reverend cleatus & the soul saviours (aka the fantastics!) consist of james rule (drums), raydn hunter (bass), pete collison (guitar) and greg boraman (hammond organ/piano). almost 40 years ago 'the meters' came out of new orleans, louisianna and established this minimal but stone-groovy instrumental funk sound with only drums/guitar/bass and organ . reverend cleatus have augmented that approach with two special guests for recording their debut album, these are mark norton (of the gene drayton unit) on sax/flute and matt wilding from speedometer (conga).

mo' dep is an uptempo winner with a groove which will remain in your mind forever. three and a half minutes of powerful funk, this song is a sure-shot in everyone's dj-set. hard to believe that it took more than one year after the album has been released on cd to make this beauty available to vinyl fans.
paper cut is a slowly grooving summer song, just perfect for the b-side and your bar-be-cue too. the song lasts for four and a half minutes, a little bit longer than the average time of a funk/soul 45. it features two brilliant, smooth solos by hammond organ and guitar.

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mo' dep
paper cut

some time has passed by without a sign from munich's one and only dancefloor jazz combo. but now they are back! and what an amazing double-sider they came up with. even better, the hi-fly orchestra (THFO) went to the recording studio early march 2008 to record their second full length album which will be released on september 15th, 2008. as their first album on ajabu! (cd) and tramp is doing the vinyl.

hi-fly stomp is an uptempo jazz-dance tune, just perfect for the dancefloor. chris' energetic piano pattern is like an unstoppable train engine at high-speed. shake a leg but only if you are able to keep the rhythm, it's nasty!
gettin' down , written by founder of THFO flo riedl, is dedicated to boogaloo sam, the inventor of the boogaloo dance. it features solos by saxophone and percussion, especially the percussions go crazy, most likeley as crazy as the people on the dancefloor. well done!

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hi-fly stomp
gettin down

just in time for summer, potatocakes is the versatile track you need to round out your hot-fun-the-summertime funk party or lounge sets. lucky brown's second tramp records release is a two-part meditation and slightly psychedelic instrumental featuring lucky brown on the fender rhodes electric piano. recorded last fall at the same chez jojo sessions as don't go away, this mysterious groove was lovingly mixed by joel ricci and pat gaye at sleng teng in bellingham, USA.

potatocakes begins with a naked, moody bassline that is supplemented suddenly by a psychedelic statement by the rhodes and the layering in of bongo, guitar, hammond, and perfectly crispy drums. the spell is broken long enough to give the reverberating horns the moment to state the theme and then get out of the way to allow the groove to take hold again. the bridge gives you the sensation of leaning back into the bucket seat of your 1976 gran torino and steadily laying your foot into the gas pedal with the horns and hammond taking over your mind. the next time the theme comes around lucky brown is happy to be in the driver's seat-and fasten your seat belts folks - lucky brown is about to take you for a ride. from the moment you hear him yelling "groove it out now" to the band in the background, into part two, the extended bridge, and finally the moment he exclaims "stay right there!" you will be convinced you have taken your summertime dance party on one perfectly irresistible funky ride. don't be surprised if your dancers holler out for "more potatocakes!"
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potatocakes
more potatocakes

the second release in 2008 on one of germany's funkiest labels is again by kaleta, multi-talented singer, composer, producer, guitarist and percussionist. kaleta is leading his zozo afrobeat project since 2003. with his original afrobeat concept, thought provoking lyrics, benino-nigeria rhythms and amazing song-writing skills he prooves once more that he plays in the same league as bands like antibalas, kokolo, femi kuti to name just a few. the band consists of 12 very talented musicians whose origins lay in several countries from around the globe including cameroon and nigeria.

kaleta & zozo afrobeat combines complex rhythms and high octane acid jazz guitar riffs to create a unique sound. even more amazing, kaleta has performed, toured and recorded with the two most prolific nigerian music legends, fela kuti and king sunny ade as well as fela's son, femi kuti. born in porto-novo, republic of benin and bred in lagos, nigeria it is not a surprise that kaleta sings in yoruba, goun, fon, french as well as pidgin english (the official language of afrobeat).

watch out for the forthcoming debut album by kaleta & zozo afrobeat named "country of guns', available march 17th, 2008 on tramp records!
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get up (edit) (vocal)
gete (vocal)

2008 starts with the exciting debut of lucky brown & the funk revolution, a brand-new unit formed by producer, arranger, and multi-instrumentalist, joel ricci. ricci and his far-reaching collective have been hard at work rocking shows and developing their signature 'west-sound' style for over seven years. ricci hand-picked the cream of the players, bankrolled a wild, week-long road trip, then crammed the seven piece funk revolution into his tiny cabin in northwest washington affectionately dubbed 'chez jojo.' the rhythm section in the living room, horn section in the kitchen, and ricci in the middle doing his best to capture all the drippings of natural energy and soul on an old tape machine situated on a clean spot on the kitchen counter.

