Proxy (2013) Zack Parker, Joe Swanberg, Alexa Havins, Alexia Rasmussen

A continuous mix of disco, early hip hop, and funk tunes from the Salsoul catalog by Japanese Hip Hop DJ Muro.

Various Artists - South Texas Rhythm 'n' Soul Revue (2013) {Kent Soul CDKEND390 rel 1962-1973}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 190 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 129 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 37 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1962-73, 2013 Kent Soul / Ace Records | CDKEND 390
Rhythm and Blues / Soul / Blues / Funk / Texas Blues

The first of what's promised to be many trips into Huey P. Meaux's deep vaults, Ace's 2013 compilation South Texas Rhythm 'N' Soul Revue is an unfettered delight, collecting 24 sides released on the Jet Stream, Tear Drop, Eric, Cascade, Pacemaker, Boogaloo, and Trinity imprints between 1962 and 1973, adding three previously unissued numbers for good measure. Hits aren't the name of the game here, nor are there too many household names: Big Walter Price (not Big Walter Horton), Johnny Adams, Johnny Copeland, and Barbara Lynn (the latter represented with a demo of "You'll Lose a Good Thing") are the names that could possibly spark recognition, but even these are better-known by aficionados, not trainspotters.

Various Artists - Boppin' By The Bayou - More Dynamite (2013) {Ace Records CDCHD 1380}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 286 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 151 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 29 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2013 Ace Records | CDCHD 1380
Rock & Roll / Early Rock / Rockabilly

Ace spent a good chunk of 2013 boppin', bouncin', and rockin' on the bayou, and their autumn release, Boppin' by the Bayou: More Dynamite, is one of the liveliest of their excavations of the vaults of Louisiana music moguls Eddie Shuler, Charles "Dago" Redlich, J.D. Miller, and Carol Rachou. Once again, this is hardly reliant on recognizable names. There is the New Orleans giant Bobby Charles, rocking & rolling with the previously unreleased "Teenagers," but that's about it. The rest of this is jumping New Orleans R&B and rock & roll recorded during the late '50s and early '60s but sitting unreleased until this 2013 collection.

Jimmie Driftwood - Sings Newly Discovered American Folk Songs (1958) & The Wilderness Road (1959) {OMNI-174 rel 2013}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 449 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 186 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 36 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1958-59, 2013 RCA Victor / The Omni Recording Corporation | OMNI - 174
Country / Folk / Traditional Country / Folksongs

Jimmie Driftwood (the recording and performing name of Arkansas school teacher, folklorist, and multi-instrumentalist James Corbitt Morris) began writing songs as a way to help his students learn about American history, and by the time all was said and done, he had written or adapted and recomposed over 6,000 folk songs, and his catalog is as rich as any in Americana, perhaps surpassed only by Woody Guthrie.

Various Artists - Sweet Dreams: Where Country Meets Soul Vol. 2 (2013) {Ace Records CDKEND 395}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks) +CUE+LOG -> 449 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 190 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 31 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2013 Ace Records / Kent Records | CDKEND 395
Country / Soul / R&B / Country Soul / Southern Soul

Sweet Dreams: Where Country Meets Soul, Ace's second dip into the country-soul well, is every bit as good as its 2012 predecessor. Basically, it's cut from the same cloth as the first volume, concentrating on recordings from the late '60s but stretching deep into the '70s (Millie Jackson's "Sweet Music Man" dates from 1977), with Ted Taylor's 1962 "I'll Release You" and Orquestra Was' 1996 "Forever's a Long, Long Time Ago" functioning as de facto ringers. "Forever's a Long, Long Time Ago" may fit aesthetically but certainly not sonically, as it's a crisp digital blast on a collection devoted to warm, lush, analog soul.

This 1975 Kudu album by Joe Beck was never reissued on CD in the United States but available only as a Japanese import on the King label. Beck is a masterpiece of mid-'70s funky jazz and fusion. Beck retired in 1971 to be a dairy farmer. He returned to make this album his opus. Featuring David Sanborn, Don Grolnick, Will Lee, and Chris Parker, all of the album's six tracks were recorded in two days. Overdubs were done in another day and the minimal strings added by Don Sebesky were added on a third day. "Star Fire" opens the set and features the interplay of Beck's riffing and lead fills with Sanborn's timely, rhythmic legato phrasing, and the communication level is high and the groove level even higher. On "Texas Ann," another Beck original, Sanborn hits the blues stride from the jump, but Beck comes in adding the funk underneath Grolnick's keyboard while never losing his Albert Collins' feel. On "Red Eye," Beck's two- and three-chord funk vamps inform the verse while Sebesky's unobtrusive strings provide a gorgeous backdrop for Sanborn, who stays in the mellow pocket until the refrains, when he cuts loose in his best Maceo Parker. The deep funk of Jalaluddin Mansur Nuriddin's "Café Black Rose" showcases the band's commitment to groove jazz with a razor's edge.