Tag: Memphis Funk

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Music Record Reviews

New Memphis Colorways: Fueled by Fusion

It Is What it Isn't by New Memphis Colorways

“Jazz” is a big word, and can cover so many approaches to music that it may have lost all its descriptive power. That is especially true if one follows the music’s history into the 1970s and beyond. After traditional forms were blown wide open in the 1960s (with the ascendance of free jazz), the music’s influences and reference points became so far-flung that any noise, texture, or groove was fair game.

Anything being fair game is a good motto for the latest album by New Memphis Colorways, It is What it Isn’t, set to be self-released on May 21st. As the catch-all name for the various musical projects of virtuoso Paul Taylor, New Memphis Colorways has always considered the world fair game, of course, ranging from tightly woven power pop of The Music Stands to the stomping, almost surfing groove rock of Old Forest Loop.

Most of those earlier projects showed off Taylor’s inventiveness with a dollop of genre-appropriate restraint, his self-accompaniment on multiple instruments always in service of the song. But what restraints are in play when the song is jazz-funk fusion? Those are mostly the restraints demanded by each song’s groove, even as solo instruments take unfettered flight. Yea verily, this is the album where Taylor lets his freak flag fly high.

Imagining some of Herbie Hancock’s finest work from the late 70s or 80s, from Man-Child to Future Shock, will put you in the ballpark. It’s not that none of the players (all Taylor, in this case) show restraint; an effective groove requires that sense of space. It’s rather that the direction of the melodies, instrumentation, and breakdowns could surprise you with any new development at any time.

And that’s exactly what awaits listeners of It is What it Isn’t. Just take the lead single and video, “Hangover Funk.”

Video game skronks give way to the solidest of grooves, backing up some smooth/tweaked keyboard chords. Is this Herbie Hancock or George Clinton? Or Pac Man, perhaps? None of the above: this is New Memphis Colorways.

It’s first-rate funk (and excellent party music, by the way), all the better to undergird a full-on rock guitar solo that screams “good times,” which anything evoking the 1970s surely must. As the opening track of the album, it’s perfect, and sets the tone for much of what is to follow. But, having set the inventiveness bar so high from the top, what follows is essentially more funky unpredictability and more expressive synth and guitar playing.

One surprise, even in this cornucopia of surprises, is Taylor’s treatment of the jazz standard, “All the Things You Are.” It’s played with a jazzer’s sensitivity to the delicate harmonies, but what really sets it apart is the singing voice run through a vocoder. It’s as if Laurie Anderson’s “O Superman” suddenly fell in love. And in combining the sci-fi iciness of a synthetic vocoder with such a chestnut of the 1930s, an eerie, Blade Runner-esque world is conjured up, perfect for our current moment in history. It’s that restless inventiveness that keeps this from being a retro fashion accessory, and propels it into a fusion work of the highest order.

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Music Record Reviews

MonoNeon Reaches New Heights with Supermane

Cover artwork by Kii Arens

Though the pandemic might have slowed the roll of many mortals, MonoNeon has been busier than ever. In addition to his steady flow of re-soundtracked found videos, his original stock in trade, he’s been continuing as a member of Ghost Note, collaborating with Daru Jones, contributing to “All Bad” on Nas’ Grammy-winning King’s Disease album, and playing on Grammy-nominee Jacob Colliers’ song “In My Bones.” And, only days after the Grammy Awards, he dropped Supermane, a new solo EP loaded with some of the strongest material of his career.

While the bass virtuoso and multi-instrumentalist has always favored some strong 80s flavors in his arrangements, this eight-song album applies those flavors to some of the songwriter’s most focused material ever. The result is MonoNeon’s idiosyncratic, yet more disciplined, take on classic early George Clinton solo sounds, making that sound his own with the strongest singing of his career.

Of course, one hallmark of George Clinton’s work has been unrpedictability, and that is underscored by MonoNeon as well, when he opens with new wave indie rocker “Just Gettin’ High, Just Gettin’ By.” In a sense, it continues the politically charged material of last year (i.e., “Breathing While Black”), but this time as a near-punk experience, including shouting a rapid-fire catalog of the bizarre state of the world in this moment.

That segues seamlessly into more traditional Clinton-esque quirk-funk, full of tasty synth squeals, scratchy guitar and, of course, the supplest of bass lines. One unifying element is the herky jerky, presumably drum machine-driven rhythms that were such a cornerstone to classic Clinton and other 80s funk. That even applies to the tweaked, algorithmic swing of “Invisible,” wherein MonoNeon asks the musical question, “Don’t you wish you were invisible?… You can be whoever you wanna/And no one’s gonna judge ya/And you ain’t got nothing to prove.”

