Del Jones

Del Jones: Vibe-ing Theme and Cold Turkey
From Positive Vibes [Hikeka, 1973]

Here's some righteous private press action for you from the man Del Jones. I don't know a whole lot about him, but I do know he laid out one hell of a funky album that was extremely progressive at the time. Speaking of the harsh themes of African American life, Jones relied on fuzz guitars, slamming horns, and solid rhythms to inject his messages with life and good vibes. For me and for many, the opening track "Vibe-ing Theme" is one of the album's clear standouts. I also chose the massive "Cold Turkey" that, despite it's nine minute duration, manages consistency minus monotony. I guess only a few hundred of these things were pressed, originals fetching close to $500. For private press records like these reissues seem to be the best answer, and thankfully there's one out there.

Always on point

Skalpel: Deep Breath
From Konfusion (Ninja Tune, 2005)

While many Ninja Tune artists are noted for their musical playfulness, Polish duo Skalpel distinguish themselves by their reverential treatment of samples. Drawing from obscure '60's and 70's jazz records, the duo meticulously assembles ghostly ensembles one instrument at a time. Indeed, an inattentive listener could easily mistake Skalpel's tracks for the work of live musicians. Foregoing the audio manipulations that act as a show of technical prowess for many producers (see: the near-obligatory drum-chop freakouts in instrumental hip-hop), Skalpel instead find their strength in the sheer quality of their sources, from crisp drum kits to deep upright bass. Delving into a vast archive of untapped vinyl, Skalpel act as a sort of musical dreamcatcher, capturing, congealing, and condensing the spirits of a past sound.

The New Savior of UK Hip Hop?

Sway: Month In The Summer and Thief's Theme Freestyle
From: This Is My Promo

So I've been meaning to post something up about the latest great British hope of hip hop, Sway, for some time now but his win last week of best hip hop artist at the MOBO awards finally jogged me into doing it.

Having developed his reputation purely via the underground, Sway has just released his first commercial single (the excellent Flo' Fashion) and his first official album is due to drop early 2006. His history has been well covered over at Notes From A Different Kitchen so I'll just give you the music today.

I've put up a couple of tracks from his first mixtape, This Is My Promo Vol 1 which should give you an idea of the man's talent and versatility.

Month In The Summer is Sway's I Need Love style slow number and offers a surprising level of lushness. Thief's Theme Freestyle on the other hand does exactly what it says on the tin with Sway delivering a quality, and amusing, freestyle over the Nas track. I'm expecting big things from this man over the next 12 months..........

One Love for The Heath Brothers

The Heath Brothers: Smiling Billy Suite Pt. 1 and Smiling Billy Suite Pt. 2
From Marchin' On [Strata East, 1976]

I don't have many Strata East titles, partially because a lot of them are fairly hard to come by, but mainly because most of the label's output was spiritual jazz which I'm not a huge fan of. However, there are plenty of solid Strata pieces, many of which are quite funky and have been sampled in the past. The Heath Brothers is no exception, making plenty of collectors' want lists and wall of fames, almost exclusively for the "Smiling Billy Suite" which sprawls itself over four tracks on the entire B-side. The bass line is where it's at, and it shouldn't take long for most hip hop heads to figure out that it was sampled on Nas' "One Love." I acquired this record recently off a tip from a friend who said that a shop had just gotten it in and was planning to sell it for the pretty reasonable price of $80. I was a bit reluctant at first having just dropped $80 for the Marlena Shaw piece I wrote about the other week, but he convinced me to snag it.

The Heath Brothers were comprised of Jimmy Heath (b. James Edward Heath, 25 October 1926, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; composer, arranger, tenor and soprano saxophones, flute), Percy Heath (b. 30 April 1923, Wilmington, North Carolina, USA, Southampton, New York, USA; bass) and Al "Tootie" Heath (b. Albert Heath, 31 May 1935, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; drums). Each had distinguished careers in jazz during the 50's, as the brothers collaborated with each other in various forms up until 1974 when Percy's regular band broke up, and the brothers decided to grab pianist Stanley Cowell and release their first album, Marchin' On. They proceeded to release three more albums with Columbia and two with Antilles.

I believe the brothers still play today.

Hyperactive off the cocaine, got me senile

Ol' Dirty Bastard feat. Ghostface: Back in the Air
From A Son Unique (Def Jam, 2005)

OK, so Spine Magazine scooped us on this one, but as Maru said in his tardy Jamrock post (scroll down): shit needs to be heard.

Where to start? There's the RZA beat, cleaner than usual but still razor sharp, sporting a melancholic horn and harpsichord arrangement. And then there's Ghost's guest verse, which finds the Wally champ a bit lacking in quotables, but still spitting so energetically that you expect him to eat the damn mic.

And then there's ODB.

