Solange Knowles: I Decided
From Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams (Geffen, upcoming 2008)

Bonus: Tammi Terrell: What a Good Man He Is
From Irresistible (Motown, 1969)

Question: exactly how many “next Amy Winehouses” can there really be? So far, in the last year we’ve heard about: Leona Lewis (more like the new Mariah), Duffy (voice so thin, you could shave with it), Adele (Tracy Chapman meets Madeline Peryoux), Gabrielle Cilmi (didn’t both Nicole Willis and Amy both do this same video already?), even Lykke Li (doesn’t belong in the same conversation), et. al.

It has been a curious phenom that in the wake of last year’s epic Sharon Jones + Winehouse one-two punch, everyone is rushing to jock the bandwagon, and especially with Amy, there’s a desire to find another personality who could loom as large (good luck! You’ll need more than a bee-hive to fill Amy’s coif). From my point of view though, the upside to all this is that 2008 is shaping up to be a summer chockfull of retro-soul-esque production. I mean, sure, a lot of it is derivatives of derivatives – is there such a thing as neo-retro-soul? Hmmm…) but frankly, I’d rather listen to a bad clone of a clone of Motown/Stax than some of the new music that’s the alternative.

Case in point, three more recent artists on the retro tip, all of whom I’ve found perfectly enjoyable even if two of them seem to be riding the bandwagon. I’ve installed a “Wine-O-Meter” to measure similarity (not quality).

Solange, aka that other Knowles sister, decided to go to the source and hire Mark Ronson to produce her new single, “I Decided.” I admit – I was initially really skeptical about the song but it’s grown for me. Here’s my main beef: that little, jaunty, handclap track is very Motown-ish but it’s an intro: after a bar or two, the real beat drops in and in this case, that’s all there is. It’s like the song is all build-up but never delivers a gorgeous melodic hammer that you’d expect. That said, once you accept that, it’s a catchy tune. Snap along!

Wine-O-Meter: 7

Estelle’s Shine is one of my more favorite albums of 2008 and a strong, second showing for this British artist. I actually don’t think she’s very much like Winehouse; her vibe is more like a throwback to the late ’90s if anything else. There’s that R&B-meets-classic-hip-hop flair on songs like “Wait a Minute” (shades of “Kick In the Door”) and “So Much Out the Way” (Beatminerz steez) plus the ragga flavor on “Magnificent.” I just really like how that whole song flows, especially with the heavy ska/dub influence and Estelle’s silken vocals. Sweet stuff but hey, she should have gotten Special Ed on here instead of Kardinal. That would have been offishall.

Wine-O-Meter: 3

As for Little Jackie…ok, now THIS is definitely on some post-Winehouse tip, not just musically (Adam Pallin does a pretty good flip on Ronson’s style) but also in terms of the attitude and spark in the songwriting. Here’s the confusing thing: Little Jackie is not the singer; it’s the group name. The vocalist is Imani Coppola, who some of you might remember from “Legend of a Cowgirl” from about ten years back. Vocally, she’s also more contemporary than throwback but as noted, the kind of wit and cutting-ness in the songwriting will likely remind folks of Winehouse…even though, if you think about, her career goes back at least half a decade earlier. True as that may be, it’s really hard to listen to something like “28 Butts” (which I’m pretty sure uses this song) on part of the rhythm section) or “One Love” and not make the comparison. The latter is straight up ’60s girl pop (and I’m feeling it!). Their album drops later this summer: I highly recommend it.

Wine-O-Meter: 9

This all said though, you still gotta ask: why go retro when you can still listen to the originals? The bonus track is by the late Tammi Terrell, from (tragically) her only solo album, Irresistible. This song is so soulful, so funky, so ridiculously good for something that’s nearly 40 years old. It’s artists like Terrell who set the bar – now let’s see who can pass it.

P.S. Peep when Terrell drops: “let this girl tear the world up” – loving it!

