A short digression from the musical world : I wanted to mention the latest film from German/Turkish director Fatih Akin that is called "Soul Kitchen".
Not really a digression actually as black music plays a large role in this comedy that takes place in Hamburg (that will soon get as much fame from its soul/funk scene than for its container port!).
Fatih Akin is one of my favorite independant filmaker. His most famous movies, "Head-On" and "Auf Der Anderen Seite" are must-seen dramas bringing up, among other things, reflexions about immigration.
This time it's a comedy, the story of a guy that tries to revive his faltering restaurant and that gets help both from an eccentric chef (the brilliant Birol Unel, that also played the unforgottable main character from "Head On") and Music. Fatih Akin is an authentic music lover, he even plays as a dj from times to times and his selection for the soundtrack of this film is just great (from Curtis, to Mango Santamaria or The Isley Brothers).
Soul Kitchen is a refreshing funny movie that will have you smile and groove for a relaxing time.
The movie is just out in France and currently being released in several other countries after having been awarded in the Venice film festival.
Below the trailer with french subtitles :
I recently reviewed the first album of Hamburg-based The Mighty Mocambos & Uk singer Gizelle Smith. Yesterday I attended their first concert in France at the cool alternative parisian venue "La Bellevilloise".
With 6 musicians (1 drummer, 1 bass, 2 guitars, 1 trumpet, 1 trombone), 2 chorists and Gizelle Smith, the small stage was almost full and the ingredients for a great funky moment were set.
I don't know what it's like for you but as far as I'm concerned quite often my favorite part in an afrobeat/funk/soul live performance is the intro. The type of "Intro" I prefer? well I love seeing the musicians entering one after the other into the first tune (like a starting bassline, then the drums come in, followed by a guitar phrase to end up with the horns). When the rythm gets hot enough this is time for the singer to enter the stage and bring the last missing piece.
This is exactly what The Mocambos did last night and after 10minutes I knew the show was gonna be good. Their 5-to-7mn-long groovy instrumental was awesome and when the gorgeous Gizelle Smith joined them on stage the show was already on a solid path.
The band is quite young but demonstrates an impressive maturity, several solos from the first guitarist (Sebastian) were truly outstanding, so were the trumpet player moments. If the album has a clear "nu-funk" sound, I had the impression that the live act was more halfway between funk and groove, which I particularly enjoyed.
Obviously I also have to talk to you about the main lady here.
Gizelle Smith delighted us with her voice that is so warm and soulful. She clearly has more than one string to her bow : she can sing classic heavy funk like on the album, but also seems to really enjoy smoother, more "nu-soul" type of stuff.
On her live performance itself she may still lack a little bit of stage presence but she has so much charm and that easily makes up for it!
So overall that was a great moment of groove&nu-funk music. The crew is touring for several weeks, not to be missed if they visit your area! All their dates on their myspace page. P.S. : merci Vincent pour les photos!
"Slow Motion" is a selection of downtempo/abstract-beats tracks I like to listen to when in need of a deep & relaxing musical moment.
Not to be confused with the usual bullshit "lounge" stuff, these are diverse spacy tunes from several talented contemporary artists you'll may want to (re)discover.
Among other things you'll find warm & soulful keyboards from Chinese Man and The Detroit Experiment, the captivating voice of Sidsel Andresen, sweet pop treats from Tarwater and Mocky, and atmospheric beats from Julien Dyne and Carlos Nino & Miguel Atwood Ferguson.
So I invite you to have a sit on your favorite coach, take a deep breath, that's it!
You're now ready to (hopefully) enjoy this slow-motion parenthesis on the streaming below : Note : unlike our usual "selections" some of the tracks are mixed.
I added the timing of each track on the tracklisting below for more convenience.
