Hacienda - Sunday Afternoon (1996 Harthouse)

The third gem from the German downtempo scene surprisingly appeared in 1996 on Harthouse, a label known for high quality techno and hard house releases. The relaxed electric sound of Hacienda debut album Sunday Afternoon will be familiar to fans of another Harthouse artist Dadamnphreaknoizphunk.

mp3 I 320kbps I 69 minutes I 159mb I link in comments

Karma - Pad Sounds (1997 Groove Attack)

This brilliant debut album by Cologne duo Karma contains mostly material from the four-part serie of vinyl EPs released between 1995 and 1997. Although the Karma guys released two more albums, they've never been better than on Pad Sounds.

mp3 I 320kbps I 61 minutes I 141mb I link in comments

Liquid Lounge - Urban Soulscape (1995 Scat!)

Two weeks and no posts? Shame on me! Before we'll continue the Dorado series, let's take a short excursion into german downtempo scene of the 90's. Liquid Lounge was one-off project credited to certain J.J.Cooper while the real producers of the only album released under this monicker were in fact Alex Barck and Roskow Kretschmann, the real godfathers of nu jazz, better known from such projects as Jazzanova, Extended Spirit or Kosma. The recipe for Urban Soulscape (and many other albums that followed) is simple - take the live acid jazz band formula, chop it into pieces and then put the whole thing back together using sampler and sequencer. Done. Have a nice trip!

mp3 I 320kbps I 65 minutes I 150mb I link in comments

Mad Doctor X - Picnic With The Greys (1997 Freskanova)

There have been some requests for early Ninja Tune stuff and also for some 90's turntablism so here you go - this bunch of posts is dedicated to DJ Jason of Blapps Posse, a 2nd generation British hip-hop DJ and producer better known as London Funk Allstars or Mad Doctor X, who's been blowin' up the spot since 1990. Although Picnic With The Greys comes from his post-Ninja period, I'm sure you will agree it could have been released with zen cat. no. printed on the cover.

mp3 I 320kbps I 76 minutes I 175mb I link in comments

London Funk Allstars - London Funk Vol. 1 (1996 Ninja Tune)

London Funk Allstars is probably the best known project of DJ Jason and London Funk Vol. 1 is all-time trip hop classic, a true future rare groove with breakbeats melted into songs and cool Openmind cover design. Chun Li Vs. Wah Wah Man still works for me after all the time..

mp3 I 320kbps I 65 minutes I 150mb I link in comments

DJ Toolz - Break Beats'n'Grooves Volume 4 (1994 Ninja Tune)

When I started collecting Ninja Tune some 15 years ago, the four-part DJ Toolz series produced by DJ Jason was kind of holy grail to me - on vinyl only, popularity: high, availability: hard to find. Some years later I bought them all on wax plus this CD in a pawn shop for equivalent of 10 quids. Actually there's not much more beyond the title Break Beats'n'Grooves - a bunch of sampled, looped and replayed solid funk tracks. So bang your head to this or enjoy with a knowing smile... and stay tuned!

mp3 I 320kbps I 39 minutes I 90mb I link in comments

Brooklyn Funk Essentials - Cool And Steady And Easy (1994 Dorado)

 Brooklyn Funk Essentials is live jazz collective rooted in B'klyn, NYC. Their 1994 debut album Cool And Steady And Easy features Maceo Parker and Doug Whimbish, and contains the usual American-style acid jazz / hip hop mixture hardly distinguishable from other US acid jazz acts like The Jazzhole or Groove Collective. Unfortunately this is not the original Dorado release (which seems to be a hard-to-find these days) but the 1995 major reissue with some re-edits to make it more suitable for the US market.

mp3 I 320kbps I 65 minutes I 150mb I link in comments