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Music

Inkswel & Colonel Red – Holders Of The Sun, Vol. 1

Inkswel & Colonel Red hail from Australia and the United Kingdom respectively, but have been writing music together for over 10 years.  They blend a pretty heady mix of funk, soul, hip-hop and a touch of acid jazz in their stew, and the tracks on this upcoming dish are both enjoyable listening to deep music fans and those looking for more radio-friendly pop hooks.  The track Save Ya Self is the jewel of the album, being a timeless percussion-heavy dance track that would get people moving no matter the year.
For those of you who need an introduction to both artists, here you go, courtesy of Germany’s funkiest label, Compost Records:
“Inkswel & Colonel Red started out writing together more than decade ago & over the time have developed quite a unique sound when recording together,..a chemistry that blends music melody & lyric into every verse chorus & hook. So when Inkswel approached Colonel Red to create the ‘Holders of the Sun’ album, Redz response was to move his hectic schedule around & start immediately. Inkswel dropped the beats Colonel Red dropped the vocals & some fine musical tuning & ‘Holders Of The Sun’ Vol1 was born….while they promise a Vol. 2.
Colonel Red is a groundbreaking soul singer, musician, producer and performer, often referred to as one of the most powerful voices in the UK soul music community, a champion in equal parts of the original Broken Beat scene, as well as the UK soul scene. Working with and writing for the likes of Teddy Pendergrass, Amp Fiddler, Maurice White, Bugz In The Attic, Tony Allen and countless others. His track ‘Belive In Me’ was awarded the WORLDWIDE award from Gilles Peterson in 2014.
Colonel Red’s foray into the music industry began when Epic Record company giant Sylvia Rhone signed the then lead singer, Nikki Romillie, of Pride n’ Politix, to Atlantic Records. An accompanying publishing deal with Warner Bros. established the artiste, now known as Colonel Red, as one of the UK’s top cutting edge singer/songwriters.
Inkswel has been heralded as one of the busiest and most prolific beat based producers from Australia, a true master of his craft he has worked with the likes of Talib Kweli, Lee Scratch Perry, Andrew Ashong, Dwight Trible, Amp Fiddler and countless others as well as putting out timeless musical projects on labels such as BBE, Sonar Kollekiv, Rush Hour, Warner Music, Boogie Angst and others. He hovers evenly between Hip Hop and Club sensibilities, blending new age approaches with nostalgic leans.    ‘Holders of The Sun’ is the audio melting pot of two musical aliens, future directive soul music drenched in the nostalgia of what once was.”

Expect this release to drop on September 30, 2022, so you have a week to wait for this to be fully available.

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Music

Bernard Purdie – Purdie Good!

Imagine having a resume working with the following acts: James Brown, The Beatles, Jeff Beck, Hummingbird, Steely Dan, Aretha Franklin,Gil Scott-Heron, King Curtis, The Rolling Stones, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Randy Brecker, Quincy Jones, Hall & Oates, Isaac Hayes, Cat Stevens, Hair and Larry Coryell among so many others. Bernard “Pretty” Purdie is something akin to an institution in modern drumming.

This album, reissued by Prestige Records, is one of his more mellow jazz excursions.  The sound is meaty, and it shows off a pleasant finesse he has with percussion.  His touch is about as golden as it gets as far as drumming goes.

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Music

Jerry Jones – Jerry Jones at the Hotel Kingston

According to the legendary Studio One Records Bandcamp site,Geraldine “Jerry” Jones arrived in Kingston in May of 1970 to perform at the Miss Jamaica International Model Pageant held at the Hotel Kingston. She would also appear at the House of Chen, VIP Club, Hotel Flamingo, Runaway Bay Hotel and the Courtleigh Manor Hotel backed by top Jamaican show bands like Tomorrow’s Children, the Mighty Vikings, and the Boris Gardiner Happening. Her visit was arranged in part by Miami-based record producer Alty East, for whom she had recorded three singles released on the Pal Label.”

Imagine loving a place so much that you decide to stay and make a career, and quite a career she had.  Before her Kingston stay, she honed her skills in soul clubs which featured talents like Solomon Burke, Joe Tex and Johnny Nash, but after catching the eye of producer Coxsone Dodd, she would release tracks of high-quality soul, dancehall and lover’s rock.  This is a major archival gem.

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Music Spotify

Tofa Jaxx – A Guy Like Me EP

In normally more partial to listening to old, stripped down 60s soul than I am to hearing modern R&B, but this gem out of Tanzania, by way of the U.K., caught my ear in a most pleasant way.

