DOWNLOAD: Lee Fields - You're The Kind Of Girl
Doesn't it seem like songs honoring women for their greatness are increasingly rare? Good thing Lee Fields is an old soul. His new one, "You're The Kind Of Girl," is all innocent, exuberant love and respect. Strings flutter like a heart (I suppose) while a funk guitar hits all the right spots (sorry). Get this and more on Field's upcoming album Faithful Man, which arrives March 13 on Truth & Soul.
DOWNLOAD: Stacy Lane - No Ending
Charles 'Packy' Axton is one of those soul legends that you only know if you dig deep. Then, once you find him, he's everywhere. A bandleader and tenor saxophonist, Axton, whose mother and uncle were founders of the legendary record label Stax, lead many unimpeachable funk and soul sessions, but remained largely unnoticed until recently receiving the compilation treatment with Late Late Party 1965-67. Here's a sample cut: the unfettered funk of Stacy Lane's "No Ending." Funk this soulful and seamless sounds nearly impossible to create nowadays. It's so natural, it's like the song was plucked from the ground after growing for the last half-century. Grab Late Late Party 1965-67 now on Light In The Attic.
Download: Shafiq - DNA (Splice Mix 3)
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Over the past few months, Dublin label All City released their LA 10" x 10 series, with 10-inch releases by the likes of DaM-FunK, Samiyam and Exile. Just when you thought it was over, All City has released a bonus edition, this time featuring Sa-Ra Creative Partners member Shafiq. Though credited to Shafiq, the track also features Sa-Ra member Om'Mas Keith — it is edition #0 and will be released August 9th. As with Sa-Ra's Nuclear Evolution: The Age Of Love and Shafiq's Shafiq En' A-Free-Ka, two of the best, most innovative R&B releases of 2009, "DNA (Splice Mix 3)" is a warped, funky chunk of avant-R&B. An instrumental track, "DNA (Splice Mix 3)" sounds like a Madlib outtake or a leftover New Amerykah beat, with its inflamed drums, killer bass line, sporadic vocal samples and gently bumping guitar chords.
DOWNLOAD: Thundercat - Daylight (prod. Flying Lotus)
Posted by Tal Rosenberg
Tags: r n b, hip-hop, soul, funk, fusion, electronic, experimental, beat, glitch
He's named after one of the best daytime cartoons of all time, he plays bass in Suicidal Tendencies, and his new album is produced by Flying Lotus. What is there not to like about Thundercat? The man otherwise known as Stephen Bruner made an appearance on last year's FlyLo album Cosmogramma, on standout glitch-soul track "Mmmhmm." Though "Daylight" shares that song's crystalline keyboards and a vibe that hearkens back to '70s jazz fusion, its odd time signatures and serpentine movements are coated in more polished, less compressed surfaces. But Thundercat's breathy, smooth vocals and webbed bass playing are still intact, so you can gain a clearer insight into what was going on beneath the murk. Nonetheless, this is by no means a predictable artist, and who knows what else we'll hear when The Golden Age Of Apocalypse, Thundercat's FlyLo-produced debut, drops August 30th on Brainfeeder.
Get More Flying Lotus Music Here
DOWNLOAD: The Don Isaac Ezekiel Combination - Ire
If you have even the slightest interest in rare African grooves, then Strut's Nigeria 70 compilations are essential listening. Their third volume in a few years, Nigeria 70: Sweet Times: Afro Funk, Highlife & Juju From 1970s Lagos, once again compiled by series curator Duncan Brooker, features tracks where traditional guitar music from Lagos further incorporated the rapidly evolving and spreading sound of Western rock n' roll and R&B. On The Don Isaac Ezekiel Combination's "Ire," this trio—who often went under the acronym "D.I.E."—play what sounds like Sly Stone producing a jam session between a highlife band and some of James Brown's backing musicians. Sunny, sweaty, languid, and featuring lyrics promoting peace, this is the perfect exotic groove for right now, when summer is just peeking around the corner, and even beyond.
The Don Isaac Ezekiel Combination - Ire
PREMIERE: Karl Blau - A Melody To Wake Us In The Morning
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(Photo: Sarah Cass)
"A Melody To Wake Us In The Morning" is like a Kenny G track, except better, faster, stronger and with way fiercer (facial) hair. Karl Blau, Anacortes stronghold and songsmith extraordinaire, is back with his first major output since 2009's Zebra. An EP with Afrobeat influence taking center stage, "Melody" in particular puts Blau's ability to jump genres on display, combining sax with his distinctive vocal range to keep the funk user-friendly. Stretching nearly seven minutes and swerving nicely between jazz and indie throughout, Max proves Blau as compelling an innovator as ever. Catch the 12-inch out today on K.
Karl Blau - A Melody To Wake Us In The Morning
PREMIERE: Dinner At The Thompson's - Rice N Beans (feat. Guilty Simpson)
French duo Dinner At The Thompson's (French producer and musician Fablive and American-born, France-based singer Lucille Tee) create the kind of musky, chunky soul and funk music that's more commonly associated with stylish, elegant singers. But on "Rice N Beans," they shuttle their music from the glitzy to the grimy, bringing Detroit heavyweight Guilty Simpson onto the track. With its punchy horn blasts, slices of vocal wails, and thick rhythms, the song could pass for an outtake from the claustrophobic, Madlib-produced cuts from last year's OJ Simpson. But in this case, it's just one piece of a larger pie, the rest of which you can hear when Dinner At The Thompson's drop their next album, Off The Grid, on May 17th via Earth At Work Records.
Dinner At The Thompson's - Rice N Beans (feat. Guilty Simpson)
PREMIERE: Dennis Coffey - Ubiquitous (Steinski Remix)
(Photo: Jerry Wald)
Dennis Coffey played on many of the biggest Detroit soul and funk classics of the '60s and '70s, including The Temptations' "Psychedelic Shack" and "Cloud Nine," The Supremes' "We'll Be Together" and The Isley Brothers' "It's Your Thing," before recording the perennial instrumental "Scorpio." A decade later, sample orchestra maestro Steinski would include it in his cut-up milestone "The Lesson." A quarter-century later, history repeats itself: On this Record Store Day release, Steinski once again takes a stab at a Coffey track, this time "Ubiquitous," a B-side off of a recently released 7" for Record Store Day. On this remix, Steinski underpins Coffey's lightning-hot guitar licks and hazy wah-chunks with hip-hop beats and scratches that don't stray too far from a '70s funk rhythm section. If you dig it, you can hear plenty more like this on Dennis Coffey's recently released self-titled album, out now on Strut.
Dennis Coffey - Ubiquitous (Steinski Mix)