Grupo Fantasma : Se Te Mira
taken from the album Sonidos Gold on Aire Sol (2008)

Seun Kuti & Egypt 80 : Fire Dance
taken from their self-titled album on Disorient (2008)

Potato & Totico : Dilo Como Yo (Antibalas Remix)
taken from the album Verve Remixed on Verve (2008)

MRR-ADM : B1 Untitled
taken from their Untitled 10″ EP released without a label (2008)

Karl Hector & The Malcouns : Toure Samar
taken from the album Sahara Swing on Stones Throw (2008)

Jackson Conti : Sao Paulo Nights
taken from the album Sujinho on Mochilla (2008)

Chicha Libre : Sonido Amazonico
taken from the album Sonido Amazonico! on Barbes (2008)

Damn I was missing this place! After moving I was without internet for a full two and a half weeks (which felt like a solid month to a web-junky like myself) and I’ve been itching to put together a post. I have tons of new records and a beautiful new studio/music library to listen in, but no time! This is so far from the summers of yesteryear when the solstice meant “school’s out” followed by three months of blissful skateboard meanderings and rope swings that launched into cool lakes. But I can’t complain too much since my busy-ness is pretty much all music related. Even now, I know I can’t write enough to do this music justice, but I wanted to at least begin to get back on track. So hear this little offering of recent releases that have been filling my ears the past few weeks. I promise to post more very soon and get back to a regular schedule now that I’m reconnected.

One sentence about each song/record:
This Grupo Fantasma record keeps the funky salsa & cumbia kicking with guests like Maceo Parker and Larry Harlow (who plays keys on “Se Te Mira”)- raw, organic, live sounding production makes you feel like the band actually squeezed inside your speakers somehow. Fela’s youngest son, Seun Kuti, brings his dad’s band (minus Tony Allen) back into the spotlight with a record of high energy, uptempo afrobeat that sounds like three Fela albums from the early 70’s rolled into one- catch the live show if you can. Staying on the afrobeat tip, NY’s own Antibalas deliver this solid remix of a rootsy latin classic- check out Chico Mann’s electro re-work of the same song which will hopefully be released soon! MRR-ADM is pretty mysterious to me, but I know it features Malcolm Catto on drums and that it was featured already on another blog that I like. Karl Hector & The Malcouns is the latest work from my favorite crew of funk revivalists Poets Of Rhythm (at least some of the members are involved)- new ethio-afro-funk-soul for fans of Budos Band and the like which has also already been given shine from another blog I like. Jackson Conti is the collab between the prolific blunted-beat maestro Madlib and legendary Brazilian drummer Mamao (of Azymuth glory)- smooth head nod niceness. And finally, Chicha Libre pay homage to the psychedelic cumbia scene of late 60’s Peru with a record that simmers like a bug on a cactus under mid-day desert sun.

Be back soon!

Okay. So I know it seems like we’re all over the map here, but the basic idea with this post is to create a sonic shadow for the arc of a perfect summer day… For the sake of argument, let’s call it a Saturday in June. Also, for the experiment to work properly, we’ll have to assume that you’re not living in Seattle or Anchorage or The Siberian Hinterland. Let’s pretend we’re in a city–New York or Los Angeles, Barcelona or Rio (winter might as well be summer there, right?), Kingston or Dakar– somplace where summer feels like summer. What we’re looking for is heat, sun, the thrum of urbanity… that strange chemistry that exerts its inexorable force and leaves us–if passingly–joyous.

Here are a handful of songs to take you from languid rise into the already warm-boardline-hot morning hours, straight through to the thick soak of evening. From brunch to poolside to BBQ to blockparty to whatever late-night carousals those other exploits might give way to.

Rosinha De Valencia: Summertime
Taken from the album Brazil Beats 2 on Mr. Bongo (2002)

GOOD MORNING. It’s 10:45, do you know where your linen pants are? Right there next to the stereo. Press play. By the time the drums hit, you should be out the door.

Gilberto Gil: Extra
Taken from the album Um Banda Um on Warner Bros (1982)

BRUNCH. The eternal question: Pancakes or French Toast. Can’t decide? Get both. I don’t know what Gilberto Gil is singing about, but it might as well be breakfast stuffs. Extra.

McNeal & Niles: Summertime
Taken from the album Thrust (1979)

POOLSIDE. That girl that just cannonballed with perfect grace into the crystalline waters and surfaced sans bikini top giggling like a joyful Venus ? You want to marry her. Emboldened by the synths, you offer to fetch her top for her.

