Vibes & Stuff Album 4

Album 4 On VNS (3/18/12)

FAST & FURIOUS (SY SMITH)

Sy Smith and Mark De Clive-Lowe – an amazing combination that makes for an equally amazing record! Sy’s always been great, no matter what the setting – but this time around, all instruments and production are handled by Mark, who gives the record a sweetly cosmic groove! The album bristles with excitement from the very first note – and Smith’s singing has this wickedly spacious quality – all the depth of soul we’ve loved from the start, but a new sense of power that slides in perfectly with the crackling rhythms and jazzy keyboards from De Clive-Lowe.

A stellar introduction the one of our favorite independent soul chanteuses of the 00s and beyond – the very well chosen Syber Selects set – put together by Sy Smith herself! Sy is been calling her own shots all along – and it’s that personal touch that makes this “Best Of” better. In a world where retrospectives are often scrapped together as a contract fullfiller that are indeed weighed down with musical filler, Sy goes the other way and crafts what she thinks is a tight introduction to her style and evolution as an artist throughout here couple of EPs and trio of albums over the the years.

CHARITY STARTS AT HOME (PHONTE)

Sharp wordplay from Phonte – back in a straight up hip hop mode for the most part on Charity Starts At Home – great stuff that’s something of a return to the soulful hip hop of Little Brother – not a retread, but solid solo continuation! Phonte’s not messing around on the mic, delivering here as a razor sharp, yet ntrospective rhyme spitter. Charity features impressive appearances by Sy Smith, Elzhi, Jeanne Jolly, Median, Eric Roberson and others – plus production by Khrysis, 9th Wonder, S1, Swiff D and others

EVENING WITH FOREIGN EXCHANGE (FOREIGN EXCHANGE)

A double disc CD & DVD package showcasing one of our favorite souful acts on the contemporary landscape – Nicolay & Phonte’s brilliant and ever-evolving Foreign Exchange project! Dear Friends showcases an acoustic concert performed for a private audience –- the great touring lineup that includes Zo!, Sy Smith, and singer/songwriter Jeanne Jolly. From the get go, we’ve been impressed by both the original songwriting from Foreign Exchange as well as the way they filter diverse influences into their own unique vibe – and this acoustic setting really gets to the heart and soul of it. This is an essential document for fans of the group, but it’s also a fine intro if you’re just now coming aboard

Album 4 On VNS (3/4/12)

BLACK RADIO (ROBERT GLASPER)

An amazing new chapter in the career of Robert Glaspar – one of our favorite new jazz musicians of the past decade or so! This set features loads of Glaspar’s enigmatic piano lines – those fluid, elliptical sounds that are always filled with plenty of soul and imagination – matched here with guest vocals from a host of key talents – including Erykah Badu, Lalah Hathaway, Musiq Soulchild, Meshell Ndegeocello, Bilal, and Lupe Fiasco! The blend is surprisingly wonderful – not a sell out at all, but a way for Glaspar’s music to reach a rich new level of expression – as the vocals really help the instrumental elements come alive – and unlock this side of Robert’s potential that was always lurking in the background. One of the best musical moments we’ve heard from Blue Note in years

FUNKY AS USUAL (FUNKY LEAGUE)

Plenty of great guests really make this one sparkle – Diamond D, Sadat X, Large Professor, Gift Of Gab, and others – all of whom really live up to the true school style of beatmaking from Hugo! The tunes have some especially great keyboards at times, scratches by Suspect, and even a bit of bass from Patchworks

UPSIDE DOWN (JAZZANOVA)

Jazzanova upside down – a great little set that features rich reworkings of songs from their excellent Of All The Things album! The core album was probably the greatest thing Jazzanova had done to date – a richly soulful outing that featured some really incredible songwriting – perfect for vocals from singers like Jose James, Paul Randolph, Ben Westbeech, and Phonte – all of whom make appearances here. Yet this time around, the sound is taken back to Jazzanova’s roots – that cool, clear style they first had back in their Compost and early Sonar Kollektiv days – a time when they were one of the most revolutionary acts on the European scene

HANDS ON THE TORCH (US3)

The biggest selling album ever cut by Blue Note – and a festive romp through samples of the label’s famous jazz catalog!