Much of ODB's appeal lay in his witty unpredictable talent and natural game. You never, ever, ever could predict what ODB might do at any given movement, whether in the studio or on the street. Some of his most memorable moments involved near-incomprehensible yelling (on record), ridiculous drug escapades (in real life), and bizarre non sequiters (everywhere).

However, from what I've heard of A Son Unique (which has apparently been pushed back from its scheduled August release date), Ol' Dirty was really starting to get his shit together before his death. Check the interlocking rhyme schemes and deceptively simple confessional style in his second verse:

Notorious glock buster, cap peeling block hustler
Who slap hoes who lack feelings
Back building, crack dealing black villain,
Had a taste for blood spilling, love stealing
Anything that twinkle bright to my eyesight
Many nights I used to stay up after twilight
And wonder to myself if there's a heaven or hell
Been alone in these streets since 11 or 12

That last couplet is brutally effective, condensing so many emotions into two simple lines. While ODB may not have been at the top of his game when he died, he was certainly gathering a respectable second wind - which only makes it even more tragic that he was taken before his time.

R.I.P.

Sa Ra sprinkle some cosmic dust

Sa-Ra Creative Partners: Rosebuds and Glorious
From: Glorious/Rosebuds (ABB Soul, 2004)

There's nothing worse than hearing a track that blows you away then waiting and waiting for the album to accompany it. Sa-Ra's Rosebuds did exactly that to me with it's mixture of mid nineties swing vibes, madlib style quirkiness and stoned soul vocals. Combined with the track's flip side Glorious it convinced me that there was a new group on the block ready to change the direction of modern rnb.
However, since cutting this 12" the group have focused on production rather than solo joints producing some solid tracks for, among others, Jurassic 5 and Pharoahe Monch; Pharoahe's Agent Orange in particular cementing their reputation on the hip hop scene as major players.

The group have finally got an album coming out next month on Kanye's label featuring Pharoahe and J Dilla so all signs point towards a hip hop direction which is in no way a bad thing and it's always good to hear Monche getting some play. Despite this, part of me craves for them to offer up more in their earlier, soulified, format. We shall wait and see where they go next.

Welcome to Jamrock

Damian Marley: Welcome to Jamrock
From Welcome to Jamrock [Universal, 2005]

This could get the "dude, where the fuck have you been for the past 6 months" stamp, but for someone who rarely follows current reggae music, I feel a lot of our readers may be in the same boat. Enter Damian Marley's single "Welcome to Jamrock" which hit airwaves halfway through this year. The youngest output of Bob Marley's legacy, Damian first entered the music scene in 1996 with Mr. Marley and then his 2001 major label debut Halfway Tree. While many have been dissapointed by the relatively soft output of Marley's other children as of late, Damian's music has been labeled as reggae for the streets, sending powerful messages in gritty packages, and "Welcome to Jamrock" is no exception. Riding one of the sickest riddms I've heard in a while, Damian tells the truths of his homeland Jamaiaca, from poverty to political violence. It's one of those songs where all components work perfectly together, which makes it all the more impacting.

So enjoy it for those who haven't heard it, or chastise me for being this late in the game. All that matters is that it's being heard.

The Block is Hot

Blockhead: Expiration Date
From Downtown Science (Ninja Tune, 2005)

DJ Shadow --> RJD2 --> Blockhead? In the chain of succession for instrumental hip-hop, Blockhead (born Anthony Simon) may be next up. After making a name for himself by making beats for Aesop Rock, Blockhead went for self in 2004, releasing his debut Music By Cavelight. Now the man's back with a follow-up, moving from the cave to the city with Downtown Science, due out October 18th. On "Expiration Date", Blockhead builds his foundation with a guitar loop and a slow, lurching breakbeat, swapping other samples in and out over the top. The requisite drum trickery is here too, of course, held back until just after the four-minute mark. Despite the title, this is nothing but fresh.

Time for some Stark Reality......

Stark Reality: Clouds and Comrades
From: Discovers Hoagy Carmichael's Music Shop (AJP Records, 1970)

So the fundraising for New Orleans continues over at Soulstrut and they've been pulling out the big guns with Stark Reality's Discovers Hoagy Carmichael's Shop appearing earlier this week and raising $1000 for the cause (which was quadrupled by Soulstrut). I've posted up a couple of tracks off the album to give you a taster of one of the holy grails of crate digging. While a grand is a pretty big sum of money to spend on any piece of vinyl, if any album's worth it this has got to be it.

If you want to know more about this stunning album you can read about it on the Stone Throw reissue here. Let me just tell you that it's been sampled by Large Professor, Pete Rock, Madlib and Cut Chemist and you can't get a much better guarantee of quality than that.

With the OG raising so much money it seemed only appropriate to post up a track bizarrely missing from the reissue, one of my favorite tracks of the album, Clouds. A truly brilliant mix of folk and funk the track is about as blissful as they come.