'don't go away' features ricci on lead vocals and the horn section as background singers. this cut has all you need: powerful vocals, a monstrous horn line reminiscent of the jb's 'the grunt', and two fly flute/drum breaks for the beatdiggers.

'the fresh one' is an instrumental track with a rude sound to it, the funk revolution lay down a killer groove and after tommy d has his way with his spooky saxophone, lucky manhandles the flute once again, then makes way for drummer olli klomp to take it on home. 'the fresh one' is simply a monster b-side, 2 and a half minutes of wild and rough deep funk madness.
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don't go away
the fresh one

after the first 7" single release in the field of afrobeat by kaleta & zozo afrobeat, tramp records does it again, this time with a monster double-sider by the prolific ray lugo a.k.a kokolo. straight from the streets of new york city, ray continues to bring innovation to the afrofunk table with "the way up", one of the hottest tracks of 2007. cleverly weaving funk, afrobeat and hip hop elements, this song is a sure-shot for any dance floor in need of "something special" and reaffirms kokolo's place as one of the funkiest and most original groups on today's international scene.

kokolo is well known by djs and afrobeat fans all over the world, but not only due to this fact is this 7" release going to be huge and hopefully one of the best selling ones in the 1000 series. and there is no doubt why. the intro gives people a taste of what's coming up, actually no tricky arrangements, just a plain funky groove. the whole thing takes off when the band kicks in. the rhythm section is just killer, the horns arrangement reminds me of "kelen ati len" by orchestre du bawobab and it simply sounds fantastic. the vocals add an amazing flavour to it, making it a must have even for hip hop freaks.
so, nothing else has to be added, come on and join the tramp camp, the schedule for this fall/winter is already set, expect some more essential releases!
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the way up (vocal)
the way up (instrumental)

who said russian cuisine is all about caviar and vodka? funk-minded gastronomists from the city of saint-petersburg are the real source of meaty drum breaks and juicy grooves. their call themselves wake&bake! implying their funky tunes cookin' skills. from rather non-sophisticated ingredients i.e. drums, percussions, bass, guitar and organ, they manage to create quite delicious hotplates adding exotic sitar notes. le plat du jour is a funkie pie following funky blue beard on the flip, a musical variation of gilles de rais story, I suppose. that's what you get with five chefs in the same kitchen. the deepfunk sound from the late 60s has never been their goal, much more they captured the great production style of the mid 70s, and hey, they got it!
the band members are:
anton shustrov, alexander shtykov, stas rybochkin, ivan kurzakov and sasha gonzo also featuring alexander konanchuk on sitar. this 7'' contains the first tracks released from their session at the st. petersburg recording studio. bon appetite!
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funky pie
funky blue beard

tramp records is back on the track and very proud to present you a new exciting release by multi-talented singer, composer, producer, guitarist and percussionist leon ligan-majek, better known as kaleta. he is frontman of several band projects including kaleta world beats (afropop), akoya afrobeat (afrobeat) and new york based zozo afrobeat, a band he helped shape and propel into stardom for almost four years with his original afrobeat concepts, thought provoking lyrics and benino-nigeria rhythms. the band consists of 12 very talented musicians whose origins lay in several countries from around the globe including cameroon and nigeria. those afore-mentioned countries are certainly within those which can be considered as the home of afrobeat.

kaleta & zozo afrobeat combines complex rhythms and high octane acid jazz guitar riffs to create a unique sound. even more amazing, kaleta has performed, toured and recorded with the two most prolific nigerian music legends, fela kuti and king sunny ade as well as fela's son, femi kuti. born in porto-novo, republic of benin and bred in lagos, nigeria it is not a surprise that kaleta sings in yoruba, goun, fon, french as well as pidgin english (the official language of afrobeat).

zozo afrobeat is set to take afrobeat to the next revolutionary level. the music will make you spellbound... the thundering percussions will move a corpse's toe.
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country of guns (vocal)
baba nla iya (instrumental)

singer zsolt tokaij wrote this heavy grooving and also beautiful song called "bubbles".
the original studio take lasts for more than 7 minutes, so we had to cut it for the 45 rpm release into two parts. listen to the strong horn-lines of the five (!) horn-players, the tight rhythm section and the amazing vocals of zsolt in part one.
part two kicks off with an amazing breakbeat intro, exposing the skills of the percussion players, until it comes to the grand finale.
djs will love it, especially the b-side with that monster drum/percussion break half through the song, just perfect for the dancefloor!
if you dig antibalas or the timmion crew out of finland, you will be pleased with this release. definitely a very exciting mixture of styles which has the world not seen yet.

the boogoos includes members of the original poets of rhythm, the hi-fFly orchestra and the express brass band. all those bands have released several lps/cds in the field of funk, latin, brazil and traditional new orleans-jazz over the last 10 years.
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bubbles pt.1
bubbles pt.2