Soulive

New Releases:

The Heavy Pets - Swim Out Past the Sun CD - The Heavy Pets (THP) are an American rock band whose contagious vibe blends rhythm and blues, jazz-funk and reggae fusion with rock and roll. Called "a living, breathing, force of nature" by Relix, THP are known for powerhouse live performances, and their self-titled album was dubbed a "Top 10 Album of 2010" by The Huffington Post. On Swim Out Past the Sun (2011), THP's guitar duo set aside their electric axes for a more organic approach, including three song sit-in by David Grisman.

Dumpstaphunk - Everybody Want Sum CD - Quick. Think of the worst smelling spot in New Orleans. Funkier than that one unfortunate spot of land at The Fly right behind the elephant patch at the Audubon Zoo. Think the intersection of Bourbon and Conti during Mardi Gras, and then think of the receptacles those trash heaps get thrown into.

Dumpstaphunk is that funky.

Right off the bat, the verses in the opener "Sheez Music" trigger memories of Brothers Johnson's "Ain't We Funkin' Now" with the involuntary leg motions to match. Most folks by now know the sheer power of Dumpstaphunk's live show, but this track and others here sound huge coming out of the Maple Leaf's house speakers between sets at their Sunday crawfish boils.

Some might take the Neville bait and compare Everybody Want Sum to the Meters' later Warner Brothers albums, New Directions and Trick Bag, but a better comparison would be with the city's other seminal '70s funk outfit, Chocolate Milk. Like that great group, I thought I liked it most when the band sits back and slinks along in the pocket, as in the third song, "Do Ya." The tempo lends itself to drummer Raymond Weber's backbeats and the punchy horns that accent the bridges. But my preference might just be correlation. Ivan Neville's clavinet and keyboard playing make the track a standout, and it makes you stand up at attention when they burst from that into "Gasman Chronicles" at a velocity faster than the vibrations of one of Nick Daniels' bouncing bass strings. Raymond Weber plays drums on this workout like a funk robot programmed with Swiss precision to play 150 bpm breakbeats. If you make it through all five-plus minutes you'll be doing that James Brown grunt, too.

If the album were a Dumpstaphunk concert at Tip's, the song "Oughta Know Better" is when you would walk to one of the bars and replace your beer. But much of that feeling is impatience to get to the Zigaboo Modeliste-penned "Standin' in Your Stuff," and especially to its ascending-to-descending harmonies in the chorus. The guest horn section is a welcome addition on this one, lending those choruses, breaks, bridges and transitions even more muscle, like a sixth 400-pounder on an offensive line.

Bottom line--this is a party album. It'll sound great when someone plays it on St. Charles before a Mardi Gras parade. The feelings of party records often get separated into those that are straightforward/earnest versus others that are ironic/removed, and it seems obvious where Everybody Want Sum stands. But how about this detail: the Producer credit went to Morgus the Magnificent. - OffBeat Magazine

Also available: Dumpstaphunk - Listen Hear CD

Coming Soon:

TBA

Last Week:

Medeski Martin & Wood - Fly In A Bottle DVD - Taking a look into the minds and lives of Medeski Martin & Wood, drummer/percussionist, Billy Martin, directed the first feature film in the band's history titled, Fly in a Bottle.

Working through a yearlong period of personal 16mm film and HD camcorder footage of MMW on the road and in the studio during the Radiolarians recordings, the film provides an extremely intimate portrait of the band. It highlights the trio's intricate relationships with each other and with the music they have worked to create over 20 years as a band.

Unique to the Radiolarians series, the band switched the order of conventional album cycles. Instead of touring to support a new release, MMW used touring as a way to compose and refine their music live, then they took the material to the recording studio.

This inverted process allowed them to release Radiolarians I, II, and III in just two years, a rare feat for a recording artist.

The DVD provides fans and critics unprecedented access to the band during their everyday lives. It's raw, highly personal and real.

In conjunction with Fly in a Bottle, the DVD will also include the music video for "Amber Gris", the esoteric Incant to Chantes Des Femmes directed by Grey Gersten, and an experiment with time-lapse film entitled CWO

CW (directed again by Martin), is a metaphoric look at the evolving and intricate relationship between Chris Wood and John Medeski from Billy Martin's perspective. Filmed on the tour bus, CW is set to the music of "First light" and features excerpts of transistor radio as used in "Chasen v. Suribachi."