Album 4 On VNS (2/26/12)

CITY TO CITY (CUICA)

The debut release from Cuica – a group that features Simon Serrietella, aka Big Bang! Cuica take their name from a Brazilian percussion instrument that has a very unusual sound – and while this record has very little to do with Brazilian music, it does have a highly percussive sound – one that’s almost a stripped-down version of the London broken beats of Big Bang. The groove is very spare on most cuts – and a lot of the basis for the percussion is natural instruments, sampled and looped in a way that gives the work a nice tribal kind of feel. Warm keyboards step out on a number of cuts, adding in a nicely soulful approach

SEARCH ENGINE (DJ FOOD)

A way too long awaited full length from DJ Food – more than a decade since Kaleidoscope – expanding on some material that appeared a trio of EPs – and it turned out great! Fairly hard hitting beats and psych atmosherics abound. This one endeared to us right outta the gate, with great use of a Ken Nordine vocal sample over some astral hip hop beatcraft – which is ultimately just a bonus layer of coolness on an already brilliant set! Guests include Matt Johnson, Natural Self, JG Thrillwell and 2econd Class Citizen

TOURIST (ST. GERMAIN)

Killer jazzy grooves from the bourgeoning French jazz house scene! St Germain take a Blue Note 70s sound as their base – with lots of sweet Hammond riffs, mellow Fender Rhodes licks, funky flute lines, and spacey percussion – then they add in some tight soulful house rhythms, with a very deep deep deep groove! The result is some of the best jazzy house that we’ve heard in years – and the record is the kind of album designed to put Blue Note back on the map as one of the most groove-committed jazz majors in the world

URBAN HANG SUITE (MAXWELL)

An excellent bit of modern soul – a smooth seductive album that fits perfectly with an older mellow groove, but which also sparkles with the best recent efforts of the past decade. Maxwell’s got a wonderful vocal style – reminding us a bit of classic Isley Brothers, Leon Ware, or O’Jays in a ballad mode – and it sits perfectly amidst warm jazzy arrangements by Musze, filled with all the subtle instrumental touches (keyboards, sax, and guitar) you’d find on a late album by Marvin Gaye, or some of the slow jams by the Isleys. The vibe is warm and acoustic, and the record’s a wonderful return to a classic mellow midtempo soul style – and did quite well upon its initial release. Also interesting was the fact that the record was pressed up heavily on vinyl – something that was rare for a mainstream soul album at the time, and which was particularly ubiquitous in our hometown of Chicago, where DJs on the steppers scene were snatching up the record like hotcakes

Album 4 On VNS (2/19/12) ::2yr Anniversary Show::

THESE ARE THE BREAKS (UBIQUITY/ VARIOUS)

Some of the funkiest tracks on the mighty Luv N Haight and Ubiquity labels – no surprise, given that all of them have been sampled over the years! The bulk of the work here is 70s funk – of the gritty, obscure sort that Luv N Haight first started digging 20 years ago, and has continued to reissue at a rock-solid level – overlooked gems from the American underground, brought back to life not just through key hip hop samples, but also from the label’s own series of excellent compilations and reissues

SPIRITUAL JAZZ (VARIOUS)

The sound of spiritual jazz from the European underground of the 60s and 70s – a really rich music-making scene that’s every bit as impressive as the one going on in the US – as you’ll hear from this amazing set of tracks! As with the first volume in the series, the collection is filled with modal jazz and other groovers – mostly long tracks that really stretch out, yet still always have a tight sense of rhythm – one that makes the music completely infectious right from the start! It might be tempting to think of European jazz of this sort as kind of a copy of a US mode – but instead, it really happened simultaneously – as younger players were really pushing past the styles of previous years – and drawing not only on American jazz for inspiration, but also a range of different post-colonial modes particular to the European scene – bits of African, Latin, Brazilian, and other styles that really helped influence their approach. And in a way, it might even be said that the Europeans of the 60s had a much looser approach to rhythm, one that really allowed for experiments like these – and which, in turn, went back to have an influence on the American side as well

