22tracks Originals is go.

Our brand new 22tracks Originals list is live. 22 tracks that are part of our musical spectrum. All less than obvious but all tunes we love playing in our sets and make people dance to. Here are all of them with a little extra words to put them in context. Enjoy.

Tony Grey – Time Factor – Voodoo Funk
The reissues and compilation on Frank Grosner’s Voodoo Funk label are a never ending source of obscure African funk. This track by Tony Grey appeared on Lagos Disco Inferno Vol 2.

Black Buster – Bump The Bump (Part Two) – Machine Music
We love going through stacks of 45’s in search for gems like this one. Heavy funk with screeching synthesizers recorded in the Philippines. The flashy sleeve is also made to spark our interest. Ticks many of the boxes of the Onda Sonora approval checklist.

Kitty Grant – Glad To Know You – Safari
Dutch one hit wonder Kitty Grant takes this classic by Ian Dury and Chas Jankel over the Channel to give it the eurodisco treatment: a never ending 4/4 drum computer rhythm track.

Atalaku 8 – Africa (Siwo Dub) – Sofrito
If we had the stems of all the tracks we play we would probably go King tubby on all of them. This soukous track out on Sofrito records gets twice as good thanks to the dub treatment. Not sure of this is new or old but it’s good and that’s what’s counts. Also fits in a lot of different sort of sets. From house to disco and afro.

Os Originais Do Samba – La Vem Salgueiro – Mr Bongo
Os Originais Do Samba was a group of percussionists from samba schools in Rio de Janeiro, formed during the 1960’s. They gave samba treatments to popular Brazilian music of contemporaries. This track, La Vem Salgueiro, was written by Jorge Ben. UK label Mr Bongo re-released this track on a 7 inch in their ace Brazil 45 series in 2014.

Bastien Keb – Doodlebag – One-Handed
This is a track as new as they get. Barely released but nevertheless fitting this list perfectly. Truly original is the truest sense possible and released by a label, One-Handed, that manages to combine our love for all things quirky from the past with an urge to do something fresh with it. A label that through artists like Mo Kolours, Paul White and Bullion was a regular in the early, international days of our beats list and so makes the link between both. “Dinking In The Shadows of Zizou” is an album we hope our children will rediscover and cherish as much as the gems from the past we dust off through this new list.

Quando Quango – Atom Rock (NY Remix by Mark Kamins) – Factory
Oh boy, wish I could have experienced this track on a packed dance floor back in 1985. Just close your eyes and you feel all the excitement: chunks of horns, guitars, handclaps, repetitive vocals and even a train passing by.

Weldon Irvine – I Love You – Athens Of The North
Originally released on his “Sinbad” album but now reissued on 7″ by Edinburgh-based Athens Of The North. Sweet soul from this underrated producer, band leader and composer whose tragic end always adds a sour edge to enjoying his music. Man behind so much favourites in our collection.

Wagadu Gu – Aki Special – Rokel
UK label Rokel released some African disco and discolypso bangers by Bunny Mack and Jimmy Senyah that slipped into our sets long before record trolleys or USB ports were available. This B-side by Wagadu Gu was a more recent find.

Resonance – Safari Love ((Ti Ae Ti A Ti Tam Tam) – Barclay
French funk with an exotic twist. Resonance is Mat Camison and Pierre Bachelet, who you might know from the “OK Chicago” tune, another slightly goofy funk workout. We love tracks like this, not too serious but seriously funky. Simple and effective.

Macka B – Serve You Ricght – Ariwa
Serve You Right by UK toaster Macka B floats between dancehall and dub, no surprise as the album Sign Of The Times was produced by Mad Professor, who released it on his Ariwa label back in 1986.

Brother Resistance – Star Warz Rapso – Left Ear
This falls in between so many genres it is right up our alley. Reggae / Caribbean music meets funk meets early hiphop. Not unlike what Celluloid used to release. Left Ear Records have reissued this fantastic album which avoids some considerable financial damage in your pocket as the original is very rare. We’ll hi five them whenever we see them.

Syclops – Mom, The Video Broke – Tirk
Syclops, is one of the many pseudonyms of Maurice Fulton, who rocked Our Party back in 2011 in Brussels, working a couple of usb sticks and iPhone earplugs. The musical spectrum he produces between this track and for example his early work along the Basement Boys makes it even more difficult to understand this musical genius. Epic.

Medium Medium – Hungry, So Angry – On-U-Sound
As fans of everything not quite fitting in we’re huge fans of Adrian Sherwood and On-U-Sound. This new compilation introduced us to a few tracks. Like this one. Punk-funk at its best. It’s a genre that joins many of the dots that are highlighted in our universe and when Adrian Sherwood is involved alarms go off at the Onda Sonora HQ. Many other personal favourites, like Vivien Goldman’s “Private Armies Dub” and The Slits’ “Man Next Door”, are included on the double album.

Everlife – You’re My Superhero – CRC
Superman, Batman, Mr Fantastic…the lyrics of this nice boogie track are simple but so damn sticky. Watch out, because you might catch yourself singing it while taking a bus or helping an old lady cross the street.

Logg – Lay It On The Line – Salsoul
Leroy Burgess is an artist whose universal recognition might not be relative to the amount of space he takes up in our collections. We’ve been fortunate enough to see the man perform live a couple of times and are unconditional fans. This might be one of his best albums, not one filler on there, and has been recently re-released by Salsoul records. You need this one.

Selection – Madly – Fulltime
Slow boogie track by Selection, and the Italian production duo Claudio and Franco Donato, also known from Kano and Firefly. This single preceded the self-titled album that came out in 1982.

Vaudou Game – Pas Contente – Hot Casa
Fairly recent release even though it sounds like it’s been dug up from a collection somewhere deep in Africa. Impossible to escape, funky groove that’s stuck in our box ever since we’ve heard it play by one of our all-time favourite DJs. Out on Hot Case records.

Q.Q. – Betta Must Come – Soul Jazz
Reggae has always been an integral part of the Onda Sonora musical spectrum but it doesn’t always comes through when you’re playing one or two hour sets. It takes a little more space to include this between the disco, funk, house and whatnot. When we get the chance (and a big ass sound that feels the bass) we go all out though. This track, which you can find on Soul Jazz’ ace new compilation full of other fine Rastafari made tunes, is one that pops up regularly in our sets lately.

M + M – Come Out And Dance – RCA
This is the kind of track you discover when checking the B-side of a record that’s already quite out of your range. In this case Canadian punk/new wave band Martha & The Muffins delivers an epic warm-up track. Get your drink at the bar and start moving your behind.

Letta Mbulu – Normalizo – Be With Records
That other track everyone wants from Letta Mbulu. The other being “What’s Wrong With Groovin'”. Well, there’s “Kilimanjaro” too and a few others but you get the point. It’s a track everyone, including us, since we’ve heard it on a killer Sean P compilation, has been searching but couldn’t find for prices we could actually pay until Be with Records made a legit and well-pressed reissue. Big up to them.¬¬

Gilberto Gil – Maracatu Atomico – Phillips
A more boogie version of Maracatu Atomico appeared on the album Nightingale from 1979. This one ended up on a mediocre compilation called ‘Musicas na Passarela’, between The Bee Gees and Demis Roussos.