Upcoming Events:

* Nov 10-13 Bear Creek Music Festival - Live Oak, FL

* Dec 29 - Jan 2 - Bond-Fire Arts & Music Festival - Groveland, FL

*Look for the Home Grown Music Booth at this event!

Video of the Week:

As we get ready for Bear Creek Music Festival - here's one from BCMF regulars Soulive:

Soulive - Up Right (live at Cervantes)

Thanks for reading! Treat yourself to some good music this week. Look for us at Bear Creek Music Festival in FL.
Lee Crumpton

New Releases:

Soulive - Bowlive DVD - In March of 2010, the members of Soulive hauled their instruments through the doors of a newly-opened warehouse-turned-music venue in Brooklyn that they would call home for the next two weeks. Eric Krasno, Alan Evans and Neal Evans called on a multitude of their closest friends and musical conspirators to join them over the next fortnight - creating an incredibly broad guest lineup that included some of the pre-eminent guitar virtuosos of our generation (Derek Trucks, Warren Haynes), some of the biggest names in hip-hop (Questlove, Rahzel), and some of the most inventive improvisational players in modern rock n' roll (Robert Randolph, Marco Benevento, Oteil & Kofi Burbridge). The Brooklyn Bowl quickly became the mecca for these very distinct yet like-minded musicians, where they returned night after night, donning the dress code for good times (bowling shoes) and sharing famous Blue Ribbon fried chicken. The common thread that tied together all these disparate ingredients quickly became palpable -- from the transcendental heartfelt improvisations onstage to the homey & playful atmosphere provided by the bowling alley, the Soulive residency was like nothing that had come before it because all of those diverse elements fused to ultimately bring the Soul to Brooklyn Bowl.

Coming Soon:

March 29 :

Radiohead - King Of Limbs CD

Last Week:

Assembly of Dust - Found Sound (live) CD - Assembly of Dust's 2011 release Found Sound represents a "behind the curtain" look at a band that has gained notoriety as a studio/live performance hybrid. AOD's crew secretly recorded the band in order to capture totally inspired, unfiltered versions of their best material. While the album maintains the well crafted songs and lyrical depth that Genauer and Co. are known for, it separates itself from past efforts with an energetic delivery that showcases true musicianship. The energy captured on Found Sound represents what fans from coast to coast have known for years; music's best kept secret may have just been found.

The Brew - Electric Opera DVD - The Brew release their first full length DVD "Electric Opera"! In April of 2010, High-Definition cameras captured their sold out show at the historic Music Hall in Portsmouth, NH. With over 60 minutes of concert footage, plus band/fan interviews and bonus features, this new concert film is pure musical entertainment from minute one to minute done. Relix Magazine says "Electric Opera brings the concert experience of this young but well fermented band home and offers a grand introduction for those not yet familiar to this frothy, progressive rock quartet."

The Dead Kenny G's - Operation Long Leash CD - If the moniker for the combustible punk jazz trio The Dead Kenny Gs doesn't say it all upon initial glance, a first listen to their new album Operation Long Leash quickly makes their intentions clear. Saxophonist Skerik, bassist Brad Houser and drummer/percussionist Mike Dillon are committed to musical subversion of the highest order. Exploring a muso obsession of musical styles and sonic colors, The Dead Kenny Gs have both the courage and the chops to realize their wildest aural fantasies. One moment they draw inspiration from punk legends The Minutemen, the next finds them embracing the spirit of jazz giant Rahsaan Roland Kirk and yet another finds the influence of indie rock progenitors Deerhoof; all the while sounding purely DKGs. To further that extent, it's not just music informing the trio's voice, but a keen understanding of political conspiracy in American history. The album's title, Operation Long Leash, comes from the clandestine CIA operation in the late '40s to fund Abstract Expressionism as a means for Western culture to undermine the rigid, confined and conformist ideals of the Soviet Union during the early years of the Cold War.

Upcoming Events:

March 24-27 - Suwannee SpringFest - Live Oak FL *

April 12-16 - Wannee Festival - Live Oak FL *

April 15-17 - Groove in the Holler - Prospect Hill, NC

April 21-24 - Shakori Hills GrassRoots Festival - Pittsboro, NC

Look for the Home Grown Music Booth at this event!