MODERNO PRIMITIVO (GERARDO FRISINIA)

A great little cut that definitely earns the “Primitivio” in its title – thanks to some mighty spare acoustic rhythms at the bottom – much more classically Afro-Cuban than you’d guess from the house mix listed here! In fact, it seems that all instrumentation is played live – even though there’s a tightness to the groove that might also fit a contemporary club sound too – massive conga lines, organ riffs, and a bassline that really stitches the whole thing together! The “original mix” has some more live jazzy instrumentation on trombone and keyboards – and “Cogele El Ritmo” builds a strong groove with almost a descarga vibe – yet always that tightly-directed style we love from Gerardo Frisina

BLACK WATER GOLD (BLUE RHYTHM COMBO)

The Blue Rhythm Combo take on “Black Water Gold” – a cut that’s already a 70s funk classic, thanks to the original reading by African Music Machine – but even funkier here, with lots of bass that really bumps it up from the bottom! There’s a cool kind of wheet/whistle that lurks somewhere in the background – and the bass and drum bits are really amazing, with a breakdown in the middle that’s worth the price of the record alone! The flipside has lots of funky feeling too – and some massive massive drums that don’t exactly break in the usual way, but really set the tune on fire

Album 4 On VNS (2/12/12) ::J DILLA::

RUFF DRAFT (J DILLA)

J Dilla at his grittiest, most rugged & raw – in both the production and rhyme realm – with all beats and rhymes by the Dilla himself! This set originally opened our ears to a different side of Dilla, a harder hitting aesthetic, with beats and grooves from out of leftfield that draw you in and hypnotize. Ruff Draft was originally released as a vinyl only EP for the European market, and it was tough to get ahold of from the get go – so hats off to Stones Throw for giving it the reverent re-release it deserves – fleshed out with bonus tracks!

DONUTS (J DILLA)

A massive batch of instrumentals from J Dilla – one that strongly transcends the wordless hip hop genre – and perhaps his rawest, and most adventurous listening experience yet! The loopy soul samples, rich synth/electronic shine, and thumping bass and soul beats that Dilla largely made his name on are laced throughout, but he also takes things a step into stranger territory – with spacey elements that buzz as much as they groove! The cuts never less than soulful and funky, and never steps into Madlib’s brand of the weeded out style, either. We love how raw this all feels, too! It’s easily identifiable as the work of Jay Dee, but at the same time wholly unpredictable! One of the better Stone’s Throw hip hop efforts in a while – instrumental or vocal!

JAY LOVE JAPAN (J DILLA)

The long awaited Jay Love Japan EP from from the dearly departed J Dilla – a 9 track, mostly instrumental set originally slated exclusively for the Japanese market – and one Dilla’s last projects! This is Dilla in a mostly uptempo vibe, with soulful strings and vocal samples and blunt, snapping beats. There are a couple vocal appearances from Detroit fellows – Baatin of Slum Village and Ta’Raach – plus additional scratch work in a couple spots by Exile and and Ricci Rucker. Ultimately, this is an all too brief set of trademark Dilla beatcraft – but we’ll take what we can get

THE SHINING (J DILLA)

The long awaited Jay Love Japan EP from from the dearly departed J Dilla – a 9 track, mostly instrumental set originally slated exclusively for the Japanese market – and one Dilla’s last projects! This is Dilla in a mostly uptempo vibe, with soulful strings and vocal samples and blunt, snapping beats. There are a couple vocal appearances from Detroit fellows – Baatin of Slum Village and Ta’Raach – plus additional scratch work in a couple spots by Exile and and Ricci Rucker. Ultimately, this is an all too brief set of trademark Dilla beatcraft – but we’ll take what we can get

Album 4 On VNS (1/28/12)

EXTEND THE KNOWLEDGE (MARC MAC)

A timeless hip hop soul ode to the Civil Rights struggle from Marc Mac of 4 Hero! Extend The Knowledge is a 2CD set that serves a beautiful tribute to the movement – with spoken bits pulled from a range of classic records of the 60s and 70s, all set to beats and keys by the mighty Marc Mac! The music has got a grittier feel than some of Mac’s work with 4 Hero – and is a bit more in the mode of his recent Visioneers project, but somewhat more abstract overall – in the “homage” mode of his Game Of Chess album

