Saturday, March 21, 2009

Whitefield Brothers - In The Raw
Great reissued album from this German outfit (incl members of Poets of Rhythm, Karl Hector and Malcouns), originally released back in 2001 on defunct label Soulfire, now available thru the folks at Stonesthrow/Now Again. Try a sample here.

"Let’s rewind back to 2001, shall we? The Modern Funk and Soul scene was for a select few. When this record first came out, there were no Dap Kings yet. Sharon Jones had just started to do her thing via her 45s, and the El Michels Affair were just wee ones playing gigs as the Might Imperials (Thunder Chicken anyone?).

Here’s where the founding members of The Poets of Rhythm, Jan and Max Whitefield come into play. At that time, they came from Munich, Germany to New York to record this very record.

When they approached now defunct Desco Records honcho Phillipe Lehman to record their African inspired Funk, (think Fela Kuti doing Meters covers, heavy drums and that great African rhythm), he was game.

The sound, some may say is an acquired taste, like say, a Belgian white beer. What premonition guys like Gabriel Roth (co founder of Desco and Daptone Records), Leon Michels (El Michels Affair), and Neal Sugarman ( Daptone co-founder with Roth) had when they agreed to be involved with this project."

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