Month: January 2011

Ocote Soul Sounds


By John C. Tripp

As Ocote Soul Sounds, Adrian Quesada and Martin Perna, respective bandleaders of famed ensembles Grupo Fantasma and Antibalas create desert- and sun-soaked psychedelic funk that entwines the grit and funk of the gridlocked NYC streets, with the voices and rhythms of the dusty streets of Latin America.

On “Coconut Rock” their third album, the slipped effortlessly into their trademark psychedelic afro-latin funk groove. From the Latin breakbeat rhythms of album lead-off ‘The Revolt of the Cockroach People’ to the cumbia bounce of ‘Tu Fin, Mi Comienzo’ to the easy guitar soundscapes of ‘Vendendo Saude e Fe’ featuring Brazilian songstress Tita Lima, ‘Coconut Rock’ is the third chapter in Ocote Soul Sounds’ unparalleled journey through sonic realms beyond.

The duo of Perna and Quesada developed their musical paths in eerily similar parallel universes. Though Quesada grew up in the Texas border-town of Laredo, and Perna came up in Philadelphia (later New York), both musicians straddled borders literally and artistically. Growing up on hip hop and the jazz and funk it was built on; both taught themselves to play multiple instruments; both had founded game-changing, booty-shaking big bands; and both were deeply moved by a powerful spirit of social and political activism, the spirit that was to become Ocote.

A chance biodiesel breakdown, which left Martin stranded in Austin, led to the two playing around with some song ideas together, hitting the studio and ultimately resulted in their 2005 debut ‘El Nino Y El Sol’. Four years and three albums down the line, they have evolved into a seven-piece live outfit.

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New Mastersounds

With Ten Years On about to be released, a globe-trotting tour schedule and a loyal fanbase, The New Mastersounds are on a roll…

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Note to fans of the New Mastersounds: several illegal download sites are offering downloads of Ten Years On against the wishes of the band. We at Mundovibe are not only appalled at this but are encouraging you not to be part of this behavior. As we all know, all musicians toil long and hard to get their music out. When people steal it without any compensation, it kills the music. Who would want to spend years building up their career only to see the fruits of their labor stolen? Please, do the New Mastersounds, and all musicians, a favor: pay for the music. It’s the right thing to do and it’s not much money. And if you really have to have some free music by the New Mastersounds, Amazon is offering a free MP3 from their Plug & Play release

The New Mastersounds are leading the funk revival with their four-piece band of guitar, bass, drums and organ. With a career that began with a DJ Keb Darge produced single and now five albums released the band are a global funk phenomenon. Mundovibe caught up with band leader Eddie Roberts to discuss their rise to the top of the funk heap.

Funk music is hard to pin down — much like jazz it’s really beyond defining. But if there’s one sure thing about it, it’s that it just keeps on grooving and when it hits you, you feel no pain. And even though funk as we knew it may have passed with the death of its Godfather, James Brown, there’s more than enough reason to believe that this sweaty, rhythm heavy sound is back and better than ever. Call it the baby boomerang effect on music: kids of baby boomers (and the parents too) have shown a renewed fervor for vinyl records, analogue sounds, 60’s &70’s soul along with classic funk of bands like the Meters, Grant Green, James Brown and a whole slew of more obscure bands. They’re digging the funk.

And it’s not just music fans that are sharing the love for funk: a whole new generation of retro-funk bands have emerged on the scene, injecting a new breath of hot, sweaty air and a new “deep funk” sensibility to the music. Bands like the U.S.’s Breakestra, Australia’s the Bamboos and England’s New Mastersounds pay homage to funk’s golden era while moving the sound forward with a more DJ-like approach that is less congested and more spacious and beat heavy.

Leading the way from across the pond are Leeds, England’s The New Mastersounds. One can be forgiven if this group of four aren’t on their list of leading funk bands – that is, if you’ve never heard their music. Upon listening to their deep, open-ended and warm sound it’s apparent why the New Mastersounds are blowing up on the international funk scene and are now taking America one show at a time. These guys get it and clearly want others to join in.

Their live giging has taken them around the world and introduced their sound to a growing legion of fans. As well as playing club gigs in France, Spain, Belgium and Italy, the band toured the US and Japan and the US is becoming a second home for the band. They appear regularly at the House of Blues, Gratefulfest and have performed at the prestigious High Sierra Music Festival annually since 2005 and are constantly touring and delivering their fat funk to dedicated fans and new ones alike. Their hard work is paying off as the New Mastersounds are being “buzzed up” by those in the know.