GOLDEN AGE OF APOCALYPSE (THUNDERCAT)

One of the great modern genre busting-debuts we’ve had the pleasure of being so stunned by in quite a while! Thundercat’s Golden Age is dizzyingly brilliant mix of 80s clubby synths and keys, future soul & funky soundscapes, 70s soul jazzy atmospherics and more – but it’s hardly a mere genre-mash, Thundercat’s got a unique and inventive vision all his own. A number of tracks feature vocals, but it’s really about the mood – and what an expansive mood it is! He shows love here for influential figures from George Duke to Brainfeeder honcho Flying Lotus, to Erykah Badu – great stuff and we’re thinking he’s only gonna get better from here.

PAIS TROPICAL (SERGIO MENDES & BRASIL 77)

A great album from the early 70s – one that has Sergio and crew doing Brazilian tracks with a bit of an LA studio feel – one that takes their older bossa groove into even more soulful territory! Dave Grusin and Tom Scott did the arrangements, both in the best styles of their key early work – which means that things are tight, but never to slick or overpolished.

THE ANTIDOTE (RONNY JORDAN)

A classic bit of London funky guitar from Ronny Jordan – the heir apparent to Grant Green and Ivan Boogaloo Joe Jones – and one of the best new players of his generation! The set takes the older funky guitar styles of the 60s soul jazz generation, and fuses it with a 90s nujazz approach – to come up with some tight groovers that have a surprisingly classic feel, yet which also sparkle with the fresher sounds of the time – some of the hip rhythms that were bubbling around in London during the Talking Loud and early Acid Jazz years.

Album 4 On VNS (1/22/12)

RED MATCH BOX (LAFAYETTE AFRO ROCK BAND W/ MIKKI WHITE)

A stone killer from the 70s European scene – even though the record was never issued at the time! The album features a rare combination of grooves from the Lafayette Afro Rock Band, and vocals from Mikki White – an American singer who really adds a whole new dimension to their music – taking it into even tighter, funkier areas than before – and giving it a focus that’s mighty mighty nice! There’s still loads of the heavy funk we’ve always loved from the group – but there’s also some tighter rhythms that almost feel like rhythm tracks from the American underground of the late 70s – the sort of vibe you might hear on rare P&P singles, which would be a perfect place for some of these tracks.

LOS NOMBRES (LOS NOMBRES)

Beautiful brown-eyed soul from the Ohio scene of the 70s – just the sort of record you might have expected to hear from East LA or Spanish Harlem back in the day – but even more amazing to come from Cleveland! The group are a Latin combo at the core, but they’ve soaked up plenty of soul influences from the late 60s and early 70s – bringing in bits of harmony soul, funk, and other hip touches to really expand their groove – in ways that are similar to the changes Joe Bataan and his contemporaries were going through at the time! There’s a few funky instrumentals that get nicely tripped out, offset with some wonderful mellow soul numbers, and a few straighter Latin bits – all of which show a really amazing range for the group. As usual, Numero does a great job of bringing their whole story to light through the great notes – but even without them, we’re plenty happy with the music on the set!

LEAVING THIS PLANET (MARK DE CLIVE LOWE)

A great little EP from Mark De Clive-Lowe – whose way of inflecting timeless dancefloor heat with boundless cosmic atmosphere and a genuine love of global soul jazz has always been big part of his appeal – and he’s doing it as deeply as ever here! The Leaving This Planet EP is centered around a sweet cover of the Charles Earland classic – featuring beautiful soul vocals by Sharlene Hector – and Mark also covers Gene Harris’s “Koko + Lee Roe” for another gem with a jazzy soul vibe. 

CELESTIAL ELECTRIC (SHAWN LEE)

A nice collaborative set from living psych/pop/soul/funk kaliedoscope Shawn Lee – who has never delivered a set that wasn’t breezy, tuneful and resonating with geniune warmth – and LA singer and fellow multi-instrumentalist AM! AM sings and contributes guitars, synth and all kinds of groovy keys while Lee provides a good deal of the drums, percussion and backing vocals – and the sounds range from lightly funky psych folk with stuttering beatcraft to spacier, moodier elements. 