Video of the Week:

Thanks for reading! Treat yourself to some good music this week. If you're at SpringFest - stop by and say hi.
Lee Crumpton

New Releases:

Assembly of Dust - Found Sound (live) CD - Assembly of Dust's 2011 release Found Sound represents a "behind the curtain" look at a band that has gained notoriety as a studio/live performance hybrid. AOD's crew secretly recorded the band in order to capture totally inspired, unfiltered versions of their best material. While the album maintains the well crafted songs and lyrical depth that Genauer and Co. are known for, it separates itself from past efforts with an energetic delivery that showcases true musicianship. The energy captured on Found Sound represents what fans from coast to coast have known for years; music's best kept secret may have just been found.

The Brew - Electric Opera DVD - The Brew release their first full length DVD "Electric Opera"! In April of 2010, High-Definition cameras captured their sold out show at the historic Music Hall in Portsmouth, NH. With over 60 minutes of concert footage, plus band/fan interviews and bonus features, this new concert film is pure musical entertainment from minute one to minute done. Relix Magazine says "Electric Opera brings the concert experience of this young but well fermented band home and offers a grand introduction for those not yet familiar to this frothy, progressive rock quartet."

The Dead Kenny G's - Operation Long Leash CD - If the moniker for the combustible punk jazz trio The Dead Kenny Gs doesn't say it all upon initial glance, a first listen to their new album Operation Long Leash quickly makes their intentions clear. Saxophonist Skerik, bassist Brad Houser and drummer/percussionist Mike Dillon are committed to musical subversion of the highest order. Exploring a muso obsession of musical styles and sonic colors, The Dead Kenny Gs have both the courage and the chops to realize their wildest aural fantasies. One moment they draw inspiration from punk legends The Minutemen, the next finds them embracing the spirit of jazz giant Rahsaan Roland Kirk and yet another finds the influence of indie rock progenitors Deerhoof; all the while sounding purely DKGs. To further that extent, it's not just music informing the trio's voice, but a keen understanding of political conspiracy in American history. The album's title, Operation Long Leash, comes from the clandestine CIA operation in the late '40s to fund Abstract Expressionism as a means for Western culture to undermine the rigid, confined and conformist ideals of the Soviet Union during the early years of the Cold War.

Coming Soon:

March 22 :

Soulive - Bowlive DVD - In March of 2010, the members of Soulive hauled their instruments through the doors of a newly-opened warehouse-turned-music venue in Brooklyn that they would call home for the next two weeks. Eric Krasno, Alan Evans and Neal Evans called on a multitude of their closest friends and musical conspirators to join them over the next fortnight - creating an incredibly broad guest lineup that included some of the pre-eminent guitar virtuosos of our generation (Derek Trucks, Warren Haynes), some of the biggest names in hip-hop (Questlove, Rahzel), and some of the most inventive improvisational players in modern rock n' roll (Robert Randolph, Marco Benevento, Oteil & Kofi Burbridge). The Brooklyn Bowl quickly became the mecca for these very distinct yet like-minded musicians, where they returned night after night, donning the dress code for good times (bowling shoes) and sharing famous Blue Ribbon fried chicken. The common thread that tied together all these disparate ingredients quickly became palpable -- from the transcendental heartfelt improvisations onstage to the homey & playful atmosphere provided by the bowling alley, the Soulive residency was like nothing that had come before it because all of those diverse elements fused to ultimately bring the Soul to Brooklyn Bowl.

Last Week:

Big Head Blues Club - 100 Years of Robert Johnson CD - This is the kind of record that Todd Park Mohr and his band Big Head Todd and the Monsters have always wanted to make. Five days recording in Memphis at the famous Ardent Studios with some of the bands biggest musical heroes playing some of Todd's favorite material.This record is a tribute to the late Robert Johnson to celebrate his centennial and is produced by Grammy winning producer Chris Goldsmith. The guest musicians include such great guest musicians as BB King, Hubert Sumlin, David "Honeyboy" Edwards, Charlie Musselwhite, Ruthie Foster, Cedric Burnside and Lightnin' Malcolm.

Upcoming Events:

March 24-27 - Suwannee SpringFest - Live Oak FL *

April 13-17 - Wannee Festival - Live Oak FL *

April 15-17 - Groove in the Holler - Prospect Hill, NC

Look for the Home Grown Music Booth at this event!

Video of the Week:

Thanks for reading! Treat yourself to some good music this week.
Lee Crumpton