BREAK IT DOWN

I know I don't usually post straight-up hip-hop tracks much, but hearing M.E.D.'s "Break It Down" earlier this week reminded me how much I enjoyed Peanut Butter Wolf and Stones Throw's "2K8: B-Ball Zombie War" (the soundtrack to the hugely successful NBA 2K video game series.) It was released late in 2007.

Needless to say, they certainly didn't seem to have any trouble finding exceptional material to include. Featureing tracks by J-Dilla, four Madlib productions & one from Just Blaze, with guest appearances by Talib Kweli, Q-Tip, Guilty Simpson, Oh No, Percee P, & more, it's a great record with wildly inventive styles, proving that there are some resonant and worthwhile voices in contemporary hip-hop.

M.E.D.'s "Break It Down" is fast, furious, and damn funky. Enjoy.

REDBACK

Cookin On 3 Burners are Jake Mason, Ivan Khatchoyan and Lance Ferguson, a three piece powerhouse from Down Under (Australia) who serve up the rawest in deep funk, jazz, boogaloo and soul. Led by a wailing Hammond Organ, they are distinctly different to many other funk acts, yet you’ll be no stranger to the grooves and pounding drums.

After a number of Melbourne residencies and a self released 7”, the group came to local prominence with the ‘Cressy St Breakdown’ 12” released on Knowfoowl thru USA’s Groove Distribution. This was followed by the re-release of ‘Gravel Rash’ through UK’s Freestyle label and then a follow up 7” ‘Keb’s Bucket’ (an ode to the Scottish DJ’s legendary pee bucket he needs when he plays for many hours). The group have continued to play across Sydney and Melbourne over the last 12 months, with highlight gigs including the support for Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings 06 Sydney show, support for Breakestra’s Music Man Miles DJ show in Melbourne and a mammoth 3 gigs in under 24 hours over the 07 ANZAC day holiday in Sydney.

Their debut LP "Baked Broiled and Fried" can be found online (google it, order it, and thank me later). The record is a great home brew of soulful Hammond with down home flavor fresh sounds, greasy backbeats, and nuanced, disciplined playing all around. The track "Redback" is below.

IN THE RAIN

In the early ’70s, Indianapolis-based vibraphonist Billy Wooten was playing in a band called the Wooden Glass. Wooten had been kicking around for years as a hard-working musician, playing in several different bands, touring, and even doing some sessions with famed guitarist Grant Green. Wooten's band--the Wooden Glass--had a regular gig at a club called the Nineteenth Whole and it was in that club that Wooden Glass recorded its seminal live album, Wooden Glass — Recorded Live featuring Billy Wooten. One of the prominent tracks on the LP is “In the Rain,” a funk-jazz instrumental that highlights Wooten’s unique vibraphone style.

“You had a period of rebirth, reminiscent of old Harlem. For those that came into the barrio, they would share in that happy feeling with the musicians,” Wooten recalls. “There was a camaraderie between the people and the musicians. Now we have another rebirth coming. To me, personally, it was an honor and a privilege to be part of those events.”

“The music doesn’t really belong to us, it belongs to whoever hears it, interprets it and rearranges it,” Wooten says, whose music has been extensively sampled by DJs like Madlib and DJ Shadow. Stones Throw also included this cut on their must-have "Funky 16 Corners" anthology. Original copies of this LP will run you anywhere from $800 to $1500 for a mint condition.

C.R.E.A.M.

"Fallin’ Off the Reel Vol. 2" follows the success of Truth and Soul’s first edition of the compilation, released in the fall of 2006. The second-edition Truth & Soul compilation boasts a varied roster of current-day and older funk and soul artists, including Timothy McNealy, El Michels Affair, Bronx River Parkway, Lee Fields & The Expressions, Tyrone Ashley’s Funk Music Machine, Black Velvet, Quincy Bright and The Fabulous Three. The compilation comprises a wide selection of contemporary music that has descended from the rhythm and blues, soul, and funk music traditions. "Fallin’ Off The Reel Vol. 2" has every Truth & Soul 45 single presented in chronological order from 2006 until now, including one previously unreleased bonus track. The Gatefold Double-LP includes selected tracks from both volumes of the Fallin’ Off the Reel series, plus rare tracks. It's an amazingly well put-together package, and it's well worth the investment of $20 or so.

