Parker ft Rasco – Western Soul [Leisure/Rocstar]

Where to start with the South West’s premier neo-block party starter turned neo-block party producer Parker?

Originally on Bristol’s Leisure Recordings before turning out 2008’s To Eternity on Rocstar (an album that brought comparisons with moody funkster RJD2 but could as easily have filed him alongside fellow chipper Brits Flevans and Lack of Afro) it is his frequent under-the-counter appearances on Goodgroove, Bomb Strikes, Jalapeno and the like, throwing everything from disco to dubstep into the hip hop Magimix, that have seen him rise to the top as the go-to man for soul-heavy, ‘floor-filling joints.

Borrowing the name of the Bristolian table turners for hire, ‘Western Soul’ sees Parker team your standard “hands in the air” fare from San Fransican rapper Rasco with the delightful guitar hook and horns of ill-fated vocal duo Eddie & Ernie’s lost 70s soul nugget ‘Bullets Don’t Have Eyes’. The samples are lifted wholesale and diced before beefing out with straight-up beats and bottomless bass, making for a simple but satisfying slice of hip hop ‘floor fodder that leaves its many guest remixers redundant and out on the street.

‘Western Soul’ was released on 12″ [Leisure Recordings] and features on the album To Eternity [Rocstar Recordings].

‘Bullets Don’t Have Eye’s’ by Eddie & Ernie was only released locally before being reissued on the Eddie & Ernie retrospective Lost Friends [Kent] and more recently as a 7″ [Daptone Records, Ever-Soul].