Here are three recent discoveries that we (a) love (b) know nothing about and (c) can't find out much about on the web. The D Isaac Andrews is a private soul track out of Louisiana; the Oran Ruffin Jr is a cool little r'n'b groover with a hint of mambo and a sprinkling of jazz; and the Flesh and Blood is, I think, a 60s US garage band.
Saturday, 29 January 2011
Wednesday, 9 June 2010
Only Built 4 Hyperlinks (Part 2)
Beat-mining the James Brown catalogue always produces great music, and in part two of our Only Built 4 Hyperlinks series we're looking at the rich seam of beats to be found with soul brother #1's stable of divas.
The irrepressible Marva Whitney and Lyn Collins - the female preacher featured on classics that underpinned pretty much the entire hip-hop and dance scenes of the 90s. From NWA to The 45 King's The 900 Number and Rob Base & DJ EZ Rock, they gifted us a legacy of funk in hip-hop that keeps us digging today.
But the person in focus here is Vicki Anderson, in her original guise as Myra Barnes (later to become Mrs Bobby Byrd), and a hard funk groove that has been used in several ways in hip-hop and therefore holds many formative golden-age memories.
Listen here
Message to the Soul Sisters opens with a rousing cry for the sisters to get together and show the brothers they can get down too. It kicks in with a pounding piano loop that riffs with hard, open drums and cries of "Yeah!". It's almost as if JB intentionally wrote it to feed the hungry samplers of 90s New York.
It didn't take long for the keen ears of DJ Premier to pick it up and rock it for Gang Starr's debut album on No More Mister Nice Guy, and then, from the west coast, Above the Law asked the question: "What's a radio cut when ya can't say shit and ya can't say fuck?" – is that Freedom Of Speech?
As Bobby Byrd's head-nodding piano groove rumbles on, it's the screeching horn solos that really grab the attention, as raw funk rains down from the sky and crashes into the brass section.
The energetic chaos builds and provides backing for one of our all-time favourite hip-hop tracks, Nile Kings's Dropping Bombs, using the power of those screeching horns to maximum raw effect. Old-school UK heads can even pick out the Principle's handiwork for Caveman's intro to Streetlife, a track that had me scouring crates for years to track down the source of that infectious baseline loop and sax lick.
Running with that gritty piano loop throughout, the track was perfect for hip-hop heads the day it was written and it still stands out today as a great track. A Soul Brother #1 Classic.
The irrepressible Marva Whitney and Lyn Collins - the female preacher featured on classics that underpinned pretty much the entire hip-hop and dance scenes of the 90s. From NWA to The 45 King's The 900 Number and Rob Base & DJ EZ Rock, they gifted us a legacy of funk in hip-hop that keeps us digging today.
But the person in focus here is Vicki Anderson, in her original guise as Myra Barnes (later to become Mrs Bobby Byrd), and a hard funk groove that has been used in several ways in hip-hop and therefore holds many formative golden-age memories.
Listen hereMessage to the Soul Sisters opens with a rousing cry for the sisters to get together and show the brothers they can get down too. It kicks in with a pounding piano loop that riffs with hard, open drums and cries of "Yeah!". It's almost as if JB intentionally wrote it to feed the hungry samplers of 90s New York.
It didn't take long for the keen ears of DJ Premier to pick it up and rock it for Gang Starr's debut album on No More Mister Nice Guy, and then, from the west coast, Above the Law asked the question: "What's a radio cut when ya can't say shit and ya can't say fuck?" – is that Freedom Of Speech?
As Bobby Byrd's head-nodding piano groove rumbles on, it's the screeching horn solos that really grab the attention, as raw funk rains down from the sky and crashes into the brass section.
The energetic chaos builds and provides backing for one of our all-time favourite hip-hop tracks, Nile Kings's Dropping Bombs, using the power of those screeching horns to maximum raw effect. Old-school UK heads can even pick out the Principle's handiwork for Caveman's intro to Streetlife, a track that had me scouring crates for years to track down the source of that infectious baseline loop and sax lick.
Running with that gritty piano loop throughout, the track was perfect for hip-hop heads the day it was written and it still stands out today as a great track. A Soul Brother #1 Classic.
Thursday, 27 May 2010
Top 3: Twinight Records
My eyes always light up when I see the distinctive "T" of Chicago's Twinight label when digging through boxes of old 45s. Sadly, it usually turns out to be a common release by Syl Johnson, Twinight's only star performer, rather than one of the label's more sought-after rarities.
This remarkable little indie label, largely funded by Johnson's success – and also aided by his skills as a producer – was responsible for some of the best soul and funk 45s from a city positively brimming with them. But with such formidable competition, hits were hard to come by, and in 1972, after five years in business, Johnson left and the label folded, leaving a clutch of overlooked 45s that would eventually find their way into the hands of soul collectors many years later.
