefloor Jazz? Funk? Soul Jazz?

DJ Harvey loops and tightens Pleasure's supple 'Joyous' into a total masterpiece. Ten minutes of warm, tense, teasing soulful funk that sits nicely alongside Kenny Dope's 'Can U Handle It' or Polmo Polpo's strung-out version of Arthur Russell's 'Kiss Me Again And Again' via a tense Average White Band guitar.

Opening at breakneck pace, it breaks down into an urgent section section then expands into a vocal breakdown, smooth and soulful. Then it winds up via some unrestrained guitar soloing as the epic, Chic-style strings sweep in. Even the sax is acceptable, veering into a dirty, skronky realm that Ornette Coleman or Albert Ayler would appreciate.

It's a constantly evolving track. Genius.

Download Pleasure 'Joyous (DJ Harvey Re-Edit)' (rare groove, re-edit mp3) (Mediafire)

Kenny Dope 'Can U Handle It (Full Length)' (BBE, 1999)

Slab of rumbustuous deep funk from Master At Work, Kenny Dope.

Masters At Work were hot as hell for about ten years (the nineties, basically), unleashing killer track after killer track - Nuyorican Soul, Masters At Work's own 12"s, 'Everybody Be Somebody' by Ruffneck ft Yavahn, I mean, I could go on...

Kenny 'Dope' Gonzales dropped this delightful slice of deep funk pastiche in 1999 on a nice 7" single with Part One on one side and Part Two on the flip, no doubt in homage to the 7"s of James Brown, Jerry & The Medicine Men et al.

It's a rolling, hard-nosed groove with neat clattering drums, horn stabs, a James Brown grunt, a wiggling clavichord solo and some breathless vocals.

Just divine. Check out Karl Hector & The Malhouns' 'Girma's Lament' (mp3) while you're at it too.

Download Kenny Dope 'Can U Handle It (Full Length)' (soul, funk, mp3 download) (Mediafire)

Jerry & The Medicine Men 'Medicine Man Part II' (Lo Recordings, 1965)

Horn-led funky monster 45 action.

No idea whether this is an authentic piece of funky Northern Soul action or a pastiche. The compilation that brought it to me is billed as '21 Rare Funk 45s' so I can only assume it's a genuine nugget of crate-digger's delight.

It's a delicious, energetic, horn-driven monster that bursts straight out of the traps and is hand-tooled for the discerning funk-friendly dancefloor. The drums are frantic but syncopated, the horns deliciously arranged, perkily riding over the breakbeat fantasticness of the rhythm. It calls to mind Kenny 'Dope' Gonzalez's 'Can You Handle It' from a few years ago.

Irresistable.

Looks out-of-print to me, but the chaps track it down, the tracklisting is awesome.

Download Jerry & The Medicine Men 'Medicine Man Part II' (northern soul funk mp3) (Mediafire)