Hot on the heels of Lanu’s album release on UK label Tru Thoughts, Lance Ferguson returns with his celebrated band’s second long player. The six-piece Melbourne-based outfit are far from strangers to local ears, with their frequent Perth visits, including as Alice Russell’s band last year. And it is their tight performances and fat funk sounds that have earned fans like Russell around the world, including at pretty big independent labels such as Tru Thoughts.

Rawville harnesses the talents of visitors to Australia who have heard and like the outfit, including American rhymer Ohmega Watts and New Zealand vocalist Tyra Hammond. The former brings his trademark super cool flow to tracks that conjure up some of the feel of Guru’s jazzy projects. But, really this is genuine funk with rolling drums and funky fills accompanied by smooth-as horn sections playing celebratory flourishes and scat-style arrangements together with funky guitar licks, and a touch of crazy Hammond.

Most of the album is pretty dancefloor focused but there’s the occasional chilled moment such as Kylie Auldist’s almost Aretha style serenade plus Watts’ jazzy hip hop appearances. Ultimately, fans of true funk sounds of the now, such as Dap Tone or label mates like Quantic Soul Orchestra, will lap this up, while this band look set to forge a long and successful path in the world of the modern funk revival, which this album is a pretty perfect example of.

Rating: 8/10

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Tracklisting:
01. The Bamboos Theme
02. Bring It Home feat. Alice Russell
03. Get In The Scene feat. Ohmega Watts
04. The Witch
05. My Babay's Cheating (I Sure Got The Feeling) feat. Fallon Williams
06. I Don't Wanna Stop feat. Kylie Auldist
07. Head I The Clouds feat. Tyra Hammond
08. Happy
09. Rockin' It feat. Ohmega Watts
10. Pussy Footin'
11. Rawville
12. Tongan Steel

This was a RTRFM Full Frequency album feature.

Label: Tru Thoughts