Tracklisting :
Chinese Man - Chinese Man (up to 3mn12s)
The Sa-Ra Creative Partners - The Bone Song (3'13'' to 6'43'')
Mocky - Birds Of A Feather (6'44'' to 11'04'')
Sidsel Andresen & Bugge Wesseltoft - Try (11'05'' to 14'54'')
Uko - Real (14'55'' to 18'00'')
The Detroit Experiment - Highest (18'01'' to 21'10'')
Raphael Saadiq - Skyy, Can You Feel Me (Dj Day Edit) (21'11' to 24'52'')
Julien Dyne - The Jung & Fine (24'53'' to 27'20'')
Carlos Nino&Miguel Atwood-Ferguson - Extended Hands Of Giving (27'21''to30'37'')
Bigga Bush - Push Push (30'38'' to 34'32'')
Tarwater - Across The Dial (34'33'' to 37'44'')
Monolake - Bicom (37'45'' to 41'05'')
Smith & Mudd - 24-7 (41'06 to 45'23'')
Bonobo (Simon Green) is well known by most downtempo/electronica lovers for the diversity and quality of his first 3 albums released on Ninja Tune in 01, 03 and 06. An outstanding musician (originally bass player) and a master in the use of the multiple opportunities brought by the computer age, his signature is a downtempo electro sound where discontructed beats, complex samples, heavy basslines and warm vocal collaborations often are at the forefront.
His new album, "Black Sands", stands up to the high standards set by his previous works.
The new Lp starts with an amazing combination : the light and exotic "Prelude" melts into "Kiara" where its strings melody with a kind of asian aftertaste gets more bewitching as a slow and heavy bass beat enters the scene.
Waouuw what a beginning!
Now you've started your journey, and you'll easily let yourself float to the rythms of jazzy downtempo tracks ("Kong","The Keeper", "Animals", "Back Sands") reminiscent of Ninja Tune mates "The Cinematic Orchestra" , deep two-steps gems ("Eyesdown", "1009" ) or typical Bonobo latin-flavored sweets ("El Toro", "We Could Forever").
Uk-based singer Andreya Triana adds a smooth nu-soul tone on three tracks, we are waiting in the months to come her first Lp with great hopes.
So to conclude, we have nothing else to say but a loud and clear "bravo" to Bonobo. Go get this album you won't regret it!
Below a free mix by Ninja Tune of the Lp, and a youtube link of the fantastic "Eyesdown" single featuring Andreya Triana.
The funk scene has really been busy these last few years with lots of releases from all over the world by bands revisiting an "old-school" 60's-70's sound that had been disappearing somewhat during the 80's/90's.
The Bamboos, Breakestra, The New Mastersounds, The Daptones, Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, Speedometer, to name just a few, are the tip of a rather deep iceberg.
That being said, if there have been many really good productions to dig within this rich space, I often find that the average quality of LPs is quite inconsistent. One area where most of these artists almost never disappoint is of course on stage therefore the conclusion is often to say that many of these "nu-funk" groups are first and foremost to be seen live.
Judging by the quality of their first album, Gizelle Smith & The Mighty Mocambos do not fall in that "live-only" category.
The Mighty Mocambos are a Hamburg-based funk collective that also set-up their own label "Mocambo Records" on which they released a great funk compilation in 2007 that drew some interest around. At the same time they were joined by uk-based soul/funk singer Gizelle Smith. The collaboration immediately worked great on their regular live acts so they quickly decided to work on a project on their own and after a few 45's releases, here comes their first album simply titled "This Is Gizelle Smith & The Mighty Mocambos". Following a rather confidential first release at the end of November09 they are doing an official launch now and are currently touring to promote the album.
This record carries a deep and rough funk sound supported by the powerful classic soul voice of Gizelle Smith. Contemporary singers like Sharon Jones or Alice Russel come to mind when listening to her. She perfectly energizes The Mighty Mocambos' sweaty beats.
The album is well balanced, alternating between solid funky dancing tracks such as the single "Working Woman", "Love Alarm" or my favorite piece "The Time Is Right For Love" (check deezer streaming below) with more mid-tempo groovy songs like "Everything Holds Blame" or "Out Of Fashion".
So all in all, here is a refreshing well produced funk album that I highly recommend for anyone fancying classic funk sounds.
They'll be in Paris next week, I'll try to go and give some feedback. All tour dates on their site.
Below a deezer streaming of "The Time Is Right For Love" and "Out Of Fashion".
We already mentionned on the blog California-based jazz collective "Build An Ark" (see our 2009 favorites records review including their latest album "Love Pt.1") as being one of our favorite jazz band at the moment.
