Soulful Blues or Bluesy Soul?

I haven't said this many times this year, but I'm going to predict that Ernie Halter Live is going to show up on my best of list at the end of the year. It's been on heavy rotation ever since I started spinning it a couple of weeks ago, and it isn't losing any steam. It's the first time I've listened to Ernie Halter, so it's surprising to me that it's a live album, especially after doing some digging, when I found out that he's only been around for a few years now and only has three albums under his belt (and one of them a low budget self released affair). Listening to it though, I think the live atmosphere plays right into his style, and really is what drew my ear into it.

His music, both in form and feel, is either a soulful blues or bluesy soul, depending on the track and your mood at the time. It's got that very genuine approach which plays well in the live setting that the album was recorded. There's nothing exotic, it's simply well played music that shows you what it is and draws you in as such. You'll find hints of John Mayer here with some of Ernie's guitar work and vocals, as well as some Stevie Wonder with some superb piano playing (listen to Yes I Am, a new song, to see what I'm talking about with this). Of the album's eleven tracks, ten of them come from his previous albums (Yes I Am being the one that hasn't been recorded on tape before), but having picked up his last one this week (Starting Over), you can definitely hear and feel a difference between the studio versions and the live versions, with the latter being more enjoyable for me.

The album was released exclusively on iTunes earlier this week, but will also be available starting on the 20th at his live shows in physical format. It was recorded over the course of a month on the road, and you can hear the opening track Something's Come Over Me below, which just may be my favorite track on the album. You can also listen to one from his last album, Played, which does not appear on this new, live album.

Ernie Halter - Something's Come Over Me : Ernie Halter Live

and one from his last studio album:

Ernie Halter - Played : Starting Over

Visit his website, his label Rock Ridge Music, and become his friend on MySpace.

That Summertime Sound

"I'd always believed a great rock song consolidated an entire lifetime's worth of feeling into seconds or less, just like an orgasm or a sneeze. Unlike those things it went on a while - long enough to attain consciousness within its frame - and it never continued quite as far as you hoped, but that's what a great song did. It held you."

-from That Summertime Sound

As the summer came to a close, I was finishing reading That Summertime Sound, the debut novel from Matthew Specktor. At its heart is a nineteen year old protagonist, on break after his freshman year at college, who heads towards the heartland to immerse himself in his favorite band Lords of Oblivion and the underground music scene of Columbus, Ohio in the mid 80's. Needless to say, along the way he learns a bit about himself and the world around him. While the plot revolves around a fictional band, Specktor drops in constant references to the seminal bands of the period such as The Feelies, Hüsker Du, Pere Ubu, and Uriah Heap, making it easy to forget that this is a fictional world he's exploring.

I don't really know much about the author other than the few short sentences about him on the book jacket and the accompanying picture. Completely guestimating his age, I'm theorizing that he's drawing upon his own personal musical experiences growing up in the 80's, and I'm convinced that for him these bands did in fact hold a lot of currency in his life. I've also never spent any time in the heartland, but I'm sufficiently convinced that his sketch of life there seems equally authentic, even though he grew up in Los Angeles. The intense connections that he draws between these two pillars that the book is built upon, music and location, feel genuinely crafted and for music lovers, will speak volumes.

If you visit the book's official website, you can hear excerpts read by Jeremy Irons, Gwyneth Paltrow, Morgan Freeman, J Mascis, and others, and in the future, possibly musical pieces pulled from the book (while you're waiting, listen to James Brown's I'll Go Crazy below, the first of many musical references in the book). If it sounds interesting to you, even though summer is over, you can order the book from Amazon.com.

James Brown - I'll Go Crazy : Live At The Apollo [Bonus Tracks]

Electro-Afro-Funk

Imagine Moby working with the great Fela Kuti and Sly Stone stopping in for a quick minute and the resulting sound would probably be something like The Motet's sixth album Dig Deep. Yea, it's kind of like that. I had never checked out the band before giving this album a spin, but this mostly instrumental album really grooves. And it's free. You read that right, absolutely free.

The band has formed around drummer and producer Dave Watts, and jams crazy like in all sorts of directions. They feature a horn section which knocks out Kuti inspired blasts, but there's also an electronic element that most clearly brings these songs into the 21st century. To top it off, there's an edge of 70's funk, which is balanced out with techno-rave elements. Needless to say, a lot going on here for and instrumental album and the influences shift from one song to the next.