It was hard to pick only one track to share with all you Nuggeteers out there, but alas...It's a beautifully sparse, genre-blurring instrumental version of Wu Tang's "C.R.E.A.M.", performed by Brooklyn's El Michels Affair, and, man...it's cream-of-the-crop. (Forgive the pun.)

HUMPTY DUMP

The Vibrettes' "Humpty Dump" is a funk 45 classic--a girl group with a wicked New Orleans sound, a massive, chunky breakbeat, heavy bass, and a sound that was often imitated, but rarely so effective.

This track was featured in DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist's "Brainfreeze" sets, and has been sampled by acts like Digital Underground ("Humpty Dance", natch)and Q-Tip ("Let's Ride.")

I CAN'T STAND THE RAIN

Take an inspired producer at the peak of his powers, a great team of session players, and an uncommonly subtle and graceful R&B singer, and what do you have? Top-tier Memphis soul.

The feminine counterpart to Al Green on producer Willie Mitchell's Hi label, Ann Peebles had a strong run through the '70s during which she put out a string of R&B hits, many of which have since been revived by famed fans of the singer and the Memphis style. "I Can't Stand the Rain," released in 1974, was Ann Peebles' finest album for Hi Records, and it should have been a massive success. Instead, while it's celebrated in Europe and now considered an anthem, it floundered and barely scraped the pop charts, although the single was her biggest R&B hit. In an interview, John Lennon once called it "the greatest record ever," which, hyperbole aside, shows the impact the song had on attentive ears.

STANDARD IN B

This track comes courtesy of Henryk Debich's 1975 LP "String Beat." It was released on the Muza label out of Poland. Debich made some great Polish funk records in his time, and this track is no exception.

MUSIC IS RULING MY WORLD

Ophir "Kutiman" Kutiel is a 25-year-old multi-instrumentalist, composer, and producer based in Tel Aviv. When a friend introduced him to the sounds of 1960s funk and Afro-beat, he was immediately entranced, and this album was the eventual result. It shows clearly that he's been listening hard to the records of his heroes -- Fela Kuti, James Brown, Sly Stone -- and that he's learned a lot from them. It also shows his impressive instrumental chops.

Kutiman's record was released on February 12, 2008 on Germany's Melting Pot label. It is a solid debut, and highly recommended. "Music is Ruling My World" boasts a wicked JB-influenced groove and some nice vocals, courtesy of Karolina.

SOUL SIDES

Art Farmer (1928-1999) was an American jazz trumpeter and flugelhorn player. He also played flumpet, a trumpet/flugelhorn combination designed for him by David Monette.

He joined Lionel Hampton's orchestra around 1953, (fellow trumpeters Clifford Brown and Quincy Jones were also with Hampton at the time), and having relocated to New York, later worked with Gigi Gryce, Horace Silver and Gerry Mulligan among others. In the early 1960s Farmer established a trio with guitarist Jim Hall and bassist Steve Swallow. He then moved to Europe, ultimately based in Vienna, where he performed with The Kenny Clarke-Francy Boland Big Band. Farmer also recorded extensively as a leader throughout his later career.

"Soul Sides" comes from his 1972 album "Gentle Eyes"--a slow, laconic number that crystallizes Farmer's big band arrangement (for 15 string and 5 horn players) and some wonderfully funky solos. The track was later sampled by Kool G Rap for on "For Da Brothaz."



Kool G. Rap's "For Da Brothaz":

R.I.P. CONRAD

And, sadly, another legend passes away....