Scans of our pick of the label's output are included below, but honourable mentions must go to Main Squeeze by Nate Evans (a great record to kick-off a Saturday night), Wayward Dream by Annette Poindexter and Pieces of Peace (the Twinight house band) and, of course, Syl Johnson's genre classic, Is It Because I'm Black?.
Click to hear Satisfied
You can get the songs above, plus plenty of other choice cuts from the label, on Numero Group's superb compilation Twinight's Lunar Rotation (a reference to these criminally overlooked records largely being relegated to late-night local radio). Don't sleep!
This remarkable little indie label, largely funded by Johnson's success – and also aided by his skills as a producer – was responsible for some of the best soul and funk 45s from a city positively brimming with them. But with such formidable competition, hits were hard to come by, and in 1972, after five years in business, Johnson left and the label folded, leaving a clutch of overlooked 45s that would eventually find their way into the hands of soul collectors many years later.
Scans of our pick of the label's output are included below, but honourable mentions must go to Main Squeeze by Nate Evans (a great record to kick-off a Saturday night), Wayward Dream by Annette Poindexter and Pieces of Peace (the Twinight house band) and, of course, Syl Johnson's genre classic, Is It Because I'm Black?.
Click to hear SatisfiedYou can get the songs above, plus plenty of other choice cuts from the label, on Numero Group's superb compilation Twinight's Lunar Rotation (a reference to these criminally overlooked records largely being relegated to late-night local radio). Don't sleep!
Wednesday, 26 May 2010
Zerben R Hicks & the Dynamics, Lights Out (RCA)
"We've got to hold on / A little bit longer, baby / Then one day, baby / I'll be there with you / While they play Lights Out"
Wow. My jaw nearly hit the floor when I first heard this song back in 1997. The third track on Dave Godin's amazing first volume of Deep Soul Treasures, it must have taken me a full hour to get to track four, such is the magnificence of Lights Out.
Click to hear Lights Out
Sung in the first person, this tale of a soldier in Vietnam penning a letter (or perhaps reflecting on a letter he's received) to his girl back home, pleading for her to wait for him to return so they can be together while the band plays Lights Out (which I've always assumed to be a reference to Jerry Byrne's Lights Out, released in 1958 on Specialty, but I could be very wrong about this), is, for me, about as moving as popular music gets.
Beginning with rolling, military-band drums, chugging guitar and distant horns, the song steadily rises to a crescendo, as first a choir and then an orchestra join the march, before Zerben's devastating cry of "lights out, lights out baby" brings the whole thing crashing down. If it fails to sends shivers down your spine, consult a doctor immediately: you might be technically dead.
Flip Lights Out over and you get a lovely mid-tempo number called You Make Me Feel Good, credited simply to the Dynamics, making this rare 45 a double-sided delight that's well worth seeking out.
Click to hear You Make Me Feel Good
Wow. My jaw nearly hit the floor when I first heard this song back in 1997. The third track on Dave Godin's amazing first volume of Deep Soul Treasures, it must have taken me a full hour to get to track four, such is the magnificence of Lights Out.
Click to hear Lights OutSung in the first person, this tale of a soldier in Vietnam penning a letter (or perhaps reflecting on a letter he's received) to his girl back home, pleading for her to wait for him to return so they can be together while the band plays Lights Out (which I've always assumed to be a reference to Jerry Byrne's Lights Out, released in 1958 on Specialty, but I could be very wrong about this), is, for me, about as moving as popular music gets.
Beginning with rolling, military-band drums, chugging guitar and distant horns, the song steadily rises to a crescendo, as first a choir and then an orchestra join the march, before Zerben's devastating cry of "lights out, lights out baby" brings the whole thing crashing down. If it fails to sends shivers down your spine, consult a doctor immediately: you might be technically dead.
Flip Lights Out over and you get a lovely mid-tempo number called You Make Me Feel Good, credited simply to the Dynamics, making this rare 45 a double-sided delight that's well worth seeking out.
Click to hear You Make Me Feel GoodMonday, 24 May 2010
Only Built 4 Hyperlinks (Part 1)
Following the excellent Kon + Amir Present: The 50 Greatest Hip-Hop Samples Of All Time, it seems dusty fingers have swapped crates for keyboards, and internet forums have been buzzing with hip-hop heads debating which samples and breaks were key in making 90s hip-hop such a formidable period in the genre's history.
Always digging, the Soulful Strut love to reflect upon our own favourite breaks and beats, and so we're chronicling them with "Only Built 4 Hyperlinks", a series exploring our most-loved funk and soul samples. Over the coming weeks we'll be revealing those rare crate-digging moments when you discover a loop on an old piece of vinyl that unexpectedly gives up a secret from hip-hop's golden age.