The ensemble (45+ members!) set up by Carlos Nino is one of the leader of the current "spiritual jazz" movement, true to the legacy of the likes of Alice and John Coltrane, Sun Ra or Pharoah Sanders. I could attend neither of the two shows they gave in Europe following the release of "Love Pt.1, but I just realized they had the very good idea to record and broadcast the concert they did for the London Jazz Festival under the sponsorship of the Red Bull Music Academy.
So here is the 1h long set with a smaller band (8 musicians) than usual but for a nonetheless amazing musical journey.
This is inspiring spiritual/cosmic jazz music as I love, with warm fender rhodes notes floating in the air, spiritual flute, words of wisdom, deep contrebass and powerful horns.
I find this whole performance really amazing but I would like to especially highlight the live versions of "Celebrate" and "World Peace Now" from the latest album and the cover of Pharoah Sanders' "You've Gotta Have Freedom".
I really hope they'll be back in Europe later this year and will this time visit France as I'd love to see them.
In the meantime enjoy these peaceful vibes!
Tracklisting (I added the timing to help move through their player) :
Intro - short speach by Carlos Nino (27s to 3mn30s)
1/ Improvisation (3mn31s to 5mn20s)
2/ Celebrate (5mn21s to 9mn58s)
3/ A Love Supreme (9mn59s to 17mn20s)
4/ How Do We End All This Madness? (17mn21s to 25mn26s)
5/ We Have Not Come To Take Prisoners (25mn27s to 27mn34s)
6/ Sunflowers In My Garden (27mn35s to 32mn39)
7/ World Peace Now (32mn50 to 35mn45)
8/ Build An Ark (35mn46 to 40mn35)
9/ Improvisation (40mn35 to 44mn49)
10/You've Gotta Have Freedom(from 44mn50 on to 54mn20)
11/Bonus Track : Carlos Nino and Miguel Atwood-Ferguson - Find A Way (Stones Throw)
As I did not found much new interesting releases to talk about these last few days I thought it was time to put together another soulful musical selection straight out of our fine reserve!
Echoing our first Smooth Soul selection, this second episode also presents 12 groovy tracks mostly bringing us back to the 70's/early 80's.
I blended a few classic groovy soul tracks like Roy Ayers "Boogie Back", Willie Hutch "I Can Sho Give You Love" or Minnie Riperton's "Adventure In Paradise" to more obscure gems like Pamoja's "Ooh Baby" or Jeffree's "Love Is Gonna Last". The selection ends on a more quiet atmosphere with the beautiful song "The Sly, Slick And The Wicked" from The Lost Generation and Ethel Beatty's "It's Your Love" with its deep and spacy Roy Ayers signature.
Full playlist streaming below or on the 8-tracks player.
Tracklisting :
Pamoja - Ooh Baby (1975)
The Perfect Circle - The Hand Of Time (1977)
Leos Sunshipp - Give Me The Sunshine (1978)
Willie Hutch - I Can Sho' Give You Love (1977)
Vicki Anderson With Bobby Byrd - You're Welcome, Stop On By
Esther Marrow - Things Ain't Right (1972)
Minnie Riperton - Adventures In Paradise (1975)
Roy Ayers Ubiquity - The Boogie Back (1974)
Logg - I Know You Will (1981)
Jeffree - Love's Gonna Last (1978)
The Lost Generation - The Sly, Slick And The Wicked (1970)
Ethel Beatty - It's Your Love (1981)
Hi everyone!
Here comes the 5th part of our mixes serie! "Warm Up" is a mid-tempo house mix, the kind of groovy housy moment intented to slowly but surely wake up your body.
It contends obscure tracks and more well-known cuts from the likes of Jimpster, Henrik Schwarz, Tensnake or Martyn.
You can listen to the streaming below or with the Let'smix.com player (with track-by-track marks).
The Souljazz Orchestra is an Ottawa-based, 6-member afrobeat/afro-jazz & funk band.
We mentionned them in our recent musical selection dedicated to the "new" afrobeat scene and described them as one of the flagship of this galaxy currently bustling with activity.
Created in 2002, the combo released in 2005 a first confidential instrumental album mixing afro-jazz & funk called "Uprooted". They really started to emerge with the 2007 "Freedom No Go Die" Lp that was more specifically afrobeat oriented, mixing socially-conscious lyrics with several killer grooves. The year after, in 2008, "Manifesto" revisited their afro-jazz/funk side with the same sucess.
