Brownout: Laredo 77 + Barretta
From Homenaje (Freestyle, 2008)

I’ve recently been enjoying the sounds of Brownout, a Latin funk outfit out of Austin, Texas. They’ve been around for a minute in the form of Grupo Fantasma except here, they’re strictly instrumental. What I like about these guys is not only that they have their chops down but rather than following a strict revivalist route, their sound has a clear Latin influence but isn’t holden to simply trying to sound like it’s East Harlem 1968 again.

There’s an impressive diversity of styles on the album and the two cuts I pulled out above can’t do it proper justice. “Laredo 77” reminds me a lot of the Calbido’s Three (who I really should get around to blogging about one of these days…note to self). Super laidback and smooth Latin-flavored soul-jazz.

“Barretta” goes in the other direction: dark, funky. with a slick kick and thump. I may very well have to play this out at my next gig (heck, I’m tempted to spin out half the album, just to see how it sounds loud).

Here’s the extra treat for Los Angelinos: Brownout is playing two shows, starting tomorrow night:

Thursday at The Root Down

Friday at Soul Sessions

These guys ain’t local so use the opportunity to catch them at least once while they’re out here!

More info:
Brownout on MySpace

Oh yeah, one last thing: I’m forever indebted to Brownout for putting this video on their myspace page. Now I can see how the boogaloo is danced, by JB himself!

Speaking of gigs, Murphy’s Law and myself will be back at the Short Stop next Thursday, Jan 31. Hopefully, this will turn into something regular there. More info on this later.

Yamasuki: Yama Yama, Kono Samurai, Yamasuki, Yokomo and Aieda
Taken from the album Le Monde Fabuleux des Yamasuki on Biram (1970)

This post stands as a warning to the fledgeling record head, a couple hundred LP’s into the game and feeling pretty good about himself and his collection of sample-heavy CTI dollar-bin’ers and lesser known funk-rock gems on Westbound and Cotillion… You don’t know how far the rabbit hole goes.

Hear me loud and clear on this one, friends: THE DEEPER YOU GET, THE DEEPER THE MUSIC GETS. There is more ill music out there than you and I can wrap our sorry little heads around and we’re suckers to think otherwise.

I’ll put it another way… the more stones you turn, the rockier the underbelly. Take for example

Yamasuki!

I have very little doubt that 90-some percent of the non-Japanese, non-LSD-loving populace that might lay ears on this record would be entirely perplexed by it. Even hate it. “What,” they might ask, “Could have possessed somebody to combine twangy Morricone-esque guitars with Axelrod beats and Far Eastern choral arrangements?” And they would be right to ask the question.

But the answer, simply, for now and for always, is Yamasuki. Yamasuki. Yamasuki.

I will further endorse this record by saying that the five tracks posted here could have been arbitrarily selected. The whole album is start to finish sonic mayhem that gets better with each go-round. Not for the weak of heart, to be sure, but a record of such originality and–dare I say–grace, that if the first hundred listens don’t make sense, you’d better hope that the hundred-and-first does because Yamasuki is like that patronizing dog in Duck Hunt: they always get the last laugh.

You’re either with ’em or against ’em, friends… You know where I stand.

Yara Da Silva: Se Kero Kantar

Ziqo: Cerveja

Dj Africano: ???

Unknown Artist: ???

All tracks taken from streetside bootlegs, Maputo, Mozambique (2007)

As promised, a few more Mozambican club jams gleaned from my travels. These selections span everything from Ms. Da Silva (who strikes me as Mozambique’s answer to Missy Eliot), American-style radio R&B and house-y type ish, to the contemporary flavors of marabenta, where, if you can avoid cringing at the floating synths utilized on “Cerveja”, I think you’ll be gratified with some pretty sweet crooning.

Mind you, Mozambique has an incredibly rich and variegated musical history and these selections only hint at the contemporary musical climate there. But if M.I.A. is any indication of taste-making, her use of Mozambican rapper African Boy on Kala, should intimate what I’m getting at here: clubs in Maputo are going off.

I wish I had more of the older stuff to sink my teeth into (in particular, I heard some tracks on the radio by a guy named David Abilio that were off the chains, but I couldn’t find anything else by or about him), but we’ll just have to live with what we’ve got.

PS. How about that flag? She’s the only one in the world with an AK featured on it… Not a bad piece of flag trivia.

Candi Staton: Too Hurt To Cry
From Stand By Your Man (Fame, 1971). Also on Candi Staton: The Fame Years.

Holly Golightly: My Love Is
From Slowly But Surely (Damaged Goods/Revolver, 2004)

Amy Winehouse: Love Is A Losing Game (Truth and Soul Remix)
From 12″ (Universal, 2007)

Greetings to Captain’s Crate readers…this is Oliver Wang (O-Dub) from Soul-SIdes.com crashing in to say “hi.” As the Bethel Bros. probably already informed you all, we’re trying out a little experiment in content sharing between our two blogs; most of what they post here will appear on my site and vice versa. This is my first posting to make its way over to the Crate. Hope you enjoy.

I talked about Candi Staton’s Fame output the other month and that got me back into listening more of her songs and came upon this great one from her Stand By Your Man album. Love the tinkle of piano that begins this and really, Rick Hall produces this beautiful, with such a rich, soulful quality that Staton plays against wonderfully.

With the Holly Golightly…I was trying to find the original version of “My Love Is,” done by Little Willie John, after watching Lonestar again for the upteenth time but alas, it’s a hard song to track down digitally speaking. But lo and behold, I found this cover by Golightly and despite my initial reservations, she’s actually rather perfect for the song. Her light, almost ethereal voice goes with the song’s dreamy, haunting qualities; this is what you’d want to hear playing on the cheap jukebox in some coffee and pie diner off a decaying highway.