Sugarhill Gang: Hot Hot Summer Day
Taken from the 12″ on Sugar Hill (1982)

DAYTIME DANCEPARTY. Never mind the sweat, the sunburn, the heat. Why don’t more people dance during the day? You wonder this as you nurse your third Coronita. Then the answer arrives like an epiphany via an overheard conversation between sun-glazed revelers. ‘If heaven felt this good, religion would aspire to terrestrial ends and where would that leave us?’

The Dove Shack: Summertime In The LBC
Taken from The Show Original Soundtrack on Def Jam (1995)

BBQ. The line “smothering ribs with barbecue sauce” delivers like a promise. You’ve been waiting nine months to hear it again and this time you’re ready. Somebody pass the Bullseye. (Sing it Nate Dogg.)

Funkadelic:Can You Get To That
Taken from the album Maggot Brain on Westbound (1971)

SUNSET. You found your way to a vista. Well done. Watch the city dissolve into muted color. Ugly cities become hopelessly beautiful in moments like this. Savor it. Can you get to that?

Elkin & Nelson: Vamanos
Taken from the Self-Titled album on CBS (1972)

ALONE IN MOTION. You’re driving somewhere. You can’t remember where, but it doesn’t matter. You’ve got all the windows down, even the ones in back. The rushing air feels like a conversation with divinity. You’re smiling and you don’t know why. You’ve got nine minutes till this song ends and then, of course, there’s always the rewind button.

D’Angelo: Crusin’
Taken from the album Brown Sugar on EMI (1996)

… The girl in the that cannonballed with perfect grace and resurfaced sans bikini top? Her name is ____. You pull up to her house. She gets in the passenger seat. Drive continues. Press play, press play, press play….

The Whispers : Needle In A Haystack & Seems Like I Gotta Do Wrong
taken from the album “Planets Of Life” on Janus (1973)
(originally released on Soul Clock records in 1971)

The Whispers : My Illusions
taken from the album “Life And Breath” on Janus (1972)

Between having to get my computer fixed and moving (way too many CRATES!!!), I’ve been seriously neglecting blog duties. Once things get settled down I’m going to go crazy with all the new music I’ve been acquiring lately, but first, a little quickie of sweet soul.

Let’s give it up to the Scott twins (Scotty and Walter) and crew who share the softer side of Watts while still keeping the message clear- and for sprouting some of the strongest facial hair in the game. While I have no shortage of love for their later hits like “And The Beat Goes On”, it’s this early material that seems a little more appropriate for their band name.

“Needle In A Haystack” is the easy crowd pleaser, with its punchy hook and driving movements that undoubtedly send dancefloors in Northern England ablaze. However, my favorite cut off this first album is the inquisitive melancholy monster “Seems Like I Gotta Do Wrong”. More in spirit than sound, the song brings Syl Johnson’s “Is It Because I’m Black” to mind.

Penned by master songstress Sugar Pie DeSanto, “My Illusions”, has me curling up into a ball like a little scared kitten with every listen. Is that an oboe in the intro that makes me feel like ghosts are in the room?

Sylvia Striplin: Give Me Your Love
Taken from the 12″ on 1980

Peekskill Express: Raise Ya Hands
Taken from the 12″ on Bee Pee 1981

Johnny Harris: Odyssey
Taken from the 12″ on Sunshine Sound (1980)

Don Armando’s 2nd Street Rhumba Band: I’m An Indian Too
Taken from the 12″ on Buddha (1979)

Sam Sparro: Cling Wrap
Taken from the advance CDR E.P. Black Gold (now available on import) (2008)

Hercules And Love Affair: Raise Me Up
Taken from the self-titled release on DFA (2008)

A follow up to my post from last week, today we explore some classic sounds, some quirky sounds and a few selections from the new frontiers of modern… D.I.S.C.O.

