Tag: Soul
Two of London’s most forward-thinking artists in vocalist Fatima and keyboard wiz Joe Armon-Jones (who is also a founding member of Ezra Collective) have teamed up to release an incredible new EP, titled Tinted Shades.
Over the last few years, UK’s Pressure Makes Diamonds, which is a label run by Graham Luckhurst and Gary Johnson, has reissued some of the most obscure soul and funk singles you’ll come across on Discogs. The label continues their string of impressive releases with quite possibly their most welcomed reissue to date, in Brief Encounter’s mid-seventies obscure two-step “holy grail” 7inch Human.
Through the remarkable restorative and production work of Italy’s Tesla Groove and Cannonball Recordings, a phenomenal previously unreleased gem, titled “Time And Space” from soul great Mike James Kirkland and drumming legend James Gadson is finally completed and put out as a limited-edition double-sided 7inch single.
As we wind down the final days of 2021 and look ahead to 2022 (with so many questions regarding what the future or this virus has in store), here is one more “look back” at the past twelve months — exploring some of the best individual tracks that helped us all get through this (still very much) challenging year. Happy New Year everyone, and more importantly, stay healthy and safe!
Toronto based record label We Are Busy Bodies has recently reissued the rare 1980 recording by the collaborative supergroup ensemble Eboni Band, featuring musicians from Ivory Coast based Eboni Records and prime Motown session players, including funk legend and longtime JB’s bandleader Fred Wesley.
London’s Strut Records continues it’s brilliant series of releases exploring the vaults of Jimmy Gray’s now considered legendary Richmond, Virginia based label Black Fire Records with a highly in-demand reissue of Bow To The People by Dayton, Ohio theater collective Theatre West.
Over the last two-plus years, UK’s SAULT has been the most innovative collective in all of music, releasing four groundbreaking full length albums including last year’s highly acclaimed UNTITLED (Black Is) and follow-up UNTITLED (Rise) (BeatCaffeine’s #1 and #3 Favorite Albums of 2020), which centered around subjects of police brutality and racial injustices. The thought-provoking group, which features producer Dean “Inflo” Wynton Josiah, vocalist Cleo Sol, rapper/vocalist Melisa Young (aka Kid Sister) and numerous other guests and collaborators, returns with another brilliant recording, titled NINE, which according to the band, will only be available to download or stream digital for 99 days from it’s release date of June 25, 2021.
After a number of years of re-releasing some of the best and most obscure recordings, you can basically guarantee that if Portugal’s Mad About Records is putting something out, it’s going to be absolutely incredible. That string of essential releases continues with their recent reissue of the 1980 modern soul full-length gem from vocalist and keyboardist Kenny Mann and his group Liquid Pleasure.
Los Angeles-based composer, producer, multi-instrumentalist, visionary, and one of the two people behind the Jazz Is Dead label and series, Adrian Younge, has released a powerful new groundbreaking album, titled The American Negro, which unapologetically calls out historic racism and white supremacy, and the ongoing trauma it’s caused on Black people in the United States.
UK-based Backatcha Records has released a brilliant new sixteen-track compilation featuring some of the hardest to find independent soul gems recorded between 1971-1984.
Only hours after the shocking news about MF DOOM’s passing was just beginning to circulate throughout the music world on New Year’s Eve, we heard further heartbreaking news through social media that San Francisco native, producer, multi-instrumentalist, DJ, and vocalist Kenyan “K-Maxx” Hopkins had suddenly and unexpectedly passed away on December 29. This devastating news sent shockwaves through the Bay Area music community and beyond.
As we get ready to enter the new year, I’ve put together one final “favorites” list, featuring some of the best EP releases that came out over the past twelve months. Sometimes the line is blurring as to what is an EP and what is considered an album, and definitely a few of the selections below can arguably be considered full-length recordings. Regardless, I thought this provides another opportunity to highlight some of the brilliant recordings that helped get us through this very challenging year. Happy New Year everyone!
As we wind down the final days of a year that we will never forget, and begin to look ahead, it’s good to highlight some of those incredible individual tracks that helped us get through 2020. From jazz, soul, electronic music, global grooves, dance floor gems, tropical funk, and just about everything in-between, the amount of quality music that was coming out over the past twelve months was arguably as good as any year I can recall.