Below you'll find two of the album's eleven tracks to give you a sample of what I'm talking about. One, Kalakuta Show, is a Fela Kuti cover and opens the album. Push comes deeper in the album and features the main portion of vocals you'll find. The entire album really is free, so you've got no reason not to check it out. Start with these while you're waiting for it to download, which you can do by heading to their MySpace page.

The Motet - Kalakuta Show (Fela Kuti cover) : Dig Deep

The Motet - Push : Dig Deep

Visit their website and become their friend on MySpace.

Tangerine Trees and Marmalade Skies...

Today marks the third and final EP from Cotton Jones and Quite Scientific Records. It's titled the Rio Ranger EP, and as with the previous two, it's packaged in a limited edition hardcover book, resplendent with original illustrations by the band. The music is everything you'd expect from former Page France'ers Michael Nau and Whitney McGraw: hazy and lazy, insubstantial and drifting, psychedelic folk melodies that make you feel like you're in an alternative universe with lollipop trees and marshmallow rivers. It's a wonderful place to vacation to and leave your worries behind! In addition, the pair will be touring for the rest of the month to take you to that place in person. Check out the lead off track from the EP and tour dats below.

Cotton Jones - Where You Stop for a Minute : Rio Ranger EP

Visit their label Quite Scientific Records and become their friend on MySpace.

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Upcoming Tour Dates

9/9/2009 Rock Island, IL Huckleberry' w/ Frontier Ruckus
9/10/2009 Omaha, NE The Waiting Room w/ Frontier Ruckus
9/12/2009 Morrison, CO Monolith Festival
9/15/2009 Salt Lake City, UT Kilby Court w/ Oh My God
9/17/2009 Olympia, WA Happy Beast House
9/18/2009 Tacoma, WA Urban Grace
9/19/2009 Portland, OR Music Fest NW
9/20/2009 Seattle, WA Sunset Tavern
9/22/2009 San Luis Obispo, CA SLO Art Center w/ Titus Adronicus
9/23/2009 Santa Cruz, CA The Crepe Place w/ Frontier Ruckus
9/24/2009 San Francisco, CA Bottom of the Hill w/ Frontier Ruckus
9/26/2009 Los Angeles, CA Spaceland
9/27/2009 Phoenix, AZ Modified
9/30/2009 Oklahoma City, OK The Conservatory w/ Darker My Love
10/1/2009 Lubbock, TX Bash Riprock's
10/2/2009 Dallas, TX Cavern Ale House w/ Wye Oak
10/3/2009 Austin, TX Austin City Limits Festival
10/5/2009 Memphis, TN Hi-Tone Cafe

Jazz Brunch Jam - John Patitucci Trio

“We’re paying tribute, but we’re also shaping the music to reflect who we are. We’re not just copying or resting on the musicians who came before us, we’re playing this music as our way of contributing to the evolution of jazz.”

-John Patitucci

Today I've got something contemporary for you from bassist John Patitucci and his trio. The album's titled Remembrance though, and on it Patitucci pays homage to some of his heroes and giants of jazz with original material: Thelonius Monk and John Coltrane (Monk/Trane), Sonny Rollins (Sonny Side), Freddie Hubbard (Blues for Freddie), Joe Henderson (Joe Hen), and Ray Brown (Play Ball).

The whole album is light, as can be expected from a trio. Everything's also tight, precise, exact - leaving you plenty of ear room to pick out and appreciate all those sweet notes and textures that are being laid down here. I'm gonna give you the lead off track, Monk / Trane, partly because it's one of my favorites from the album, and partly 'cuz I dig Monk a lot. Here it is, spin it.

John Patitucci Trio - Monk / Trane : Remembrance

Visit his website, his label Concord Music, and become his friend on MySpace.

Sunday Soul - The Royal Family Get Down!

So last weekend I took my pilgrimage down to Brooklyn to check out some classic soul acts. Coming up next weekend I'm sticking closer to home to check out The Royal Family Get Down, a one day soul fest featuring some more contemporary soul acts including Soulive (who are hosting the whole shin-dig), Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings (who weren't on the original bill and for whom I'm extra excited to check out), John Scofield, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals (who I've seen many times and enjoyed every one), the Charlie Hunter Trio, and Nigel Hall. Nearly all of these are acts I'd head out to catch alone, but put'em together and you're talking a killer day of music. It's all going down at The Pines Theater in Northampton, MA on the 12th, with doors opening (metaphorically speaking since it's an outdoor venue) at 2 PM. Planning on attending? Drop me a line and maybe we can meet up.