A bit about our little disco adventure…

As for Part One of the series: the Golden Flamingo track (could those drums sound any iller?) and the Wild Sugar song were both new to me. The first ripped from a very well-recommended series brought to us by the heads at Counterpoint, who have done well to piece together a collection of disco, boogie, and disco-rap into a tightly knit two installment comp. The second, a nice little flea market score. (So that’s where “Brass Monkey” comes from…).

The other joints (Charanga 76, known for their latin reinterpretations of disco classics and a staple of my DJ sets for the handclapping hell-raiser that it is; Evelyn King, courtesy of 98.1 up in the Bay, where the song held court on a regular basis; and Milton Wright, like, woah) have all been with me for a minute and I thought it long overdue for a bit of sharing and caring.

Part Two–above–includes some recently discovered obscurities such as the Peekskill track which I’ve been hunting for for a minute. (Wait it out till the five-minute mark and you get an absolutely epic three-minute crescendo…)

Don Armando was a side project of Kid Creole in the early 80’s. Already known for his bizarre breed of disco/funk/rap, this kind of track is so curiously pleasing, it takes about fifty listens before you start to wonder how you ever lived without it. Sometime Creole collaborator Fonda Rae absolutely slays the wacky vocals which were originally sung by… Ethel Merman?!? That’s right. The writing credit on this track goes to Irving Berlin. Go figure.

The blazing “Odyssey” synth-fest was originally used as scoring for an episode of the 80’s TV show, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century–???, prior to my existence–before K.C. and the Sunshine Band brought Harris on to their own label for the 12″ release. Listen to that instrumental freak out.

“Give Me Your Love” is the a-side to a banging two-fer which features a certain unforgettable Biggie/Junior Mafia sample and epic jam in its own right on the flip.

Lastly, the new stuff.

Forget that Sam Sparro happens to be a friend of a friend–Dude is mad talented and his new record is apparently blowing the F up in Britain right now. If Jamie Lidell wrote with a sense of humor and Jamiroquai returned from Jupiter, maybe the three of them could form the epickest 3-part pale-skinned Prince cover band ever. Till then, don’t sleep on fresh talent.

And for best record of the last 12 months I nominate… Hercules and Love Affair. Run, don’t walk, to you local record store where you may happily fork over 20 bucks (sorry, import only) for the most inventive dance record in recent memory. Gorgeously layered disco production + vocals by Antony (yeah, as in, and the Johnsons…) = an absolute frickin’ dream. THE ALBUM IS INCREDIBLE.

So there it is. Get your dance on, friends. This is good music to sweat by.

Ceil Miner: Stardust
From This Is For the People (Car-dor, 196?)

Lorez Alexandria: I’m Wishin’
From Didn’t We (Pzazz, 1968).

The last time I was in the Bay Area, I picked up this jazz album by vocalist Ceil Miner from the Groove Merchant and was really mesmerized by her rendition of “Stardust.” It’s already a “dreamy” tune to begin with but the way the song opens accentuates it even more. I’ve always liked “Stardust” as a standard and love Miner’s take on it. And it got me thinking of other jazz vocals that have left similar impressions on me; songs the evoke a sense of nostalgia for a time I never lived through yet I have this image (no doubt ripped off from countless movies) of a smokey lounge where the songs waft through.

The first song that immediately came to mind was Lynn Marino singing “Beyond the Clouds” from Frank Cunimondo’s sought-after Feelin’ Good LP. The title cut is the one most people focus on and I’m not going to argue: Marino’s rendition of “Feelin’ Good” is one of the best I’ve ever heard. But as time goes by, I’ve gravitated more to “Beyond the Clouds.” It’s less fiery than “Feelin’ Good” but it’s that subtlety to this song that I think leaves me charmed even more (also, peep that dream-like echo effect at the end, similar to how “Stardust” opens).

What’s funny is that the first time I heard “Stardust,” I thought, “this sounds like a Gilles Peterson song,” by which I mean that Peterson has a real penchant for these kind of jazz vocal songs, as evinced on his Digs America series. It’s on last year’s Vol. 2 where he turned me onto this great Lorez Alexandria song, “I’m Wishin’.” I wrote about this before but it was worth bringing back for a second spin, especially in fitting into the post’s theme.

Dream on, draem on. (And if you got recommendations for similar tunes, please comment!)