The U.S. funk revival is a recent one in comparison to the UK’s which began in the late ‘80s with DJs like Keb Darge who coined the term “deep funk” along with Mark Cotgrove, aka Snowboy (read our Snowboy interview here). Ironically enough, Darge had only discovered this sound after selling off his original soul record collection and being left with what he had originally referred to as “junk music” that he picked up in the United States on his many jaunts to find northern soul records there and in the UK. Though Britain had not been part of the initial funk wave of the ‘60s-‘70s, the scene grew as an underground subculture with DJs laying down the funk for hungry audiences at venues like London’s Club Ormones.

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Belleruche

Three Londoners met in the market one fateful day: Kathrin deBoer (vocals), Ricky Fabulous (guitar) and DJ Modest (decks) struck up a conversation and soon realized they had similar musical tastes. Ricky and Modest, who played experimental turntable and guitar sets in London bars, auditioned deBoer over a cup of tea and Belleruche was born. Now with numerous singles, three albums and non-stop touring behind them, Belleruche are well-established in Europe, Australia, New Zealand and are poised to take on America.

Things began humbly enough for the band. Initially, they released a handful of extremely limited 7” records on their own Hippoflex label, including the ‘Four Songs EP’. These individually numbered 45’s (with hand-printed sleeves) quickly sold out in the UK’s independent record stores and attracted a cult following in the UK and Europe.

With the buzz generated by these singles, in 2007 Belleruche signed to Tru Thoughts Recordings and their debut album ‘Turntable Soul Music’ was released in July of that year to great enthusiasm from fans and the media alike, garnering admiring reviews both at home and abroad. Belleruche’s second, more bluesy sophomore album “The Express” thrilled its fanbase while also bringing them to the wider world’s attention and garnering many listeners. The first single “Anything You Want (Not That)” was awarded the coveted Single Of The Week spot on iTunes and the album hit Number One in the iTunes electronic album chart.

With their third full length now reaching audiences new and old, ‘270 Stories’ sees the trio hitting their stride with style, tying together all that is distinctive about their off-kilter mix-up of scratchy beats, bluesy guitar and soulful, honeycomb vocals that we know and love, with the unmistakable vibe of a band pushing forward without pretension, letting their ideas roam free and lead them to a new place. In their own words it is “layered, tougher, more aggressive and possibly at the same time more introspective” than their previous, highly acclaimed, long players.

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Tommy Guerrero Releases “Lifeboats and Follies”

“Lifeboats and Follies” OUT FEBRUARY 1, 2011 ON GALAXIA RECORDS.

Raised on the colorful and gritty streets of San Francisco and steeped in the dark
brew formed by the perfect cultural storm where skateboarding, music and art
smashed right into each other, Tommy Guerrero was destined for greatness of
the soulful sort. Adapting to his hilly local environs with speed and style, TG was
a bonafied pioneer of modern street skateboarding, turning pro and traveling the world while still just a teenager.

His casual flow was material for the skateboarding pantheon, and is endlessly
compared to what would come out when he focused his attention on stringed
things. The early four-track tunes he offered were heavily groove-based, with
obvious blues, Latin and soul overtones, but as time and albums went by the
music became more layered and eclectic, incorporating jazz, hip-hop and funk
elements, as well.

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Distal & Mayhem and Vancover’s HxdB Collaborate on Future Dubstep

Atlanta’s Distal and Mayhem and Vancover’s HxdB have collaborated on a pair of innovative tracks that exemplify the exciting future of dubstep and bass music in 2011.

Leading off the release is Michael Rathbun a.k.a. Distal, a rising star in the next wave of bass music producers and founding member of Atlanta Dubstep, a collective that has been introducing dubstep’s top artists to the southeast United States since 2007. Through their events and newly founded label Embassy Recordings, Distal has established his own dynamic that integrates dubstep with Chicago’s juke sounds, and has started to make quite an impression on the global scene with a release on Soul Jazz’s Future Bass compilation, as well as Amsterdam’s Tube 10 Recordings, among others.

Collaborating on the A side is Severine Erickson, a.k.a. HxdB (short for Hexadecibel). Channeling his creative energies from his own pocket of North America, HxdB has been a hardworking DJ, producer, and promoter of the more sophisticated angles of bass music. With several 12” releases to his name on labels such as Mindset and Echodub, and plenty more coming in the new year, he is ready to make his mark on this release alongside Distal with “Typewriter Tune”. Its’ potent assault of shuffling beats and funk-infused pitch-warped synths was so well-received by their DJ mates that they amped up the energy into a VIP version with support from the likes of Bok Bok (Night Slugs, London), Ben UFO (Hessle Audio), Appleblim (Skull Disco), Dave Q (Dub War, NYC), XI (Orca), Sepalcure (Hotflush), and many more.

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