And on the culture-affirming “We Somebody Y’all,” he even mashes up a bit of Staple Singers vibe with some drums worthy of “Atomic Dog.”

By the album’s midway point, “Grandma’s House,” we get a glimpse of what may be one source of that soulfulness, MonoNeon’s family. The artist had recently paid tribute to his grandmother with an impromptu video of her singing with him. Now comes this joyful ode to such family visits. “Take me back to the good times we had at grandma’s house/We were kids, we were young/We were always havin’ fun,” he sings, in what may be one of the most wholesome funk jams of the century.

On all these tracks, the defining factor is focus. These are tightly constructed tracks, full of polished background vocal asides and synth fills that slot in to the arrangements seamlessly. That applies just as much to the second half, in which MonoNeon also introduces some impressive cameos from other artists, such as Mr. Talkbox, Ledisi, Wax, and, by the final title track, an actual band featuring guest musicians Cory Henry (organ), Jairus Mozee (guitar), and Derrick Wright (drums).

“Supermane,” the song, also features a notable crossover cameo in the sax playing of Kirk Whalum. It’s entirely fitting, as it has the feel of a classic gospel number made more universal by MonoNeon’s pop instincts. That’s entirely appropriate for both his and Whalum’s upbringing in some of the most musical churches of Memphis. And it’s the perfect capstone for a perfect album, a kind of existentialist hymn to live life to its fullest, reminding listeners that “The voice of God is in your mind.” Live like there’s no tomorrow, he sings to us all, and with material this strong, MonoNeon is clearly doing just that.

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Music Record Reviews

Don Bryant’s You Make Me Feel is an Instant Classic

In recent years, the appeal of classic sounds from the the ’60s and ’70s has grown and grown, leaving many wondering if such retro stylistic moves are mere trend-hopping, simply another attempt to create a flavor of the month. And yet, there’s a certain rightness to the sound, an undeniable frisson when you listen to a contemporary act capture the sound and feel of that era, as if synth-pop and Pro Tools had never happened. As it turns out, this may all be because the records of that era were simply, objectively better. In an interview with Tape Op, Gabriel Roth, co-owner of the retro soul label Daptone Records, puts it like this:

I started making records because I was listening to old records and they sounded great. It’s not really an agenda or an angle as much as it is just kind of being honest with ourselves. In articles, people say, “Aren’t you just doing something that’s been done before?” or “Isn’t this some kind of retro fad?” First, we’re not making enough money for it to be called a fad, that’s for sure. We’re just trying to be tasteful and try to make the kind of records that sound good and feel good. If they sound old, that’s great — I dig old records … the truth is we dig old records, so we’re going to try to make old records.

Daptone is based in Brooklyn, but it turns out that the same philosophy holds true in another epicenter for classic soul and funk sounds: Memphis. It shouldn’t come as a great surprise, given the longevity of many legendary studios here. Some of them, like Royal Studios, still have the same gear used to make those classic sounds in the first place. Others, like Scott Bomar’s Electraphonic Recording, take pages out of the Royal playbook and stick to the same methods. 

Beyond that, one needs players who are sensitive to the classic sounds and textures and, most of all, an artist capable of delivering performances with all the soul, integrity, warmth and outright heat that was more typical in the days before sequencing and cut-and-paste production.

And all those elements come together seamlessly in Don Bryant’s latest album, You Make Me Feel (Fat Possum). It’s not surprising, given that Bryant, after a brief foray as a solo artist, was a house songwriter for Willie Mitchell’s Hi Records, eventually marrying Ann Peebles, who made his “I Can’t Stand the Rain” famous. He carried on behind the scenes for decades, until his second solo album, Don’t Give Up On Love, was released in 2017. That album, like the latest, was produced by Bomar, pairing Bryant with Bomar’s crack soul band, the Bo-Keys. It was such a powerful return to form, with all of the classic ingredients, that one might consider it Bryant’s 21st century comeback. Now, with the same team in place for a second album, we see that Bryant, now nearing his 80th year, is not slacking his pace or his taste in the least.

The album kicks off with a classic horn-driven intro conveying the majesty of a blues-based riff in a soul context, before laying down a very ’70s groove that can’t be denied. Then, track two reveals Bryant’s take on a song (that he wrote) made popular by his wife back in the day, “99 Pounds.” Also sporting some powerful horn riffs, this one captures the classic Royal sound, with the same driving Howard “Bulldog” Grimes beat that made Hi a beacon of soul back in the day.