Soulive - Too Much (feat. Nigel Hall) : Up Here

Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings - Let Them Knock (live) : Live From Bonnaroo 2008 (DVD)

Grace Potter and the Nocturnals - I Chose You : Original Soul

Ledisi turned loose

This isn't the first time you've seen Ledisi's name on MISB, and I'm sure it won't be the last. I wrote about her third album Lost & Found back here, her Christmas album back here, and today it's all about her latest album, Turn Me Loose. And all it takes is to look at the cover and you can tell that she has truly turned it loose on her latest batch of songs.

What initially drew me to Ledisi on her third album was the well measured mix of soul, hip hop and R&B, all behind a beautiful voice that beguiled my ears. The Christmas album changed gears and snagged me with its jazzy undertones. On this latest album Ledisi once again turns my expectations on edge and comes back with something fresh and wild. Just look at her on the cover, getting her Tina Turner / Chaka Khan thing going on, and you know that she's gonna come at you with something you best be ready for. And she does. Heck, look at the track listing and you'll find four cuts with the word "change" in them. If that doesn't tell you something, well hit yourself in the head with a hammer a few more times. The impetus for this revelation of an album: Buddy Miles' 1970 soul-rock classic, Them Changes. When faced with writer's block, Ledisi was given the album and it inspired her to crank out what would become Turn Me Loose. In fact, she covers the title track of Miles' album on her album.

The result of her Buddy Miles muse is an album that really snaps fulls of vibrancy. Where as her previous one drifted down a more soulful tributary, this new one rides the rapids head on. Even the slower ones here just feel bigger, fuller, more contemporary perhaps. It's a fiery album that absolutely shows a different side of her that wasn't revealed previously.

stream Ledisi - Higher Than This : Turn Me Loose

stream Ledisi - Goin' Thru Changes : Turn Me Loose

and the inspiration:

Carlos Santana & Buddy Miles - Them Changes : Carlos Santana & Buddy Miles! Live!

Visit her website, her label Verve Forecast, and become her friend on MySpace.

Buried Afrobeat

Over the course of the last year, Daptone Records have really been spreading their wings and setting off into some new territory. Late last year, they released Como Now, an album of pure, unadultered, a cappella gospel (read what I wrote about it here). Then, earlier this summer they released another gospel album, this one from Naomi Shelton and the Gospel Queens (who, by the way, I was able to see a couple of weeks ago - incredible! - read that post here). Well now, on September 1st, they've joined the crate digging business with their resurrection and re-release of an unknown classic Afro-beat album from 1973 entitled Na Teef Know De Road of Teef. It was one of two albums that Pax Nicholas, Fela Kuti conga player and background singer who appeared on all of Fela’s Africa 70 albums between 1971 and 1978.

This wouldn't have happened had Frank Gossner (aka DJ Soulpusher of voodoofunk.com) not discovered a copy of the album while digging for vinyl in a record store in Philly. A copy so clean, that Daptone actually re-mastered this album directly from his original vinyl.

The album's put together right in line with Kuti style: only four tracks, two per side (on the original vinyl), the longest (the title number of course) weighing in at just shy of twelve minutes. Also in Kuti style, the way the cuts unfurl themselves, building, morphing, altering, returning, changing again, keeping a line alive that threads over and under the surface, pulling your ears along with it that's funky as all get out. Supposedly, Fela heard this album and thought it was so good, that he asked for it to be buried. Listen to the track below, then get it for yourself and see what you think.

from the album Na Teef Know De Road of Teef

Visit the Daptones Record website.

Say Yes!

Wax Tailor - Say Yes (feat A State of Mind) : In the Mood For Life

Visit his website, his label Le Plan Music, and become his friend on MySpace.

Win Seis Poemas

A canoe in Puerto Maldonado
In the canoe a shout
A shot fired
A muted shore
A warrior dead
And a rower

A canoe in Puerto Maldonado
A long journey starts anew
With the river
A bell bursts
Under the water
I will sleep the rest
Of my amazement
So I can arrive early
There is still an open path
And a star

- translated from El Bosque Armado (La Canoa)
[The Armed Forest (The Canoe)]

So opens Seis Poemas [Six Poems], the latest release from Susana Baca and Luaka Bop Records. You might remember me writing about Luaka Bop earlier this year (back here in May), a very unique and interesting label started by Talking Heads founder David Byrne back in the 80’s. Dedicated to bringing world music to American ears, it does itself well with this release.