Album 4 On VNS (1/15/12)

EXPLORATIONS INTO DANCEFLOOR JAZZ (UBIQUITY)

Ubiquity’s first volume compiling a bunch of the best acid jazz stuff to come out of the early 90’s – but which had only been floating around on expensive import singles. Cuts include “Honeydipped” by Marden Hill, “High Noon” by Kruder & Dorfmeister, “Sweat” by Paolo Achenza Trio, “World Keeps Fallin” by Cunnie Williams, and “Say Yeah” by Izit. Lots more, and in a nice package.

BACK IN THE DOGHOUSE (BUGZ IN THE ATTIC)

A pulsing, bouncy set of electro funk and dancefloor future soul from Bugz In The Attic – the first-ever official LP from the sprawling DJs/producers/mix master collective! The Bugz have been tearing up the remix scene for years with their unique blend of soul, funk and electro-learned beats, and Doghouse is a really strong outlet for a less experimental, more party oriented vibe. It’s packed with thumping computer funk, ceaselessly riveting grooves, and a truly coherent overall sound! We’re having a tough time pinning it down with words, but a much easier time leaving it on the turntable all day long! It’s a great headphones listen, too – much, much more than a string of club tracks. A wonderful surprise! 

ORIGINAL SOUND OF CUMBIA COMPILED BY QUANTIC (SOUNDWAY/ QUANTIC)

Soundway Records delves deep into the great history Colombian cumbia and porro – beautifully putting together an expansive set that traces the evolution of the sounds throughout 3 decades – and keeping it coming feverishly and furiously well paced the whole way through! They do a terrific job of making this set reverent of the history – it was very well researched by Will “Quantic” Holland – with one half featuring earlier Columbian cumbia and one half of the evolving sounds and instrumentation that came into play over the years. The sound is beautiful, even on the earliest recordings, and it’s heated, intensely rhythmic all the way. Holland and Soundway’s Miles Cleret here deliver as exciting and informative a set of benchmark cumbia as we could have hoped for – and it includes nice set of notes and photos.

LIGHT OF THE SUN (JILL SCOTT)

Jill Scott returns with Light Of The Sun – once again lighting up modern R&B like only she can! It’s a solid return to form for Jill – delivering distinctively soulful, emotional gems with toned down, natural grooves along with funky hip soul backed tracks and righteous diva groovers – and it’ll sound great for years to come. We wish she’d record more often, but we’re pleased enough that each album she’s delivered to date has been truly excellent! Guests includ Anthony Hamilton, Doug E Fresh, Eve & The A Group

Album 4 On VNS (1/08/12)

HAVANA CULTURE: THE SEARCH CONTINUES (GILES PETERSON)

A hell of a double-header – almost like getting two albums in one – both records put together as part of Gilles Peterson’s recent dip into the Cuban scene! CD 1 features a tight performance from the Havana Cultura Band – a contemporary ensemble, but who work with a really rootsy blend of modes – lots of older Afro-Cuban elements, with funkier elements, a few contemporary touches, and an overall sound that’s far more global than straight Latin – but in ways that are quite different than contemporary Latin pop! Leave it to Peterson to foster a groove this revolutionary.

GET IT TOGETHER (SOLA ROSA)

Some of the funkiest grooves we’ve heard from the New Zealand scene in years – a great mix of live instrumentation and programmed beats and samples – very much in the best Melting Pot mode, but even funkier than usual! Some cuts feature vocals – as the album includes guest work from Bajka, Spikey Tee, and Iva Lamkum – and the mix of modes is great – and reminds us of some of the earlier funk from the Tru Thoughts scene!