Our friends at Delicious Tunes do yeoman’s work spending time all over Africa, getting to know and working with musicians of astounding quality and getting them a proper release. Tofa Jaxx is one of these gems.

Tofa’s vocals are sultry, and he can hold is own with any of modern heavyweights populating the top 40 charts, but what is especially interesting is his choice of remixers for this EP. According to his press release, “from September 2017 to February 2018 during his stay in London, Tofa worked with other musicians, producers and artists like the Dance/Electronic Producers & DJs TruFonix, Fred Abbott from Noah and The Whale, Steph Marziano, and Tara Priya.” These artists have, since the mid-2010s, rules dance music and electronic music, so melding Tofa’s voice with danceable (slow groove) electronics and beefy production make this a release worth bumping at a club or enjoying at home with pleasant company and an adult beverage of your choice.

Those familiar with this blog might surmise that this is more an experimental/weird music/ambient blog, but we also like groove in all its forms. Delicious Tunes strikes again with another winner.

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Music

Various Artists – Can You Feel It? Vol​.​2 Modern Soul, Disco & Boogie 1976​-​​84

Tramp Records out of German is gaining quite a following because of their high-quality compilations.  This one is a scorcher if you’re into funk-inflected disco.  At least as I understand it, and I’m sure the label can correct any errors I make, the artists were from around the Akron, Ohio area, and it does blow my mind a bit that these artists weren’t bigger names in the 1970s.  The music is a bit more lo-fi than the slicker top-40 fare of the day, but the bass grooves so hard in most of these tracks that it makes you forget that these guys were basically indie musicians of their day.  Meaty, beaty and incredible.

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Music Youtube

Roberta Flack – The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face

While I don’t celebrate Valentine’s Day too seriously (traveling and lack of a suitable mate at this time will do that), and adding that Eastern Orthodox don’t celebrate the venerable Saint’s day until July 30, I do want to wish my friends and the kind readers who show up here a lovely day with your partner.

A bit of Roberta Flack singing Ewan MacColl’s masterpiece, The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face, should set the mood for the day nicely.

Tell me these words wouldn’t make your lover swoon:

The first time ever I saw your face
I thought the sun rose in your eyes
And the moon and the stars were the gifts you gave
To the dark and the endless skies, my love
To the dark and the endless skies
And the first time ever I kissed your mouth
I felt the earth move in my hand
Like the trembling heart of a captive bird
That was there at my command, my love
That was there at my command, my love
And the first time ever I lay with you
I felt your heart so close to mine
And I knew our joy would fill the earth
And last ’til the end of time my love
And it would last ’til the end of time
The first time ever I saw your face
Your face, your face, your face
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Music

Marta Ren – Stop Look Listen (Deluxe Edition)

Porto, Portugal’s neo-soul queen Marta Ren has had her breakthrough album reissued with a couple of extra tracks!  From her Bandcamp website:

Record Kicks re-release Marta Ren’s legendary debut LP “Stop Look Listen” on ltd edition vinyl clear LP (500 copies worldwide).

By popular demand Milan label Record Kicks announce the reissue of 2016 Marta Ren & The Groovelvets seminal debut album “Stop, Look Listen” on limited edition clear vinyl LP and digital deluxe version on February 26. The digital deluxe version includes 2 bonus tracks, the previously unreleased track “Hit Me” and “Summer’s Gone” that was previously released on 45 vinyl. Pre-orders of the limited edition clear LP are available form Today on Marta Ren’s Bandcamp page (martaren.bandcamp.com). The original LP is long time out of stock and this makes it one of the most in-demand album of the deep funk scene.

Recorded on an Ampex eight-track tape machine and produced by New Max, mastered in NYC by Andy Vandette, with “Stop Look Listen” Marta Ren exploded into the International funk & soul scene. The album is pure dynamite from start to finish and follows the best tradition of the Soul Sisters of the 60s. Marta Ren, who was compared to Marva Whitney at the release of the album, serves you 11 tracks of pure-fire raw funk. After the release of Stop Look Listen, Marta played extensively all over Europe inflaming stages such as Trans Musicales festival in Rennes, Sziget Festival in Budapest, Eurosonic Noorderslag and Mostly Jazz Funk in Birmingham.

Marta is currently in studio working on her highly anticipated sophomore album, of which an extract, the new single “22:22”, has been released last October 23rd.