UPTOWN FUNK EMPIRE - The Empire Strikes Back (2009)

A sweet funky project from Bruno "Patchworks" Hovart, a set that's filled with lots of 70s Funk elements, but which keeps up the groove we've come to love in all of his previous Patchworks projects!! There's a great blend here between live Funk instrumentation and dancefloor direction, almost a return to the drenched-in-classics sounds we first came to love in the French scene over a decade ago, which have been lost in recent years by some of the too-trashy artists out there, only to be reclaimed wonderfully by Bruno in a record like this!! The grooves run a gamut that includes Spiritual Jazz, Club Funk, and a bit of boogie, but all done with a style that's lean enough to be dubbed deep funk at some moments too, a much wider palette of sounds than you'd get from other funky artists working today, but handled beautifully by Hovart, with a really deep understanding of a wide range of music from years back. Vocals are by Noel McKoy, Janice & Ange, and our brother Juan Rozoff!!

Tracklisting:

1. The Empire Strikes Back (Intro)
2. Boogie
3. N.O.W feat. Juan Rozoff
4. We Stand At The Back Of The Bus feat. Janice & Ange
5. You've Got To Have Freedom feat. Janice & Ange
6. Keep On Givin' it Up
7. No One Gonna Stop Us Now feat. Noel Mc Koy
8. Take You Out
9. I'm a Manchild
10. I Guess That You Don't Mind feat. JRM
11. Celestial Blues feat. Ange
12. Please Mr. Postman
13. Walkin´ Like The Ginger
14. Good Time (Bye Bye Mr. Dynamite)
15. I Used To Spend My Time
16. The Empire Strikes Back (Outro)

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THE TIMELINE MOVERS - Timeline Movers Are Knockin´ On 54 (2009)

DVAN´s finally back to the block, and together the debut album from the prolific duo of GP & Serbian producer Vlada Stojanovic, side by side as The Timeline Movers!! It´s common to see a bunch of good Disco/Boogie compilations these days, but this time the duo did more than we could expect from a compilation like these, joining forces to select great tracks with that trademark we used to love!! There are some brilliant numbers from well known artists such as Luther Vandross, Billy Griffin, Grey & Hanks and Sister Sledge, but the point of attraction is what the duo call “diggin´” – less known and sometimes obscure tracks – going from Disco to Boogie to Jazz Funk to Club Soul!! Vlada signs the first CD and GP the second one, both with a perfect sense of groove, showing us that they exactly know what they´re doing. Titles include “Now I´m Fine” by Grey & Hanks, “I´ve Just Begun To Love You” by Dynasty, “Got To Love Somebody” by Sister Sledge, “Wanna Make It Good” by Tyrone Davis, “You´re A Star” by Starship Orchestra, “Shake Your Body” by Sunfire, “Don´t Touch It” by Maxx Traxx, “Something Else” by Logg and more!!

Tracklisting:

CD 1:

1. Grey & Hanks - Now I'm Fine
2. Dynasty - I've Just Begun To Love You
3. Sister Sledge - Got To Love Somebody
4. Tyrone Davis - Wanna Make It Good
5. Candi Staton - Love And Be Free
6. Central Line - I Need Your Love
7. Tony Etoria - I Can Prove It
8. High Fashion - Next To You
9. Jerry Knight - Kwick
10. Larry Wu - Let Me Show You


CD 2:

1. Starship Orchestra - You´re A Star
2. Sunfire - Shake Your Body
3. Maxx Traxx - Don´t Touch It
4. Logg - Something Else
5. Young & Co. - I Like It (What Your Doing To Me)
6. Mtume - So You Wanna Be A Star
7. The McCrarys - Love On A Summer Night
8. Luther Vandross - Never Too Much
9. Billy Griffin - Hold Me Tighter In The Rain
10. David Bendeth - Feel The Real

INTERVIEW - The Timeline Movers

After a long time thinking about a project together, Global Grooves Collective leader Mr. GP and Serbian DJ/Producer Vlada Stojanovic finally arrived as a duo!! Immersed in their soulful music library, the duo tell us about the new project, plans for the future and more!!

GGC Staff: Hi GP & Vlada!! Nice to have you here again!! Good to have you joining forces as a duo!!

GP: Hi guys. It´s a pleasure for me and also a great opportunity to work with Vlad.
Vlada: Whats Up!! Nice to be here. And it´s really an honor to be part of a project with GP.


GGC Staff: Tell us about your idea of forming The Timeline Movers.

GP: We had the idea after the recording of Vlada´s "Knockin’ On 54" compilation. I heard and immediately love that!! Vlada is a great connoisseur of 70´s and 80´s music, no matter if it´s Jazz, Soul, Funk or Hip-Hop. Finally, we thought about joining our forces as a duo, focused on releasing Disco and Boogie compilations and also future fresh and new music made by our duo.
Vlada: Well, the idea for Timeline Movers is in the air for a long time. We share the same energy about music, and there is much respect between us. After Knockin’ On 54 release we were online, and talking about that release, and GP asked me about doing something together. I said YES definetly. I mean, you don’t think about that, right. So, there it is, after a long time, research, diggin’ selection, Timeline Movers are here!!


GGC Staff: What´s the concept behind Timeline Movers name?