JUKEBOX JAM (BLUES & RHYTHM REVUE)

A treasure trove of raw soul and rough-edged R&B – a killer collection of material that originally appeared on the ultra-limited series of Juke Box Jam singles from Jazzman – sweetly collected into one nicely-priced package! The grooves here are totally great – and represent a step backwards in the funk scene – a move back to the 50s and early 60s from the previous focus on later years’ soulful sounds – a much-needed dig back into the R&B that first inspired all the soul and funk of the 60s and 70s – but with a very fresh ear, so that the collection’s way different than any set of music like this you would have heard a decade ago! The sounds are plenty gritty, and a great illustration that there’s still loads to be discovered in these crucial years of music.

A COLLECTION OF RARE SOUL & DISCO (UNDER THE INFLUENCE)

Massive – and more rare club singles than we might have hoped for in a single package! The set’s proof that there’s still plenty to dig for in the 12” scene of the late 70s and early 80s – as it features a huge amount of rare grooves we’ve never heard before – most of them perfectly balanced between boogie, disco, and funky soul modes – and often produced with the sort of raw touches that we’d usually find on the P&P family of labels! There’s definitely an east coast vibe running strong in the set – but the collection also features nice contributions from points west, too – including a few especially nice club tracks from the Detroit scene that have been lost to the shifting sands of time for years. The notes feature some surprising details on each number – proving that compiler DJ Red Greg really knows his stuff – and about half of the cuts are presented in sensitive edits that do great things to expand the groove, while still respecting the structure of the original tune.

Album 4 On VNS (12/12/11)

SOMETHING ABOUT APRIL (ADRIAN YOUNGE WITH VENICE DAWN)

A contemporary classic from Adrian Younge – and his first full soul album, after some previous soundtrack material! The record’s got all the fragile, lovestruck qualities you’d expect from the image on the cover – a real throwback to the glory days of indie soul, particularly the East Coast indie variety of the early 70s – when beautiful ballads and falsetto vocals were the height of soul expression – often served up with surprisingly funky undercurrents in the backings! Younge gets all the right elements right for the set – and the whole thing feels like some lost All Platinum/Stang album from the New Jersey scene – really respectful, and delivered without any self-consciousness or gimmicks at all.

IFETAYO (BLACK TRUTH RHYTHM BAND)

Wow! The one-and-only album by Trinidadian combo Black Truth Rhythm Band – a completely incredible one at that – hypnotic Caribbean funky soul, jazz and wildly impressive musicianship all around by this group led by singer and multi-instrumentalist Oluko Imo. The record was made in the mid 70s era in which the Afro Funk sound was hitting it’s peak – when African rhythms and James Brown style funk were being fused so furiously – but Black Truth Rhythm Band take a different approach, working more with sounds from African spectrum and the West Indies. It’s really amazing stuff that takes unpredictable twists from stripped down rhythms, to jazzy guitars and cosmic synths – always with straight up brilliant playing by the group. A fusion of African rhythms, strains of Calypso and boundary free jazzy grooves that balance and exploratory sensibility with tight, irresistible rhythms. Soundway raises the bar once again!

BULLETPROOF BRASS (HYPNPOTIC BRASS ENSEMBLE)

 It always feels like we’re waiting a long time for a new record from Hypnotic Brass Ensemble – but it’s always well worth the wait! This time around, they’ve found a way to focus their energies even more than before – still sticking strongly in the horn-heavy groove that we love, but also opening things up a bit more on the rhythm tip, too – and going for production that, if anything, makes them sound even more earnest, honest, and spontaneous than before! The record really preserves the live energy that makes the group so compelling – that razor sharp criss-crossing of jazz traditions and styles – steeped in a Chicago legacy that includes Sun Ra and Phil Cohran, but coming across with a hell of a lot more groove than either of them too.

UNDUN (THE ROOTS)

 Hip hop’s reigning kings of longevity The Roots deliver another great album with Undun – we’d have to think it’s entirely uncompromising and they’re doing exactly what they want to do on this album – if you thought their day (eh, latenight) job would would bring their album work into more of a mainstream style…hell no! Undun is a serious, soul searching and boldly creative album length character study inspired by a Sufjan Stephens song (!!!) – ambition is not something this group lacks – and it’s stunning. An album that’s in the upper tier of Roots albums in quality – there’s certainly no chart bait here.