In 2009 they moved from their canadian label "Do Right!" to the acclaimed Strut Records to produce their ambitious 4th LP called "Rising Sun".
This record is a brand new step in the band's career. Leaving (temporarily?) aside their afrobeat/afrofunk sound they brilliantly enter the "spiritual jazz" scene.
The album contains 9 tracks, almost all instrumental. In fact I would describe 3 of them as being at the frontier between afrobeat and afro-jazz ("Agbara", "Negus Negast" & "Mamaya") , and the others as more purely "spiritual jazz".
I could not help thinking of the great californian collective "Build An Ark" while listening to the jazz-part this record. Pharoah Sanders also inevitably came to mind, even more so at the end of the album as the band did a remarkable cover of Pharoah's beautiful "Rejoice" track (1981).
To me the variety of instruments used, the quality of the production, its creativity and coherence certainly make of "Rising Sun" the orchestra's most accomplished production so far.
True it is not "dancefloor-oriented" as were some of their earlier works so it requires a bit more effort to get into it but any afro&spiritual jazz lover should be impressed.
My only minor disapointment is the fact that I found most tracks a bit too short. I wish at least some of them could have been extented in the "Pharoah Sander's way" to go on with this particular reference. But I'm sure they will answer that request during the upcoming tour!
I'm therefore really looking forward to see them live next spring in Europe.
All the tour dates are on their site.
Below the promo video of "Agbara", that is actually the more "afrobeat" oriented track of the album so not necessarily the one that best represents its overall spiritual jazz sound. Good track though!
Created in the late 60's by Fela Kuti, this musical genre blending highlife jazz, funk and afro-rythms has been given a second youth these last few years thanks to a whole new generation of artists.
Fela's sons, Femi and Seun Kuti, are the most obvious symbols of Afrobeat current vitality. Femi has regularly been producing great albums for more than 10 years while Seun's debut Lp, "Many Things", in 2008, has already become almost a classic for many afrobeat lovers. Another Fela's crew legend, his former drummer Tony Allen who created afrobeat distinctive drumming beat, is also a cornerstone of this new afrobeat musical scene. He has produced several good records and has been collaborating on multiple projects since his come-back in 98.
But next to the Kuti's men, several collectives of musicians have also been really busy keeping the afrobeat vibes kicking.
Our 5th musical selection, "Long Live Afrobeat" is a quick snapshot of this musical movement presenting relatively recent tracks (oh yeah and one Black President great edit I found recently to add some fun) from some of these artists.
Brooklyn-based Antibalas are the leader of this underground scene. For the last 12 years they have been giving hundreds of amazing gigs all over the world, adding to their outstanding musical performances a humoristic and somewhat sarcastic political message truly reminiscent of Fela's approach.
In their wake, bands like The Souljazz Orchestra from Canada, Nomo from Chicago, The Budo's Band from Ny, Jimi Tenor & Kabu Kabu from Finland and Germany, Fanga from Montpellier, France or Akoya Afrobeat Ensemble from Ny, and a few others keep reinventing this music.
I hope you'll enjoy this selection, but please remember : Afrobeat is first and foremost a live experience so try to go and see these bands to really grasp the full power of this music.
For instance having seen Antibalas perform at least a dozen times since 1999, I can assure you cannot escape unscathed from such a phenomenal live experience.
Long live Afrobeat!
Tracklisting : Karl Denson & Tiny Universe - Elephants Antibalas - Big Man The Souljazz Orchestra - Mojuba Snowboy - Jazzakuti Fela Kuti - Upside Down (S-Man's Flipside Edit) Fu-Arkist-Ra - Fist Of Flowers Nomo - Hand & Mouth Tony Allen - Ijo Jimi Tenor & Kabu Kabu - I Wanna Hook Up With You Akoya - Star Wars
Had to post that. Dj's at the Worldwide Awards played it several times saturday night between the live shows. Kept me crazy. Pure nu-soul, Erykah at its best. What a great teaser for the soon-to-be-released "New AmErykah Part II" album.
Produced by James Poser feat. ?uestlove on the drums.
I'll be quick on this one as it is certainly already commented all over the net. The reason I wanted to mention it is that when listening to this record I really had the impression to see an old friend back from a long absence.