From the Stones Throw/Now Again website:

Conrad O. Johnson, bandleader of the Kashmere High School Stage Band from 1968-1978 and owner of Kram Records, the label that issued the Band’s legendary eight albums and three 7” singles of Texas jazz, funk and soul music, died in Houston on February 3 at 92 years of age...

...Johnson, known by those close to him simply as “Prof” took the reins of the Band in the late 1960s and worked with his charges to perfect the idiom that they understood most: funk. Heavy funk at that. By the time that the band recorded their third album, “Thunder Soul,” they were funking like a mini-JBs. And, by the time they won “Best Stage Band In The Nation” in 1972, they were funking as hard as the JBs themselves. Yet the Band was relegated to the annals of funk lore, largely due to the fact that the records they released were so rare and, when a collector did get his hands on an original copy, he usually wanted to keep that power for his own ears..."

DJ Shadow famously sampled the Kashmere Stage Band for the track "Holy Calamity" on the first Handsome Boy Modeling School LP.

What else can be said? Rest in peace, Conrad. Thanks for the music. "Rhapsody in Blue" below.

SAVE THEIR SOULS

Drummer Hamilton Bohannon's "Stop and Go"--released in 1973 and often widely considered his finest record--concocts sensuous funk grooves from daring arrangements boasting tripped-out wah-wah guitars, punishing basslines, and massive drum breaks. In short, a sampler's wet dream. While later Bohannon discs would veer too far into the realm of up-tempo disco, "Stop and Go" favors slower, sexier rhythms. The end result is an uncommonly lush and tactile funk/soul record.

"Save Their Souls" has been sampled by Jay-Z ("Cashmere Thoughts"), Kool G Rap ("F U Man"), and by one of my personal faves, Ugly Duckling ("Introduckling").



Ugly Duckling's "Introduckling":

BIG THINGS COME IN SMALL PACKAGES

I'll be honest, folks--I don't know a thing about the Young Gents, except that they licensed a few 45's for Buddah Records, like the one below from 1973. A google search proved rather fruitless (although you will find some copies of the 45 flotating around for about $60). I found this for $7 in a used bin. Gotta love it.

DON'T CHANGE YOUR LOVE

The Five Stairsteps, known as The First Family of Soul, were an American Chicago soul group made up five of Betty and Clarence Burke Sr.'s six children: Alohe, Jean, Clarence Jr., James, Dennis, and Kenneth "Keni", and briefly, Cubie. They are best known for the 1970 song "Ooh Child," listed #392 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

"Don't Change Your Love" is one of the most sampled drumbreaks ever. It has been sampled by A Tribe Called Quest, Big Daddy Kane, Blackalicious, Chi-Ali, Chubb Rock, Common, De la Soul, Del, Edo G, Goats, House Of Pain, Ice Cube, LL Cool J, Masta Ace, Naughty By Nature, Nice And Smooth, Organized Konfusion, Pete Rock, Percee P, Slick Rick and many others.



Naughty By Nature's "Hip Hop Hooray":

2001

Unlike some of the Pickwick knock-off albums from the time, this blacksploitation effort by Cecil Holmes is top-shelf all the way -- as Cecil was one of the best funky bandleaders of the early 70s. The large group on the album features funky keyboards by Pat Rebillot, plus plenty of wah wah guitar, and enough strings to make the album rank up there with the soundtrack feel of the day. Randy Brecker also appears on the record. Includes versions of "Superfly", "Slaughter", "Freddie's Dead", "Across 110th Street", "Trouble Man" and a wild cover of the "2001" theme, below. A must have for DJ's--the opening breakbeat is as nasty as they come.

SISSY WALK

Mississippi-born Billy Ball and various incarnations of his backing band, The Upsetters, released a slew of singles on Starday affiliated labels. Based in Indianapolis, Ball and his cohorts toured the country, backing acts such as Rufus Thomas and Dee Dee Warwick. Their most famous release, "Tighten Up Tighter" is one of the most sought-after funk 45's ever, and "Sissy Walk" isn't far behind.