Susana was born in Lima, Peru, and sings the album in her native Spanish (although all of the songs are translated into English in the liner notes), celebrating the traditional culture that is being forsaken in her own country, as is the case in many places now a days. It is also a tribute to the late Chabuca Granda, another Peruvian folk singer who also tried to celebrate Afro-Peruvian rhythms in her music. The songs relate the complexities of Peruvian life, in all of its real, and often darkness. Even if you don't speak a lick of Spanish beyond taco or hola, listening to the music is very much like listening to poetry, as the title of the EP suggests. In fact, you don't need to understand the language to grasp the beauty inherent in Susana's voice.

The album was released several days ago, but if you'd like to win a copy free, simply leave a comment (or e-mail me) with your name and e-mail address and you'll be in the running. I'll pick a winner next Thursdayish and notify them via e-mail. In the meantime, listen to and enjoy the opening track from the EP below as well as a song from Chabuca Granda.

Susana Baca - El Bosque Armado (La Canoa) : Seis Poemas

Chabuca Granda - Una Larga Noche : Tarimba Negra

Visit her website, her label Luaka Bop, and become her friend on MySpace.

Island music

One of my favorite discoveries from last year, KaiserCartel, just released their latest EP yesterday, titled Rock Island. It contains five tracks: three of them brand new, a studio version of a crowd favorite that they close their live shows with (Shira), and a Lucinda Williams cover, Something About What Happens When We Talk. I couldn't say enough nice words about the last album, and this EP continues along in the same vein. I think the two of them, Courtney Kaiser and Benjamin Cartel, make such lovely music together, and that harmonious existence displays itself beautifully in these new songs. Greater powers certainly brought these two together.

Honestly, if you didn't check them out when I wrote about them before, I genuinely and wholeheartedly recommend that you give them a chance.

KaiserCartel - Shira : Rock Island EP

Visit their website, their label Bluhammock Music, and become their friend on MySpace.

It's all Human Nature

Alright, here's an idea. Let's put together four white guys. Take them from Australia. And have them sing Motown songs. You know, Motown, that motor city soul that has its own musical genre named after it. Let's name them Human Nature. I know what you're thinking - who would ever take their chances with that set up? Try Smokey Robinson. Yeah, THAT Smokey Robinson, practically the number two man after Berry Gordy. Who would have thunk it?

Alright, maybe I'm over dramaticizing it a bit. Truth is, the band's been around for a while (since the early 90's), Australia's answer for the boy band craze that swept the world. And, in their defense, they're not just an over-hyped cover band, they have written a lot of material of their own, although that's immaterial for the album at hand, Reach Out, which is an entire album of cover songs, Motown cover songs to be precise. It was actually released back in 2005 overseas, but the group will see US distribution for the first time on September 1st as this album hits shelves exclusively at Barnes & Noble (with full distribution February of next year).

I'll be honest with you, I was somewhat skeptical when I saw what I thought was a gimmick, but I have to give dues where they belong, for the most part, these four joes pull it off pretty darn well. Yes, it is a little glossified. Yes, it is somewhat Vegas'esque (the group is actually booked to play nightly at the Imperial Palace through early next year). Yes, they don't exactly present the definitive versions of any of the songs here, but heck, how could you ever imagine to top The Temptations, The Supremes, etc...? But given all that, the album's pretty darn enjoyable if you let it be. It's a veritable Motown (select) greatest hits album, with even a few cameos by some originals, including Smokey himself, the other Temptations, and Mary Wilson (long lasting Supremes member). If you're a Motown fan, you probably have all these songs anyway, but you still might like this modernized take on timeless soul.

Human Nature - Get Ready (w/Smokey Robinson) : Reach Out

and the original, plus:

The Temptations - Get Ready : Gettin' Ready

The Supremes - Get Ready : A' Go-Go

Rare Earth - Get Ready : Hitsville U.S.A., The Motown Singles Collection 1959-1971 [Disc 4]

Visit their website, their label Sony BMG, and become their friend on MySpace.