Following up on the success of their debut long player in 2009, Melbourne-based raw funk outfit Deep Street Soul is back with their latest full-length album Look Out, Watch Out (released back in the fall of 2011). The now five-piece band, which welcomes new soul vocalist May Johnston into the fold, have pulled out all the stops with this release. It is jam-packed with punch, heady dancefloor anthems and some wicked instrumentation that will make all music fans take note.
Not only that, but Look Out, Watch Out also includes guest appearances by some incredible artists who help take this album to a new level. There are contributions from Chip Wickham (who guests with New Masters Sounds, Badly Drawn Boy, etc) on sax (and horn arrangements), Howard Brown on trumpet, and guest vocals by Randa Khamis (Randa & The Soul Kingdom), Roxy Ray (Dojo Cuts, The Underbelly, the Liberators) and Shirley Davis.
The band initially started recording this release as a traditional four-piece, before discovering May and her talents. “Finding May was just a complete fluke, and we consider ourselves lucky to have found a vocalist of her calibre in our very own backyard,” says bassist Papa J Hunter. Deep Street Soul began its life as an instrumental ensemble, and these influences are still evident in the instrumental tracks on the release. Papa J jokes that it took the band years to learn to play together before they were ready to add in the mix of a vocalist. “We love the craft involved in writing a killer instrumental tune, but because we had recently taken on a vocalist for the live shows, we found it really opened up our sound and gave us more options on how we constructed our live sets,” he says. “In that sense, it was a natural progression to follow on from this when it came time to record the new album.”
As the first single from the long player, the title-track Look Out, Watch Out is the perfect introduction to the talents of new vocalist May. She makes her presence felt instantly, her voice leaps out of the speakers and smacks you straight in your musical heart! And it was this exact emotion that the band was aiming for with their new release. While their debut in 2009 was a diamond hard and gritty funk and soul template that established them as a formidable force on the global funk scene, they weren’t ready to use the same ‘tried and trusted’ formula for the next album. Look Out, Watch Out expands the band’s sound and repertoire, seamlessly mixing together its guest contributions, a new member, tight original numbers, a choice cover version of a favourite song and, like icing on a cake, some raucous and heavy bass to top it off.
Tough yet soulful, hard yet deeply melodic, Deep Street Soul captures the imagination from the first notes on the album to the last kick-ass track. Don’t miss getting your hands on this one, you won’t be able to switch it off.
http://www.deepstreetsoul.com/
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