Album: James Chance, Twist Your Soul – The Definitive Collection (Dumb Angel)

James Chance was a crucial component of the No Wave/Ze Records strain of early-80s new-wave endeavour in New York.

Through James Chance & The Contortions and James White & The Blacks, he developed a tight but freewheeling punk-funk jazz that was the closest American equivalent to The Pop Group and Rip, Rig & Panic in the UK. Here are swaggering disco-funk riffs with itchy guitar interplay that harks back to James Brown's 70s heyday, over which Chance lays impulsive streaks of alto sax. Combining a disc of studio classics with a second of live workouts, this is a salutary reminder of an era when all channels were open and jazz simply offered a more outlandish way to party.

DOWNLOAD THIS Almost Black Pts 1 & 2; Contort Yourself; Off Black; Sax Maniac; The Twitch