"Blue Lines" and "Protection", their first two albums in 91 and 94, are two of my favorite records ever but I've never really gotten into all their productions afterwards, though they often received much praises. But here comes Heligoland and I feel as if "my" Massive Attack is back for good!
Dark beats, complex sounds, perfect production, captivating voices from a wide range of collaborations (Tunde Adebimpe from Tv On The Radio, Damon Albarn, Horace Andy among others), I love it.
Here is a deezer streaming of two of my favorite tracks :
Well, I wish every week could bring as much good live music as this one just did!
After the fantastic parisian concert from Lee Fields and Menahan Street Band last thursday, I offered myself a trip to London to attend Gilles Peterson's Worldwide Awards.
For those not familiar with Gilles (are they still any?), his Bbc One radio show, Worldwide, has been, for more than 10 years, a must-listen to for anyone wishing to discover music from a wide range of genre and origins.
Gilles' crew at Bbc One and his label Brownswood organize each February a concert to celebrate artists that released in the previous year great records that have been championned in the show.
This year the event took place at The Relentless Garage, in the cool Islington district of London. This place contains two rooms : a 400-500 people main room and a much smaller one upstairs. Each artist/band was supposed to play roughly half an hour, with Dj-sets in between each live act.
Because of the two stages and my lack of "ubiquity power" I could obviously not check everything, but here are a few impressions on what I saw :
- Floating Points Ensemble : Floating Points, aka Sam Sheperd, is not only a really young amazing deep-house producer (cf our 2009 favorites records review), he also is a talented musician able to compose and direct a 10+ orchestra for his second project called "Floating Points Ensemble".
A bit in the Cinematic Orchestra spirit, the orchestra and soul singer Fatima offered a set blending nu-jazz/soul with more classical vibes (violin, cello...). The result was a really deep, warm and soulful musical atmosphere.
I hope that a record release will eventually come out from this live project (like the great Bbc Maida Vale studio session they did last year? listen to the small medley of this Bbc session to give you an idea).
- Andreya Triana : Andreya presented an acoustic set supported by Fink on guitar and Bonobo on contrebass. I have to say I was totally stunned by this performance and I really regret to have missed her recent show in Paris.
Fink and Bonobo provided a great and simple "folkish" musical frame on which Andreya amazing nu-soul type of voice fitted perfectly. They played some tracks from her upcoming debut album due on Ninjatune later this year, and some tracks from her collaboration with Bonobo.
A magical moment!
You can check Andreya's Myspace page and listen to the fantastic unplugged version of her single "Lost Where I Belong" to get an idea of what I'm talking about!
Below the video from the album version of this song.
- Robert Glasper Trio : his last album "Double-booked" was voted best jazz album of the year by Gilles' crew. After a really funny award speach, Robert played with his talented young drummer and contrebass player.
I had the opportunity to see his trio last year for a classic jazz gig where he was playing piano. This time was different as his "weapon" was a Rhodes organ allowing him to deliver a pure groove set where each of these three incredible musician really let it go and improvised quite a bit. Absolutely brilliant! Here is his myspace page.
- Danay : I just had the time to listent to a couple of songs from Danay who was singing in the room upstairs. I mentionned her following the Havana Orchestra Gig last November in Paris, she is a really promessing cuban soul/hip-hop singer. This time she was not playing with the Havana Cultura band but with a 5-member band for a groovy hip-hop set. Once again I was impressed with her voice and refreshing spanish flow. Really hope she'll be releasing an album soon.
More info on her on Havana Cultura's website.
- Theophilus London : accompanied by hi Dj, Brooklyn-based hip-hop artist Theophilus London performed several tracks from his great 2009 album/mixtape "This Charming Mixtape" that you can download on his myspace page.
Blending soul, hip-hop, and electro, he proposes a refreshing futuristic beats sound. When performing live he adds his really funny "showman" attitude in a unique look half "newwave/pop", half "rap". Believe me it did not take him long to electrify the crowd.
Another surprising up-and-coming beats artist to follow in the months to come!
- Menahan Street Band & Lee Fields : I'll be quick as I already reviewed their astonishing concert last week. Saturday they offered a condensed version of their show and once again blew out the audience with their authentic SOUL.
