As the last bastions of crate diggin’ record stores seem to disappear overnight (on a personal note, thanks to Paul at Avid for keeping going as a physical presence before closing down this year), the likes of Kon & Amir are to be thanked for doing the hard work for us.

If you’re looking some rare breaks or just into some golden era soul, funk, disco and jazz this double CD set is a great place to start; even if you think there’s no more unheard classics of the sixties and seventies.

With 25 years of experience behind them, their respective collections must take up the size of a New York warehouse for these gems to still be tucked away.

The 14 tracks on each CD are just black vinyl audio gold. CD1 is mixed by Kon and apart from Jorge Santana, you’re likely to come to all these tracks anew. So even though he’s taken the liberty of a few edits, we’re not worried about that.

CD2 is far jazzier and is likely to be an inspiration for a new generation of jazzhead. ‘Destroy The Nihilist Picnic’ sounds like it should have been a Festival 50 track; where did The London Experimental Jazz Quartet come from?

From the Kings Of Diggin’, BBE have gone the extra mile as The Bronx is just the first in a series, to be followed by Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens and Statton and even at this early stage, all 5 will be essential purchases.

Album Launch Party: Cargo, London — Saturday 15th September 2007.

Hectic Mix nominations: ALL

Reviewed: Various — Kon & Amir — Off Track Volume 1: The Bronx (BBE) Cat. No. BBECD087 Release date: 15th October 2007
Tracklistings
Disc: 1
1. Homebrew “Once I Had a Friend” (Kon’s Quick Edit)
2. Garden Of Eden “Everybody’s On A Trip” (Kon’s Edit)
3. Sundown “Spaced Outta Place Pt. 1 & 2”
4. Darryl Douglas “Holding On” (Kon’s Edit)
5. Quest “Boy Scouts”
6. S.T.U.D. Band “Success”
7. Masterforce “Don’t Fight The Feeling” (Kon’s Edit)
8. Imp Express “8-1”
9. Steel City Orchestra “Steel City Disco” (Kon’s Edit)
10. Jacqueline Dee & Johnnie Walker “Farewell To Welfare”
See all 14 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2
1. Pat Britt “Herman’s Corner”
2. Horselmat “Right On”
3. Vincent Geminiani “Insideieusement Les Eles”
4. The London Experimental Jazz Quartet “Destroy the Nihilist Picnic”
5. Zelia Barbosa “Opiniao”
6. Ex Pro Ovo “What’s the Deal”
7. Gerry Olds Trio “Gerry’s Samba”
8. Sathima Bea Benjamin “Africa”
9. Marius Cultier “Nestor: Ti Patte”
10. The Ed Kelly Ensemble “Samba”

Links:
www.myspace.com/offtrack97
www.myspace.com/konandamire
www.myspace.com/bbemusic
www.avidrecords.com