Album: The Pimps of Joytime, Janxta Funk! (Wonderwheel)

The new year has its first great party album: a no-nonsense distillation of the most infectious elements of party funk, with a welcoming approach that emphasises peaceful good times.

The openness extends to the influences, which include itchy New Orleans second-line and loping Parliament swagger, New York Latino popping salsa, and Chicago urban shuffle. "Keep That Music Playin'" sounds like Graham Central Station doing Gil Scott-Heron's "The Bottle". "Janxta Funk!" is typical, a James Brown-style groove in which chief Pimp Brian J reveals himself as a one-man JBs/Meters, playing clipped rhythm guitar like Jimmy Nolen and strutting bass like George Porter Jr. But it's not all old-school: with its falsetto vocal and brusque guitar, "Thas The Way We Do" could be The Black Keys.

DOWNLOAD THIS Janxta Funk!; Keep That Music Playin'; Thas the Way We Do; Pimpin' Music