They actually were the only band allowed to make an encore despite the evening tight schedule!
- Ghospoet : this was a discovery for me, and a nice one. Ghospoet is a British MC whose musical world lies at the frontier of hip-hop, dub and soul. During the live act I really appreciated his original flow, slow and almost haunting, that went really well with the dark and spacy vibes provided by a really good young drummer and an electric-guitarist.
Demos on his myspace page look a bit more experimental than the live performance I saw but are also very interesting.
That's it for me, hope it gave you a nice overview of this eclectic musical evening and that you'll want to know more on all these artists work!
And of course I want to thank Gilles and his team for regularly putting up great events, whether it is on Bbc one, live acts like the awards evening or their annual festival in Sète!
Yesterday I headed for my favorite concert spot in Paris, The New Morning, to attend a soul concert that looked particularly promising with Brooklyn-based "The Menahan Street Band" joined to start by singer Charles Bradley and then supporting for the second part veteran soul legend Lee Fields.
Having enjoyed very much Menahan's first album "Make The Road By Walking" released in late 2008 and of course Lee Fields fantastic 2009 LP "My World" (part of our 2009 favorite records), I was really looking forward to seeing these guys live.
Well, I was right to as we experienced Soul with a very big S yesterday night.
As you may know the Menahan's crew is composed of 7 musicians (drummer, keyboard, xylophone, trumpet, saxophone, bass, guitar) also part of brilliant bands like Antibalas, The Dap-Kings, The Budo's Band or El Michels Affair.
In the first part of the show they alternated between their distinctive instrumental soul tracks and classicer soul/funk songs when the amazing Charles Bradley came on stage.
I was not familiar with Mr Bradley nor the several 7-inches records Menahan released in 2007 with him. After this stunning live performance I will have to correct this omission. He really have this JB type of voice that can't leave you indifferent.
I also particularly appreciated the guitar play from Thomas Brenneck (Menahan's and Dap-King's frontman) , he sounded slightly more "groovy" than on the album and really gave the tempo to the whole band.
In the second part Menahan's supported Lee Fields for a mixture of tracks from his acclaimed 2009 album "My World", and older works. They offered us an amazing old-school soul set. The highlight for me was the fantastic live version of "Ladies" that had Lee playing and improvising with the (female) audience.
His warm voice coupled with his strong stage presence really make him one of the best contemporary "classic" soul singer. The 60's/70's funky soul spirit is alive and well, thank you Mr Fields!
Menahan, Charles Bradley and Lee Fields will continue touring in Europe for the next few weeks (all dates on their myspace links at the top of this message), so if you missed them you know what you need to do!
Below a small streaming of Lee's Ladies (album version) and Menahan Street Band's "Tired Of Waiting" (album version as well)
Well after more than fifteen years of waiting and a long and difficult struggle to fight personal issues and addictions, Gil Scott-Heron is finally back with an interesting album that blends his incredible spoken word signature with deep and abstract slow-motion electronic beats.
To be clear, for someone who is not familiar with this legendary artist, this album may not be the easiest piece to start digging into his astonishing work. Musically, contrary to his most famous 70's/80's soulful and funky productions with Brian Jackson, this record is much more conceptual.
It features deep and dark drums loops and spacy samples (ironically, being of the artist that has been most sampled by the Hip-hop scene over the years, it is him this time who did the sampling, using a Kanye West track in the opening and closing tracks), setting the stage for an oppressive and almost desolate musical frame that actually fits really well with his now-slower voice flow.
The album is really short, less than half an hour-long. It is composed of four songs, which are covers, and several short interludes & spoken-words/poems humming with a darkness and a melancoly that cannot leave you inemotional.
"I'm New Here" is not his best album, but as for all his productions this is still a must-listen to.
I really hope I'll be able to see him live this year as the last couple of times I had this privilege, more than 10 years ago, still remain some of the greatest musical journeys I've ever experienced. I heard he may be touring in Europe next March, we'll keep an eye on it.
For those who want to discover more about his amazing career and the huge impact he's had on the current musical scene, check this interesting Bbc documentary.
Here is "Me And The Devil" that comes with the fantastic video below :
A short digression from the musical world : I wanted to mention the latest film from German/Turkish director Fatih Akin that is called "Soul Kitchen".
