Karma Giraffe describe themselves as "Britain's newest alternative dance label" and have wisely chosen current broken beat don and one time Dodge City b-boy, IG Culture, to launch their first long player with his 'Inspirations' compilation.
Those familiar with the man will not be surprised to learn most of the tracks here are in some way connected to the Eighties and chart the development of hip hop, drawing obvious inferences from jazz, reggae and soul.
Opening with Grover Washington's superb 1975 funk groove, 'Hydra', the album leaps forward to the early Eighties with the synthesized handclaps and keyboard bass lines of Natasha King's first generation hip hop tune, 'AM FM'.
Next we move into the Bambaataa/ Baker inspired electro period with Special Requests' tribute to those little blue Eighties cartoon icons, 'Salsa Smurf'. Tilt's 'Arcade Funk', with it's weird intro, strange Space Invaders meets Parliament inspired vocal effects and heavy concentration on conga patterns, , it's either bizarre, brilliant or both.
Hip hop is further represented by The Younger Generations' brilliant slab of old school, 'We Rap More Mellow', Jamose's 'Rhymetologist' and BDPs 'Jack of Spades', while Go Go makes a welcome return through Trouble Funk's answer to Kraftwerk; 'Trouble Funk Express'.
African rhythms enter through Oneness of Ju Ju's 'River Luv Rite', lovers' rock cuddles in via Freddie McGregor's 'Natural Collie' and finally Dennis Brown brings forth the rock steady with 'Wolves and Leopards'.
The inclusion of jazz funk tracks, such as Crown Heights Affair's 'Far Out', or the slap bass of Players Association's 'Let Your Body Go', is perhaps more expected given IG Cultures contemporary output.
But overall the choices here are as inspired as the tracks are inspirational.