The second track, Comrades, is available on the recent reissue and displays the groups ability to hold together their experimental style into tracks that you cannot just admire from afar but also enjoy listening to day in day out. I always love the way the group bring in the vocals, perfectly fitting the lyrics to the outstanding music.. Truly, truly, brilliant stuff.

The regular folks on Soulstrut are starting to run out of money so get on there now and start bidding.........

From California to New Orleans

Marlena Shaw: California Soul
From The Spice of Life [Cadet, 1968]

This was the best $80 I've spent. Not only did I get a record that's been on my want list for years, but all of the money is going towards Soulstrut's Relief Effort through the Heatrock program that dstill described last week. Dudes on there are donating crazy rare records that are literally once in a lifetime type pieces. Stark Reality, Klute, Meters like whoa!!! Props to everyone involved over there.

But back to the music. I received my copy of Spice of Life today and again couldn't be happier to not only have this wonderful music, but to be donating to such a worthy cause. Shaw's single "California Soul" is the OG Cali anthem, and since it's inclusion on Brainfreeze has been highly sought after in both 45 and LP form. The entire album is solid from front to back, and the cool thing about it is that whenever I listen to it I'll always remember it's origins, and the hope it's helping rebuild.

Yo MTV Raps Pt. 2

Redman, Method Man, Extra P, Special Ed, and Craig Mack: Yo MTV Raps Finale Freestyle Pt. 2
From Yo MTV Raps (1995)

Part 2 folks. Check the technique.

1, 2, 3, 4, get it!

Kev E Kev & Ak B: Listen to the Man
From Listen to the Man 12" (DNA, 1988)

Solid piece of East Coast '88 rap here from the likes of fresh fly fellows Kev-E-Kev and Ak-B. You've got a drum machined out loop of "Funky Drummer," incorporating both the horn intro and the drum loop, with a bit of the Mowhawks' "The Champ" thrown in to keep things on the Ultimate Breaks and Beats tip. Ak gets halfway throug the first verse putting sucker emcees to bed before he realizes that he forgot to introduce Kev, the DJ on the mix who will always produce. I really dig how the scratching of JBs vocal count off continues through the verse, because you don't really hear a lot of that sort of thing without it getting in the way of the rhyme. Another sure shot with the engineering clout of one Paul C. McKasty.

Shouts out to Kevvy Kev, host of KZSU's "The Drum," without whom I might not have put a needle on this record years ago. One more reason San Diego is HURTING without a proper FM college station.

note: This post is of a slightly duplicitous nature. While I've been wanting to write about this peice for a while, the recent catastrophy in New Orleans has given me added incentive. Through a discussion on Soulstrut, everone's favorite record nerd/political rant/rap fued website, a concerted effort to raise relief money through the sale of serious records has been mounted. So for my part I'm tossing my OG copy of this up. No ebay, simply go to the board, read the instructions (every thread with a red pin is an auction for a donated record) and help out through the passing on of some fantastic music (seriously, Open Sky Unit?!? Pazant Brothers??!!!? Impeach the President?!!?? bonkers, out of control...). And if you can't get down with the grails, you can always make a donation of any amount to order@vanguardsquad.com via PayPal. Spread the love, folks

As Long As There's Leroy Around

Leroy Hutson: Time Brings On A Change and As Long As There's Love Around
From: Love Oh Love (Curtom, 1973)

Time to give props to a guy whose albums have been on constant rotation on my mp3 player the last month: the underrated soul master Leroy Hutson.

Starting at the top of the game, Leroy came to fame as the new lead singer of The Impressions after Curtis Mayfield left in 1971. However, a couple of years of that were enough for Leroy as he set out on his own with his first debut release Love Oh Love in 1973. As the decade wore on, Leroy's songs became more and more disco and his album covers became more and more outrageous, to the point that I, like many people, first came to know him for his modern soul artwork rather than his masterful songwriting and production abilities - after all he co-wrote Donny Hathaway's The Ghetto for christ sakes.

So let's take it back to the beginning and Leroy's first solo album when the music was strictly soulful and the album artwork didn't feature any lounge kung-fu outfits.

I've read quite a few reviewers comparing early Hutson to the work of Curtis Mayfield and Marvin Gaye in the same period and when you hear tracks like this you can see why. Time Brings On A Change combines a political message with the orchestral soul that Mayfield and Gaye were also producing at the time, with soaring strings blended into the groove. What always gets me on tracks of this caliber are the extra touches brought to the production, here we have an organ hammering along in the background layering the track with added texture.

The only way I can describe As Long As There's Love Around is as a murderous funk cut, full of trumpets, strings, and a cold as ice breakdown two thirds of the way through. It sounds like Leroy threw everything he had in this track and it works to perfection. Hand on my heart I'll claim that this track deserves to stand up there with the great soul tracks of the seventies. Stone. Cold. Killer.

Show love for Leroy!