There’s no doubt about Kid Circus‘ qualifications in turning out the dancefloor. Under his well-known moniker as well as those of Coolhurst and Barbara From Brazil he’s earned his reputation as a top-notch producer and confirmed himself as an ever important force in the London live scene.

CR2, Freestyle Records, 852, Not For Kids and Room for Manoeuvre are among the other labels that have released his workings, and with residencies everywhere from The Pony to Renaissance the man known as Kid has never been one to rest on his laurels. Musically diversifying himself at every turn, gaining fans in the likes of Gilles Peterson, Mark Le Mar and Mark Ronson along the way, “it’s always good when the Circus is in town.”

Developing an appetite for live session players mixed with his own electronic music, Kid Circus spread his wings even further in 2009, which led to countless remixes across the board and two Coolhurst plates released on Nana Records. As of late he’s confirmed recent session work with Baltimore emcee Substantial for some new joints…look for these being rinsed by the usual suspects when they drop on wax and digital later in the year.

In the meantime, our favorite purveyor of electro-funk-house-disco-breaks has checked in with a new mix. Pure dancefloor joy as only Kid Circus knows how.

Download or the stream the mix here: Cool 2010 Mix

We’ve been big fans of The Bamboos since they exploded out Melbourne’s deep-funk scene in the early 2000’s, dominating the live shows and consistently delivering fresh sounding LPs with each passing year. There new album ‘4‘ drops the end of the month on Tru Thoughts, and not to give too much away but the band has gone even further into their influences, bending areas of Motown with Mod and Northern Soul, all done distinctively Bamboos style.

With a reputation for style – taking the stage impressively suited for high energy shows, rolling off next-level licks and impossible covers – they seem to work with the calculated cool of seasoned professionals, ala James Brown Soul Revue.

In anticipation of the forthcoming album, they’ve shot a series of home-movies that let’s us in behind the scenes, seeing a new side to the players that’s surprisingly comedic. Highlights come in the form of dubbing sessions (showing just how good individually these guys are), tongue-in-cheek appraisals of their own work and band leader Lance Ferguson cruising round in his ridiculously slick ride.

A series of five ‘movie eps’ are being released through the Tru Thoughts website, with the first three already out and streamed below and the next two coming out Monday and the week after, leading up to the album release.

In our ongoing pursuit of worldwide dance fusion and music culture, Holy Roller’s Rollin’ D teamed up with Yassmin Foster of Universal Dance Theatre for a Rio meets London skank experiment!!!

The question is… What would you get if you fused Rio Baile Funk dance with UK Funky? The answer is The CORCOVADO! Both sets of kids from the UK to RIO and back, had the new skank down instantly! Follow the steps, you’re on to a winner!

www.nicoladracoulis.com
www.universaldancetheatre.com

With our FUNK FACTORY special covering some of the baddest bands on the planet (Dap-Kings, Breakestra, Whitefield Brothers, Lefties Soul Connection, Cookin’ On 3 Burners & Malcolm Catto of the Heliocentrics) and our focus on PLANET MU, whether we’re cold lampin’ with the original funki dred JAZZIE B or sweating to the tropical rhythms of GWO KA and TUMBELE in Martinique and Guadeloupe, SHOOK #07 goes deep in the science of rhythm. The launch of HOMEGROWN, the first major exhibition of UK hip-hop, is our excuse to go back in time with London Posse, Demon Boyz and many more. We get the DATA REDUCTION from ZOMBY and gOnj@$ufi. MAX ROMEO tells us how he almost burned down the offices of Island Records, HUDSON MOHAWKE talks about making tracks for Rihanna, while Stefan Lakatos remembers learning to play the trimba from MOONDOG. For all you jazz heads, CARL CRAIG, MARCUS BELGRAVE and WENDELL HARRISON give us the rub on the resurrected TRIBE RECORDS project; we get a dose of Ancestral Soul from BODDHI SATTVA; Guilty Simpson, Black Milk, Dilated Peoples, Planet Asia and more salute HEX MURDA; we smoke Cohibas in Cuba with GILLES PETERSON and blaze blunts in LA with GASLAMP KILLER, SAMIYAM, HOUSESHOES & RHETTMATIC. Plus TERENCE BLANCHARD explains all about his difficult choices post-Katrina. Elsewhere, we feature FELA! THE MUSICAL, we surprise NNEKA, find out all about the CANDY MACHINE, travel the world with DREPH, celebrate the release of STILL BILL and raise a toast to 30 years of VAGUE. So shut yourself away this Christmas with a copy of SHOOK and a bottle of brandy, and be a soul adventurer, travelling to places and spaces far and wide in the musical omniverse.

Oh, and we’ve got some very special subscriber offers this time around so make sure you check out our store for details.

Fatima sang over one of his fine beats at the terrific Turning Point show, now a couple of tracks from Eglo’s latest member Funkineven (aka Stevie J) have surfaced for your body moving pleasure.

Download and savour:

‘Mad Swing’

‘You!’

Thanks to Alex at All Young Kings.