We'll kick things off with Bob James, a jazz fusion pianist who is pretty well-known in sampling circles, but who nonetheless created some of the biggest beats of all time. Without Bob James, would we have ever heard Run rock rhymes or Rakim's journey of the journal as a journalist, and would Nas even have picked up a microphone at that infamous barbeque?
There are several outstanding Bob James tracks to choose from, but we've opted for an absolute monster from his 1974 album, One, called Nautilus.
Click to hear Nautilus
The album features James (keyboards), Gary King (bass) and Steve Gadd (drums), the latter being a legend in his own right and worth investigating further.
Listening to this track for the first time still ranks as one of our most memorable beat-digging moments. The first few eeire bars kick in, and from the spacey void some of hip-hop's greatest artists emerge, first with Jeru and Pete Rock, before an awesome guitar lick washes up Ghostface Killah ... and we're only a few bars in!
The track races into a glittering fusion of orchestral swell and classical piano, rolling over a strong b-boy beat before plunging 20,000 fathoms of funk into a deep underwater dimension, leaving only a crashing breakbeat and haunting organ stabs that bubble into classics for Run DMC, Ultramagnetic MCs and Eric B & Rakim, with Main Source (featuring Nas) also floating in the deep soundscape.
The list, of course, goes much, much further, and it's easy to lose count of the funk flotsam and jetsam used by hip-hop all over this track, making it one of the most sampled of all time. But it is also just an unforgettable track in its own right. A real classic.
Always digging, the Soulful Strut love to reflect upon our own favourite breaks and beats, and so we're chronicling them with "Only Built 4 Hyperlinks", a series exploring our most-loved funk and soul samples. Over the coming weeks we'll be revealing those rare crate-digging moments when you discover a loop on an old piece of vinyl that unexpectedly gives up a secret from hip-hop's golden age.
We'll kick things off with Bob James, a jazz fusion pianist who is pretty well-known in sampling circles, but who nonetheless created some of the biggest beats of all time. Without Bob James, would we have ever heard Run rock rhymes or Rakim's journey of the journal as a journalist, and would Nas even have picked up a microphone at that infamous barbeque?
There are several outstanding Bob James tracks to choose from, but we've opted for an absolute monster from his 1974 album, One, called Nautilus.
Click to hear NautilusThe album features James (keyboards), Gary King (bass) and Steve Gadd (drums), the latter being a legend in his own right and worth investigating further.
Listening to this track for the first time still ranks as one of our most memorable beat-digging moments. The first few eeire bars kick in, and from the spacey void some of hip-hop's greatest artists emerge, first with Jeru and Pete Rock, before an awesome guitar lick washes up Ghostface Killah ... and we're only a few bars in!
The track races into a glittering fusion of orchestral swell and classical piano, rolling over a strong b-boy beat before plunging 20,000 fathoms of funk into a deep underwater dimension, leaving only a crashing breakbeat and haunting organ stabs that bubble into classics for Run DMC, Ultramagnetic MCs and Eric B & Rakim, with Main Source (featuring Nas) also floating in the deep soundscape.
The list, of course, goes much, much further, and it's easy to lose count of the funk flotsam and jetsam used by hip-hop all over this track, making it one of the most sampled of all time. But it is also just an unforgettable track in its own right. A real classic.
Saturday, 22 May 2010
Anti Radar Funk v Home of Britpop
Oxfam, YMCA, Scope, Cancer Research, Age Concern ... NW1 might be littered with charity shops, but very few of them carry cassette tapes, making this morning's tape drop a little trickier than we had envisaged.
But, as you can see from the photo above, we got there in the end, and mixtape #3 is now in the wild! Hit 'play' on the video below to see our undercover agent, Miss Malone, making the drop ...
Saturday, 15 May 2010
Joni Adams and the Fenderman 70, Las Vegas (Zodiac)
One of our favourite funk 45s, Joni Adams absolutely nails this track (hit 'play' on the video below to hear for yourself). This Zodiac label is out of Miami, not to be confused with the Chicago label of the same name (home to the Creations, A Dream, another big Soulful Strut spin).
The track is taken from a rare, privately-pressed album called Miami to Las Vegas, featuring artists and songs from, you guessed it, Miami and Las Vegas.
Flip it over and you get an intriguing medley called Going Back to Miami by Dave Taylor and the Clique, also taken from the Miami to Las Vegas LP, which manages to sandwich a brief version of the Temptations classic Get Ready between a fairly pedestrian soul/r'n'b call-and-response workout.
We don't know if Joni recorded any other tracks, but if she did, it's hard to imagine her eclipsing this funk juggernaut ...
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