Something Unique – This Feeling Between Us

Still on hiatus from the radio show for at least another week, but at least this week, we’ll have a fair amount of music and other goodies for y’all folks…starting the week of right is this new collection put out by Ubiquity records and compiled by DJ Sureshot. There probably isn’t a city that is more associated with the modern soul/boogie renaissance of the last several years than Los Angeles, and aside from all the fine work of Dam Funk and his Funkmosphere crew, Boogie music has a very 1980s LA feel. Sheridan House was one of a number of local labels that put out the funky stuff toward the end of the 1970s and early 1980s. At 27 tracks, there’s a ton of music to digest, some of which repurposes beats from other songs, but even those “versions” are enjoyable on their own merits. While I love the “sophisticated boogie,” I particularly dig the slower tracks on this album. Something Unique’s “This Feeling Between Us,” is just a shade reminiscent of the classic “You Can’t Turn Me Away” and since it was released a year later in 1981, it’s quite possible that that’s deliberate. If you dig this sound (and I don’t really know anyone who doesn’t love this sound) I’m sure you’ll dig on this collection.

This one is a bit last minute as a extra pair opened up…Mark Kozelek/Sun Kil Moon will be performing here in LA on Thursday, October 9th at the Fonda Theatre. Most people know Kozelek, by name or by sound, as the main force behind the much beloved Red House Painters. For more than a few years now he’s recorded music under the moniker Sun Kil Moon that remains connected to his past work, but also presents elements that were only hinted at with his prior band. Of late he’s especially grown fond of playing an Acoustic nylon string guitar and the results have been beautiful, particularly on 2010’s Admiral Fell Promises. Benji, his most recent release, includes some of the most personal songwriting of his career, and it’s likely that this show will feature mostly songs from that album, but who knows. With a body of work as rich and varied as Kozelek’s there’s no telling which songs he’ll perform or what mood he’ll be in. I’m sure it will be a night to remember, and if you’d like to go courtesy of Melting Pot, send me an e-mail at michael[at]meltingpotblog.com by 5pm today for a chance to win!

Not sure if tomorrow’s show will be a solo one or he’ll have a band backing him up, but either way the results are extraordinary. Here’s Sun Kil Moon with a full band back Kozelek, for the song “Richard Ramirez Died Today Of Natural Causes,” from the most recent album Benji:

I very rarely will feature a cellphone video on this site, but I highlight this one, because “Church Of The Pines” is one of my favorite recent songs from Sun Kil Moon, and also to showcase just how extraordinary Kozelek sounds when he performs solo:

I’d heard they’d broken up, that we’d seen the last of King Khan & the BBQ show, but clearly those accounts were greatly exaggerated cause they’ll be playing here in Los Angeles on Tuesday October 7th at the El Rey. In contrast to the expansive sonic fury when he’s backed by his 10 piece (at least) band the Shrines, Khan’s work with BBQ show is stripped down and bone raw. BBQ Show would be a draw just by himself, with his one-man band percussion set-up, jangly guitars and vocals, but you add in King Khan and it ups the intensity and insanity levels far past 11. If you’d like to see them courtesy of Melting Pot, make sure to send me an e-mail to michael[at]meltingpotblog.com before 5pm on Monday, October 6th!

Just as an introduction to the sound of King Khan & the BBQ Show, here’s their video for the song “Fish Fry”:

And for a better idea of what’s in store for you if you go to the show, I think this video just about sums it up:

Jungle Fire – Tropicoso

First heard about Jungle Fire a couple years ago, when Oliver Wang of Soul-Sides.com was raving about their first single, “Comencemos,” a cover of Phirpo y Sus Caribes (covering Fela Kuti). I’d recently heard the original and while they two shared a number of sensibilities and style, that new version seemed tougher and tighter rhythmically. A couple of 45s for the Colemine label followed and whet our appetites for the main course, their debut album, just released by Latin-Alt label Nacional. Like a number of funky groups in the LA area, Jungle Fire shares a few members with other bands, but together their style is all their own. The band’s stock and trade is a muscular, heavy Afro Latin Funk sound. Tropicoso features the previous singles as well as a number of other originals that showcase the varied talents and inspirations of the group. “Tropicoso” starts off with a bit of a cumbia feel to it, until the drums and horns kick in and suddenly it’s become the all-star recording session that you always wished Fruko y Sus Tesos and Eddie Palmieri’s Harlem River Drive had recorded in the early 1970s. That sound never really existed, at least not until now with Jungle Fire and that’s part of the beauty of the band in this post-Hip-Hop musical landscape, the ability to mix styles and sounds in a way that pays homage to the past, but keeps things moving forward.

On Thursday, October 2nd, one of the most respected underground rappers in the game right now will be here in LA performing at the Troubadour. Brother Ali returns to our city to perform here at the start of 30+ date tour of the US and Canada…if you’d like to see him courtesy of Melting Pot, send an e-mail to michael[at]meltingpotblog.com by 5pm, Wednesday October 1st!

Here’s an example of what’s potentially in store for you, from a live performance that Ali did on the radio station KEXP with a full band:

Here’s the video for one of my favorite songs from Brother Ali…2012’s “Mourning In America”:

Souls Of Mischief w/ Adrian Younge – All You Got Is Your Word

Word hit late last year that Adrian Younge, fresh off of collaborations with Ghostface Killah and William Hart of the Delfonics, was working with Oakland’s Souls Of Mischief in a musical match made in heaven. All year long we got bits and pieces of information but finally here in September the fruits of that partnership were released. There Is Only Now is a concept record that takes initial inspiration from an actual event that occurred to the members of the band in 1994 where someone came up to them outside a club and began shooting. The first real track (not including the Warriors styled interlude featuring Ali Shaheed Muhammad that begins the album), “Time Stopped” is the closest to a “real” account of that incident, but the rest of the album unfolds like a thriller with Busta Rhymes showing up as the villian “Womack” and an assortment of other characters being added into the story. “All You Got Is Your Word,” is one of the few tracks that could stand on it’s own, in some ways as the perfect statement for the Souls Of Mischief and the greater Hieroglyphics crew. 20+ years in the game and still breaking the boundaries of the genre and exceeding expectations, Souls Of Mischief does not disappoint. Nor does Adrian Younge, whose legend continues to grow with each record. One of the finest releases of 2014.