GP/Vlada: As we said before, we focus on Disco/Boogie things from 70´s and 80´s. So, we thought about something that could represent some power, remembering that Disco/Boogie was born in the past. So, if we´re rescuing these styles and we got the power (laughs) and also that we as DJs can manage this stuff, we can manipulate the timeline. So, Timeline Movers was born.


GGC Staff: What about your track selection process?

GP: We´re always searching for different, obscure and rare music, together with those well known by people around the world. We always try to mix raw and complex material with that popular one.
Vlada: We like to experiment. GP said that perfectly. We all know artists that are popular around the world, but let’s dig deeper, let’s give you something else, some forgotten artists, because you are gonna enjoy it, definetly.

"Our focus is to show people
how rich was the Disco/Boogie
movement and that we can bring it
back to the new generation" - GP

GGC Staff: Do you have a name for this debut album?

GP: Yeah!! It´s called “Timeline Movers Are Knocking On 54”!!
Vlada: I just wanna add something. This is not Vol. 2 of last years Knockin’ On 54. That compilation was initiative capsule for our duo so that’s why Timeline Movers Are Knockin’ On 54!! Another thing that I need to say and it's not about our name. It's about our cover concept. For that credits go to Donewell agency from Serbia. They've done many things for GGC and just have to mention them.


GGC Staff: Do you pretend to release this officially?

GP: It´s hard to think about it. We have to think hardly about the payment of royalties and more. That´s not our focus. Our focus is to show people how rich was the Disco/Boogie movement and that we can bring it back to the new generation.
Vlada: It would be nice, but I think that we will probably have more problems than pleasure with that. And in other hand, why should we? That´s nothing about money here. This is just for the love of music!!


GGC Staff: Will you keep the line of “compilation producers” or do you pretend to fly higher?

GP: Always flying high, man, as I said before. We (me and Vlad) consider ourselves two prolific guys. We know we can go ahead and be better and better with the time. We plan to do something similar to Joey Negro´s Sunburst Band, recruiting musicians for future presentations around the world. That´s a little bit difficult cause i´m in Brazil right now and Vlad is in Serbia. But we pretend to adjust our lives for the future. So we can keep our minds straight and follow our plans with no trouble!!
Vlada: There are many plans for the near and far future. We really talk a lot about that, but for many reasons these are still plans, but recruiting new artists is active. Soon you’ll hear a great artist from Serbia that will work with us in a near future. His name is Vukashin Lekic. He´s a young and very very talented guitar man and producer. He is in studio right now working on a single. This man will figure in something that we do, soon.

"We all know artists that are popular
around the world, but let’s dig deeper,
let’s give you something else,
some forgotten artists,
because you are gonna enjoy it,
definetly" - Vlada S.

GGC Staff: What´s your favourite Disco/Boogie acts, past and present?

GP: I´m totally about raw and rare material, no matter the act. I particularly love Roy Ayers late 70´s work, Dexter Wansel, Norman Connors, Disco tinged Jazz Funk and more. Talking about contemporary grooves, i love House Music, specially Deep House. Love Naked Music things, Miguel Migs, Joey Negro, Fanatix and more. I´m also listening to a lot of Nu Disco.
Vlada: I like to experiment with music. Roy Ayers is definetly the greatest. Also there are artists like Chic, Peaches & Herb, The Soul Searchers, Instant Funk, A Taste Of Honey. There are also some great old school artists from my country such as KIM band or Boban Petrovic. I need to mention Sugar Hill records. I just love those pioneers of Hip Hop that came after the Disco movement. Contemporary Disco/Boogie albums. Well, I listen The Boogie Back Post Disco Club Jams by DJ Spinna these days very much. Great album!!


GGC Staff: Hummmm... Could we think about something following this genres for the future?

GP: Obviously!! We´ll bring Disco back to the new era!! Just wait and you´ll see!!
Vlada: For Sure. People love to dance, and Disco is perfect the perfect tune to give great music for dancefloors and listeners at home.


GGC Staff: Great!! The music world needs more from you!!

GP: We promise we´ll do all that we can to bring a fresh air to the music world. For example, think about Amy Winehouse. She brilliantly brought 60´s Soul to the new era. After that we had a large number of similar acts. That´s it. It´s called ressurection. And if we once had great music, we can always have great music. Why not? That´s possible. And that´s refreshing. That´s it.
Vlada: You have industry but real artists are coming like phoenix. Coming to life from the ashes. One of the artists that I really respect is Mayer Hawthorne. His debut albums is amazing. He definetly brought quality.... It's like Talib Kweli said in "I TRY": “…you can stop the industry, but you can´t stop the music…”


GGC Staff: Sounds great!! It was a pleasure to hear more from you. Hope you can have the right success as Timeline Movers!!

GP: Thanks a lot!! We´re in this game to win. I´m not talking about money, man. I´m talking about respect and acceptance. If people love our work, we´ll call that victory. I´d like to send a big shout out to Donewell Agency, the guys responsible for Timeline Movers album cover art. And also a big up to our team of DJs and producers (specially Pepe Epps, one of the best guys in Disco, Boogie, Funk and House Music) who helped us with a special listening and certification!!
Vlada: Thanks. It was a pleasure to talk to you guys. We are here and we are not slowing down. Timeline Movers, GP and me with our solo projects, Gringo, Serbian new acts and the rest of the GGC artists, crew, our great friends Lord Blak with his crew, Jay Fusion, Laidback radio…. and every other artists and music lovers in the world are here for the people. We are all doing this for you guys. KEEP GROOVIN!!