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Take a couple of blokes who could pass for those two Geordie builders who drink in your local, put them together in a studio and what do you get? If the two in question are Smoove and Turrell the answer isn’t a new stud wall and the faint whiff of battered Mars bars but Antique Soul. In other words a heavyweight northern soul-influenced collaboration with the gritty credibility that other nu-soul pairing Mark Ronson and Daniel Merriweather just can’t seem to muster and more crossover power than Moses at the Red Sea. Because when this is on, it’s really on.
On the one hand you’ve got John Turrell – surely the unlikeliest man in the world to possess the classic soul rasp that he does and Smoove’s slabs of thunderous rhythm – both factors which elevate this above the competition. Breakbeat bomb Hammond kicks things off (I can only imagine your surprise at discovering that this is centred around a huge Hammond hook) and Turrell’s insistence that, “You’re so, so dirty,” also delivers a promising lyrical beginning. It’s a track that is immediately seen however, if not actually raised, by the steroid-pumped pre-breakbeat Motown rhythms of next one – I Can’t Give You Up.
Third track You Don’t Know is more chilled but solid nonetheless – though the presence of a saxophone lends this an 80s mainstream feel that at times is the album’s Achilles Heel. There’s just something about a certain kind of saxophone playing that brings to mind a ponytailed man, suit-jacket sleeves rolled up to the elbow, silhouetted against a wet, nightime cityscape flecked with neon. And unfortunately the next three tracks summon this image far too effectively. So I’m not joking when I say that I could feel the uncomfortably close presence of Sade, Courtney Pine and 80s’ George Benson during The Difference, Hypnotized and You Got Me Bad as Turrell gives himself over to slick harmonies and only Smoove’s breaks remain to protect your immortal soul.
Happily, sanity is restored with forthcoming single, Beggarman – a soaring nu-soul anthem during which Turrell considers the current economic recesson and concludes that far from all that bollocks about ‘quantitative easing’ what you really need is to get down the, “Beggarman’s disco,” in order that the, “bad times don’t get you down.” Well, I’m always up for a boogie – as long as it’s not house music. Obviously. Subsequently, in a masterstroke of cover-track genius, 80s synth pop-duo Yazoo’s Don’t Go gets the Smoove & Turrell treatment, Darker Days delivers some brooding menace, and the pair outdo even Hammond for most inventive title with the subsequent Latin Groove which is, of course, a bit latin, and a bit groovy. Finally, things get all moody again with Without You.
Antique Soul is packed with either bangers or tracks that have that sure sign of a classic – the sense that you’ve heard it somewhere before – although actually you haven’t. Even if it does stray from the righteous path of funk into 80s ‘saxy-land’ at times, Antique Soul demands your attention.
Out now on Jalapeno
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Christ! Mountains have visibly eroded in the time elapsed between the first rumours of new Freestyle Professors album Gryme Tyme coming out and the present. Then the original spring release date got put back to February and now it looks like it’s actually going to be out on 1 October 2009. You know it’ll be worth the wait though. If you were lucky enough to catch the Confuse A Few EP earlier this year you’ll already be familiar with a couple of tracks off this, including the mighty Luv U. You’ll also be aware that Branesparker and Giff both have PhDs in lyrical science, as do Stanley Grimes (a.k.a. Rampage) and Lord Finesse who swing by on this too. And just check out who’s on production duties – 12 Finger Dan, Buckwild, J Supiria, Showbiz, Minnesota, Branesparker himself as well as – wait for it – Diamond D. I’m getting a twitch just thinking about it!
Cool – a new Pete Eldridge signature Superstar shoe. Would that be white with three _0.jpg)
Get ready for L.A. funk massive Breakestra to drop the bomb in late September. Looks like it’s going to be a funky autumn as well as a funky summer…
a.k.a. BOARDSPORTS FASHION – AN OVERVIEW
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