I have stated my esteem for RaSoul’s records on this site before, but I’ll say it again: the West Coast DJ known before his possession by the groove as Guy Nado is one of deep house’s unacknowledged masters, someone whose records on Chicago’s Large, Guidance and other labels like 83 West were both hugely influential and hugely coveted by DJs building out their vinyl crate back in the day. If you make deep house with a thump today, you owe a debt and a few coins of royalty to RaSoul and the brief but amazing discography he’s built out for us.
And it’s getting a little bigger. Return Of The Mad Funk was previously known only by a handful of test pressings made before the label — created out of the offices of Silent Records in San Francisco by Matt Valenzuela — went under. What little was known about the record mostly came from a write-up by Andrew Duke (disseminated on Discogs some 15 years later) and some comments dropped by Valenzuela in the comments of the wobbly YouTube videos of the individual tracks posted over the years.
Compost Records has obtained the masters, or a really good one of the pressings (which sell, if any can be found to sell, for several hundred dollars) and plans to release the re-issue on vinyl and digital on April 16, 2021.
Three tracks and the fat, swerving basssline of “Smoothed Out Funk” is worth the wait. Two deep and funky boogie tracks that tap into the P-Funk universal vibration, “Psycho Funk” and “Just A Funky Groove” follow.
Collectors often have concerns about the quality of records like this. I’ve heard at least the digital version and it sounds phenomenal.
“Return of the Mad Funk” by RaSoul is out April 16 from Compost Records. Preorder here.
RaSoul: Return Of The Mad Funk EP Tracklisting:
A1. RaSoul: “Smoothed Out Funk”
B1. RaSoul: “Psycho Funk”
B2. RaSoul:”Just A Funky Groove”
Artist: RaSoul
Title: Return of the Mad Funk
Label: Compost Records
CAT: CPT 5781
Release Date: 12″ Vinyl/Digital April 16 2021
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