Sureshot Symphony Solution feat. the Mighty Pope – Mr. Fortune & Fame
Way back at the beginning of this year, my friend Soul Marcosa shared this song on his facebook page and I just about flipped my wig (which is quite a feat considering I don’t wear a wig). Everything about the song got me amped to hear more, those horns, the massive break-beat drums, the fuzzy guitar and the gruff soulful vocals. One of the fantastic things about Facebook is being able to often reach out directly and quite easily with artists about their music. Sureshot is a SF based producer and DJ, who I recently learned was behind one of my favorite break LPs, Soundbwoy Super Status Reggae Breaks (with the best version of “Tom Drunk” likely the one sampled for Reflection Eternal’s late 1990s classic “Fortified Live”) and as the Sureshot Symphony Solution, he’s following the path laid down by other accomplished DJs, such as Quantic and Adrian Younge, mixing together original music with sample based material. Within a week of hearing the song, I was able to get copies of the vinyl and learned that later in the year he’d be releasing a full-length album.
“Elegant Aggression” is that album, finally released through Nature Sounds, and it builds on the promise of the earlier EP and singles, featuring a wide variety of guest vocalists and musicians, including Myron & E, Coultrain and Ohmega Watts. As good as the many other songs are (and the instrumentals which are included with the release), I keep coming back to this track featuring The Mighty Pope on vocals again and again. Very proud that we’ll be able to offer this fine collection of music during our upcoming fundraiser on KPFK…don’t sleep on this one.