"we're happy to be supporting Independents Day 08"
Started as a vehicle for the Skeewiff releases of founders Elliot Ireland and Alex Rizzo, Jalapeno has grown into an oasis of funked up, fun-loving dance music which defies pigeonholing. From a super cool Henrik Schwarz remix of Kraak & Smaak to a lounge cover of The Final Countdown and from the ice cool club beats of Kid Crème to a sitar cover of Man of Constant Sorrow you can expect the unexpected from Jalapeno.
The core album artists on the label are Skeewiff, Kraak & Smaak & IKON. Skeewiff are the daddies of the funk breaks scene with their early tracks providing inspiration to go against the grain for the new school of funk producers such as Fort Knox Five and All Good Funk Alliance both of whom have since come to record for Jalapeno. As well as breakbeat funk the Skeewiff boys have a penchant for lounge, and downbeat soundscapes – a leaning that led to the formation of IKON, a leftfield electronic act that is produced by Elliot, Alex and Trevor Mac – co-owner & label boss of jalapeno. The IKON collective is fluid but has included Kirsty Hawkshaw , Alison Limerick, Dee Morrison , Ian Britt and others - generally only ever all coming together for the occasional festival appearance.
Kraak & Smaak are the poster boys of Jalapeno Funk. Stepping up to the world stage and making their mark with a killer debut album (Boogie Angst), a killer live show that has seen them sell out venues and play to massive festival crowds around the world and now the closest thing that we have had to that quaint idea of a hit in Squeeze Me – the debut single from their second album Plastic People featuring Ben Westbeech on vocals. Expect to see them rock a stage near you in 2008.
Newcomers this year are Soopasoul and Dr Rubberfunk. Danny Soopasoul is a rave pioneer turned soul funk legend. Having tasted fame as Direckt in the halcyon days of rave he gave it all up to become a VW driving, heavy smoking surfer dude in Newquay. But you can’t keep a good musician down and before long his raw funk releases on his own Nu Funk label came to the attention of Jalapeno. A swift trip to the south coast later and the deal was done.
Also joining the family on the third time of asking is funky drummer Dr Rubberfunk. Both if his previous albums elicited call from Jalapeno HQ saying “Doctor Doctor there’s a funk fever over here. We need youâ€. Persistence paid off and this year he joined the family and is currently in the middle of producing his third artist album for release by us.
Album artists aside there are a wealth of other producers who have contributed 12s & EP’s to the label or tracks to our J-Funk compilations. Respect is due to Fort Knox Five , The Pulver crew , All Good Funk Alliance , Maelstrom, D Stephanie (who is currently mixing her second EP for the label) Freestyle, Wicked Lestor, Malente, Torpedo Boyz and all the other brothers and sisters we’ve forgotten.
As well as the core Jalapeno label there are a couple of house imprints. Illegal Beats (under the watchful eye of legendary house producer Kid Crème) and Floorplay under the enthusiastic steering of hot DJ / producer duo Prok & Fitch. Last but not least there’s JAL Recordings a home for singer-songwriter Ian Britt and any other leftfield pop that doesn’t sit right on a “dance†label.
Between the labels we’ve clocked up over 100 releases – we’re still going strong – putting on gigs, throwing parties and releasing music that whether it tops the charts or is a greatest hit of the stockroom we can proudly say - “That was goodâ€.