Sydney duo Confection released their self-titled debut album on Friday November 23rd, 2007 on One Stop Funk Shop Recordings. (Marketed and promoted by Soulchoonz Records.) Released in the UK on Soulchoonz Records Label.

Despite having played only a handful of Sydney gigs Confection have already made quite a mark on the UK soul scene with their advance 12” vinyl release “Fantasisin’”/ ”I Choose U” garnering rave reviews, with solid chart action and substantial radio and club airplay from highly respected scions of the old guard funksoul scene like DJ’s Pete Haigh and Chris Jay.

The funksoul bible Blues and Soul Magazine rated them “Single Of The Fortnight,” calling “I Choose U” “an almost perfect example of the bouncy, retro modern soul groove” and Soul Express.com lauded “Fantasisin’”: “The groove is soulful, funky and full of live instrumentation – check out the slap bass! Simply delicious! Let's face it, the song simply grooves. This is sheer heaven!”

This is unprecedented recognition in this sphere for an Australian band, with Oz acts not typically known for their “funk” cred, we believe this to be the first successful Australian incursion into the UK soul scene.

Confection’s constituent ingredients are Josh Beagley (guitar, keyboards, production) and Juanita Tippins (vocals) from Sydney, Australia. Formed in 2006 while recording a track at One Stop Funk Shop studio, the duo then spent the next year recording the 10 tracks that fill the Confection self-titled debut album.

Confection set out to create classic funksoul anthems like those of yesteryear - old school synth and slap-bass driven groovers and slowjams, the sort of songs that sound brilliant on the radio and phat on the dancefloor, with big choruses and sinewy elastic rhythms.
Compounding a lifetime of influences with a whole new bag of natural born sticky sweet funk, Confection have delivered up a luscious and infectious sound for 2007, from new single “I’ve Gotta Thing (4U),” with it’s synth-driven rubbery groove, the spiky Minneapolis-funk of “Put Me On Your Playlist” to the luscious undulations of “Fantasisin’” and the sublime “Stuck,” a sparse and riveting slowjam that takes the album home.

Beagley has a wide-ranging knowledge and love of black funk and pop stemming from his long career as a performer and DJ, which certainly permeates the Confection sound. “I particularly like the records from when big funk bands merged with synth technology, like CAMEO, Midnight Star, early Prince, SOS Band for example. Their records all had a lot of live instrumentation blending with drum machines and synths, and it is that kind of organic-electro interaction that really works for me.”

Although Beagley played or programmed most of the music on the album, a number of friends from his other bands (Professor Groove and The Booty Affair, Fatback 4Way) were brought in to add their special groove skills. Terepai Richmond, widely regarded as Australia’s best drummer (Missy Higgins, Whitlams, DIG etc) and Michael di Francesco (Van She, Moustache) provided critical groove elements on drums and bass respectively, with Paul Gray (Wa Wa Nee) guesting on keys, Sunil de Silva contributing percussion and a number of Juanita’s singing cohorts (Jade McRae, Mahalia Barnes, Rob Edwards, Prinnie Stevens, Miss P) called on for backing vocal duties.

The result is a debut filled with delectafunkable extended jamz, wall to wall sonic sweetfunk. Step into the candystore now.