Speaking of decaying – snap! – Amy Winehouse might be the biggest pop train wreck not named Britney of the last year or so but we’re still enamored with her musically. Plus, when the folks at Truth and Soul get the nod to remix “Love is a Losing Game” (one of our favorite songs off the last album), then we perk up and listen. And smile. Great remix, really strips this ballad down and remakes it with a minimalist but mesmerizing melody (I didn’t plan that alliteration, seriously). We likee.

Ernesto Djedje : Zadie Bobo & Zibote
taken from the album “Le Roi Du Ziglibithy” on Badmos (1977)

The Fatback Band : Wicki Wacky
taken from the album “Keep On Steppin'” on Event (1974)

Coke : Na Na & Te Amo Mas
taken from their self-titled album on Sound Triangle (1972)

Usha Uthup : Chhupke Kaun Aya
taken from the album “24 Carats” on Inreco (1981)

Today I’m initiating the cross-posting that I had mentioned earlier with a somewhat random assortment of funky music. Must there always be cohesion? Order? Reason? I think not. Especially when you’re dealing with something as intangible as music. Let this seeming jumble remind us of just how magical recorded sound really is; how the energy and vibrations produced from the dropping of a needle onto vinyl can cross continents and decades effortlessly- still delivering the desired effect to a hungry audience. Something tells me that the artists presented here wouldn’t have a problem sharing the stage with these unlikely comrades either. Maybe I’m being optimistic though.

Starting off with a record that I’ve loved for years now- ERNESTO! Why I hadn’t taken the time to digitize this earlier is a damn good question. I’ve been sneaking “Zadie Bobo” into DJ sets since ’02 when I first discovered this gem, always to a positive crowd response. In the Ivory Coast, where Djedje made his name, “Zibote” was the bigger hit, and can still be found popping up on compilations of today’s Ivoirian music. “The King of Ziglibithy”, need I say more?

*One note of warning for fans of Ernesto: DON’T BUY THIS CD VERSION OF HIS ALBUM. I made this mistake, only to realize that the CD is a bootleg recorded off a record being played at the WRONG SPEED! So, unless you want Ernesto chopped and screwed, steer clear.

The Fatback Band need little introduction for fans of funk, but I’ve been needing to put this classic bump on repeat for a while now and it’s so much easier to do that in MP3 format. This is one of those instances where a simple bass groove is enough for me.

Recently got my hands on this semi-rarity from Florida’s Coke (later re-named “Opus“). Don’t know anything about the group, but I’m feeling the record a lot. The album has a nice cover version of the early boogaloo hit “Bang Bang” (Joe Cuba? or was it Pete Rodriguez?) as well as some ballads and several more dirty, dirty drumbreaks. The LP I have from them as “Opus” is nice too, but “Na Na” is hard to top. Looks like you can cop it on CD too.

Finally, a real monster for you, the legendary HINDI version of “Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough”. Of course the production quality isn’t going to be quite as tight, but considering the sound quality of your average bollywood record, I’d say the uncredited studio musicians (Bappi Lahiri?) on this one are doing a pretty good job. Usha was one of the biggest Indian soundtrack singers in the 70’s and 80’s – Shalimar, Shaan, & Disco Dancer, to name a few, all feature her silky vocal stylings. I always get a kick out of playing this one and then watching the initial look of bewilderment spread. “Chhupke” ranks right up there alongside Arzu’s “Amor” in the world’s most-precisely-covered-in-another-language category. Well done Usha.

Hope you all enjoy the latest gumbo funk offering. And cheers to any new readers just finding out about the crate now through Soul-Sides! Stay tuned for more, as always.

Tim Maia: Imunizacao Racional and Contato Com Mundo Racional”
Taken from the album Racional Vol. 1 on Seroma (1975)

Tim Maia: Quer Queria Que Nao Queria and O Caminho Do Bem
Taken from the album Racional Vol. 2 on Seroma (1975)

I’m digging deep into the crates of rareities to unleash on y’all a couple of the more delectable delights of mid-seventies Brazilian soul, courtesy of the one and only, the gargantuan (in both physical and musical terms) TIM MAIA!

This guy is truly an epic character in post-Tropicalia Brazilian music (often referred to as MPB) and this duo of albums hints at why…

It should be noted that the inspiration for these albums was devined from an obscure Brazilian cult, called Universo em Desencanto, which explains the bizarre cover art and also the fact that, if you were a Portugese-speaker, it would probably feel like ol’ Timmy was proselytizing the hell outta you over the course of these two albums. Like a south of de border Jerry Falwell, but funkier.

That said, the music speaks for itself. (No wonder, when City Of God came out, they couldn’t resist the employing “O Caminho Do Bem” to enhance the net effect of the film: namely, awesomeness.)

This post is, however, part of a larger ploy: I’m utilizing the particular dopeness of these tracks as bait to lure any self-respecting, groove-loving Angelenos out to the Short Stop in Echo Park (1455 Sunset Blvd.) FRIDAY NIGHT where I’ll be DJ’ing alongside the illustrious O-Dub, of Soul-Sides notoriety, for a scintillating journey through the vinyl vaults of SOUL, FUNK, LATIN, SALSA and BOOGALOO. We’ll be doing it all night long, so come early and stay late.

BONUS: in addition to a edited recording of the live set from tomorrow night which will be available to anyone who signs up on our mailing list, I will also bring a handful of CD copies of the REST of the blazing fire from the Racional albums, in addition to other rare Brazilian goodness. Ask and ye shall recieve. (First come first serve…)

See you tomorrow…