Cookin' On 3 Burners - Baked, Boiled and Fried

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I’d play this in the warm evening glow while having drinks on my balcony, assuming I had a balcony. And that’s kind of the feel of this homage to funksouljazz brothers kicking it out now. It’s got all the good bits of funk, pared down and purified, without any of the dirty edges to fall off.

If you’re a fan of Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings (and you should be), you'll like Cooking on 3 Burners. They lack the heft of New York’s Dap-Kings, though, as you’d expect given that they’re outnumbered 9-3 in the core band member stakes, although they do bring in a bunch of guests on horns and vocals. And Cookin' on 3 Burners are from Australia, not a place I traditionally identify with funk. Mind you, who the hell would identify SA with the blues, and yet we have hotshots like Dan Patlansky.

The guitar, drums and Hammond organ trio, who have traditional Oz tribal nicks like Lanu, Choi and, uh, Jake, lay down some very tasty grooves though, and particularly excel on the odd vocal track. They also do a weird instrumental cover of Gorillaz' "Feel good Inc," which sounds strangely sanitized. The title track, with its fluidly integrated flute and trombone solos, will probably rock your Crocs the most, though. Dirty funk, of course, should rock your box.

- Chris Roper