From there, we hear plenty of mood swings, all delivered with an aching, heartfelt panache  that few singers can pull of these days. For Bryant, it seems it’s second nature. And, as tracks evoking various emotions go by, we are reminded of how eclectic Bryant’s career was even before the mid ’70s. Some tracks here, like “Your Love is Too Late” or “Cracked Up Over You,” evoke more of a ’60s soul sound, with the latter sporting echoes of the old Satellite Records (pre-Stax) track by Prince Conley, “I’m Going Home.” It’s an earlier take on R&B than the classic Ann Peebles-type, funk-infused grooves, but Bryant, who was singing and recording from the 1950s onward, can carry both with equal aplomb.

Interspersed along the way are some moving ballads, which, given the homespun strength of Bryant’s voice, may be his strong suit. (Though, to be fair, he can howl on the uptempo tracks with a unique urgency). The standout here may be “Don’t Turn Your Back on Me,” which begins with only solo guitar and Bryant’s vocals. From there, it adds layers of sound and emotion as the band falls in.

Both the ballads and the groovy numbers have one crucial element: air. The sound of a band playing mostly live in a room just may be the key to that “old record” sound. And it only makes it better when it’s a room in Memphis, where one of soul’s great architects is pouring his soul into every note. 

Don Bryant’s You Make Me Feel is an Instant Classic

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Exclusive Video Premiere: Memphis Masters Series Celebrates the Bar-Kays

With so many classic albums of 1969 celebrating their half-century mark this year, it would be easy for music fans to sleep on an especially stellar LP reissued with extra care this month — and that would be a shame. The Bar-Kays’ Gotta Groove, originally released on Volt Records, a Stax subsidiary, was a watershed moment for Stax, for the group themselves, and for all things funky.

Besides helping to launch an approach to a harder-hitting funk/rock that would come to define the 1970s, the album was the result of the sheer tenacity and invention that kept Stax going. The label, having learned in late 1967 that Atlantic Records claimed ownership of the entire Stax catalog up to that point, was being reborn in a flurry of era-defining releases, celebrated by the double Soul Explosion album, which contained several hits generated by the newly restructured label in 1968.  Meanwhile, while the label lost one its greatest stars in the plane crash that claimed Otis Redding’s life, the Bar-Kays, who started out as the label’s youngest band in 1966, and enjoyed immediate success with their Soulfinger LP, lost most of their members in the same crash. But James Alexander and Ben Cauley, Jr., the only surviving Bar-Kays, forged ahead, and Gotta Groove was their shot across the bow in the name of rebirth, reinvention and survival.

This year, Craft Recordings launched a painstakingly-crafted reissue series, celebrating many of the works that marked the rebirth of Stax in the 1968-69 period. The select titles have been cut from their original analog tapes by Jeff Powell at Memphis’ Take Out Vinyl and pressed on 180-gram vinyl at Memphis Record Pressing, making this a labor of love by some world-class local establishments.

JD Reager

Jeff Powell

Along with the records, Craft has created The Memphis Masters—a limited video series celebrating the reissued albums and showcasing Stax’s enduring musical legacy, as well as its influence on Memphis, TN. Created in partnership with Memphis Record Pressing and Memphis Tourism, and directed by Andrew Trent Fleming of TheFilmJerk Media, the multi-part series was shot in several locations around the city, including Sam Phillips Recording Service, Royal Studios and the Stax Museum of American Soul Music.

Each episode—available on YouTube—will revolve around an album or collection from a singular artist or group on Stax’s roster, starting with Melting Pot from Booker T. & the M.G.’s. Other titles covered include Home, from husband-and-wife songwriting duo Delaney & Bonnie, Who’s Making Love from Johnnie Taylor and Victim of the Joke?…An Opera from acclaimed producer and songwriter David Porter. The Staple Singers will also be honored with a deluxe, seven-LP box set, Come Go With Me: The Stax Collection, available in early 2020. The majority of the single albums were recently released on November 1st, while LPs from Porter and Taylor will be reissued on December 6th.

The Bar-Kays today

And today, The Memphis Flyer is proud to announce Episode Two in The Memphis Masters series, celebrating Gotta Groove by The Bar-Kays, It’s a rare deep dive into the making of an era-defining work, with commentary by artists young and old on its lasting influence. Watch here to see how the album was created, literally from the ashes of the tragedy that claimed the lives of so many, and amidst the turmoil surrounding the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Then, get out to Record Store Day and get yourself a copy.

Exclusive Video Premiere: Memphis Masters Series Celebrates the Bar-Kays