Sweden

GAMM welcomes one of our favourite edit masters of all time, Mr Al Kent.

Alma Negra is a Swiss collective that consists of four musically driven friends, the Figuiera Brothers Dersu & Diego whose roots are established firmly in their Cape Verdian heritage, Dario with his half and half Portuguese/Italian mix and finally Mario with Spanish roots.They are all passionate diggers who love playing music from all over the world, something that's evident in their productions as well. Encompassing Jazz, African and Latin sounds to Soul, funk, Disco, House and even Techno. As far as inspiration goes they mention Donald Byrd, Fela Kuti and Theo Parrish.Their creative output has let them to release on such fine labels as Sofrito, Highlife and most recently Basic Fingers. Fans of Alma Negra include: Gilles Peterson, Ben UFO, Axel Boman, Detroit Swindle, Africaine 808 and Tim Sweeney.Now they are back with Digger's Workout, a fresh and exciting instalment in the Basic Fingers catalogue - divided into three parts with remixes from Esa & Santuri, Osunlade aka Yoruba Soul and Rainer Trueby & Corrado Bucci present TRUCCY.Digger's Workouts, Part 3 is the final release in the series and continues where the first two volumes left us but that's not all, included is also a remix by the hot duo Rainer Trueby & Corrado Bucci present TRUCCY.Another essential release in the Basic Fingers catalogue.

The Swedish label Fasaan Recordings reinvents itself once again with a 4-track EP from the Free Arts Band! Still rummaging around in the general field of dance music, but now with a touch more avant-garde on their palette. The faceless entity that is the Free Arts Band introduces us to the simple idea of bringing a drum machine to art school. Infused with the creative space of the white-painted studio, a healthy dose of post-modernist pondering and the depth of traditional lineage, these four jams seem oddly timeless. Each of them riding on the verge of reductionism, they seem to ask: how funky can this get with as limited means as possible?Opening track "Cool Grey" offers synthesized new age jazz with some sundazed guitars, while "KADK" strips everything down to their primal elements and lets the rhythms do the talking, pierced occasionally by a woozy keyboard figure that perfectly mimics the gestures of someone walking in on the wrong party. With lo-fi gloom, the heavyweight of the E.P. that is "Inhouse" rolls along on a beat that gently approaches the aesthetics of a West Coast low rider cruising track. Closing the cycle is a sequel to its opening track, and walks you out into a Japanese garden of British new wave guitar twang and brightly colored Badarou-style synths.

Strings and chords combined with a thick and squelchy bass is the foundation of the title track while on the flip, Dirty Stories, is as hypnotic as it is jackin' - in fact, both tracks are so irresistible you'd start wondering if Ludo stole them from a snake charmer.

Alma Negra is a Swiss collective that consists of four musically driven friends, the Figuiera Brothers Dersu & Diego whose roots are established firmly in their Cape Verdian heritage, Dario with his half and half Portuguese/Italian mix and finally Mario with Spanish roots.They are all passionate diggers who love playing music from all over the world, something that's evident in their productions as well. Encompassing Jazz, African and Latin sounds to Soul, Funk, Disco, House and even Techno. As far as inspiration goes they mention Donald Byrd, Fela Kuti and Theo Parrish. Their creative output has led them to release on such fine labels as Sofrito, Highlife and most recently Basic Fingers.Fans of Alma Negra includes Gilles Peterson, Ben UFO, Axel Boman, Detroit Swindle, Africaine 808 and Tim Sweeney. Now they are back with Digger's Workout, a fresh and exciting instalment in the Basic Fingers catalogue - divided into three seperate 12's with remixes from Esa & Santuri, Osunlade aka Yoruba Soul, Rainer Trueby & Corrado Bucci present TRUCCY.Digger's Workouts, Part 1 contains three original cuts and one remix from Esa & Santuri with spectacular basswork worthy of Funkadelic. If you're looking for rattling percussions, irresistible basslines, melodic synths and vocal chants that interweave and do a delicious dance with each other - look no further.This first Part of the series is a sure-fire way to send anyone into a near shamanic state.

Our Parisian edit friend Reverend P hits us with a 4 track EP loaded with some serious boogie and disco heat. Concentrating on the sounds of Gladys Knight (A Side) and George Duke (B Side), Reverend P decided to edit 'em not once but twice...ouble action = double fun :)The A-side tracks are two uptempo numbers with Gladys while the flip comes with one mid tempo boogie tune and a high energy disco cut from Mr Duke.Solid GAMM material for anyone down with the more soulful sounds of disco!

Despite delivering a smattering of original nu-disco productions over the years, producer Disco Tech is probably most famous for his sneaky but relatively faithful reworks of classic funk, soul and disco cuts.Here he returns to the re-edit field, reworking more sweet soul and funk jams. Waiting On You delivers a slick, floor-friendly take on Al Green, while Devil's Work subtly tweaks a mid tempo funk-soul gem, check the suitably slow and dewy-eyed Take Me As I Am.

Limited 12" repressA modern Boogie affair. slick and very well turned out three piece ep which could easily have been rescued from 1/4 inch tape tucked away in some early 80's mid-western recording studio We're firmly in PPU territory as the drum machines snap and the funk fuelled bass lines underpin those classic verse / chorus constructions & Soul melodies albeit in dub form Sasac nails the vibe down perfectly with an uplifting jam that rolls along like an endless Pacific coast highway On the flip Witch Doctor's 'Inner Vision' is a smooth and seriously addictive mid-tempo workout, while Golden Ivy wraps it all up with some expertly laid out Dam Funkery

With these ten songs, we travel across the 1960's and 1970's from Ghana to Madagascar, Mali to Benin thru Burkina Faso where African rhythms wrote history.Including the genuine Ghananian surf number Melody Acec-Assaw fofor and Sylvan Marc's funky psychedelic Graal Something about Soul pt.1&2