| the haggis horns are one of the funkiest live bands you will ever see; a brassheavy funk powerhouse that has been rocking clubs up and down the country for years, combining breakbeat funk, soul, hip-hop and afrobeat with the virtuosity of trained jazz musicians. they are featured on the now legendary deep funk album "keb darge presents the new mastersounds", and have performed and recorded with the likes of amy winehouse, nightmares on wax, roots manuva, estelle, corinne bailey-rae, kt tunstall and the cinematic orchestra, to name a few. formed around the nucleus of malcolm strachan (trumpet) and atholl ransome (tenor sax, flute) the haggis horns (yes, they're from scotland) extend to an 8 piece live outfit, with guitarist ben barker also taking a production role in their recorded output. their debut 7" was released in november 2006, followed by the much sought-after 12 "the traveller" and their debut album "hot damn!" to widespread acclaim. following the tragic loss of founder member jason rae early in 2008, the boys hit the studio to record the follow up to "hot damn!" they've teamed up with singer and fellow funk aficionado nia saw (aka lucinda slim) who has performed around the world with the likes of zap mama and djs alongside keb darge at their long established deep funk night at madame jojo's in london's soho. the new album sees them back at their funky best, with more brass stabs than a victorian knife fight, more funky licks than a tramps dog and the sort of snappy backbeat that could cause whiplash unless properly supervised. from the straight up b-boy funk of "the jerk" to the isley brothers-esque disco funk of "love gets you high" and the vocal afrobeat of "too blind" this is another belter of a record from scotland's answer to the jbs that is sure to restate their place as one of the world's premier funk bands. |
