Tuesday, September 29, 2020

New Music Releases: Tony Allen, Sly5thAve, Alex Puddu

 

Tony Allen - The Source

One of the coolest records in years from the legendary Tony Allen – and that's saying a lot, given that his legacy includes famous work as a drummer with Fela Kuti, and a much more recent run of very experimental recordings! This set has Tony soaring out on Blue Note – and working with more of the jazz currents you'd expect from the label – while still, in the Allen legacy, really going for something fresh and unique – as spontaneously creative as it is outright funky! There's definitely some Afro Funk rhythms on the album, but there's also a fuller brace of horns, dedicated to painting sound in rich colors and tones – alongside riffing guitar, organ and keyboard lines, and Tony's own mighty drums – which keep things moving in a straight ahead way, while also filling in the rhythms with wonderfully complicated bits too. The album's as rich and beautiful as you might hope – with titles that include "Cool Cats", "On Fire", "Wolf Eats Wolf", "Life Is Beautiful", "Ewajo", "Moody Boy", "Bad Roads", and "Woro Dance". ~ Dusty Groove

Sly5thAve - What It Is

Sly5thAve is deeper and more soulful than ever before – really stepping past his initial role as a creative beat-maker, and emerging here more as a fully-formed producer with a strong ear for his overall sound! The tunes here are a mix of instrumental and vocal numbers – woven together in a great tapestry that showcases the hippest sides of the contemporary soul spectrum – as Sly gets guest help from Denitia, Marlon Craft, Thalma De Freitas, Sene, Melissa McMillan, and others – really bringing a lot of different flavors to the mix, while the maestro keeps it all together with a very unified vibe! In a world of quickie songdrops and long-distance internet productions, a record like this restores our faith in the way forward – thanks to tracks that include "The Night", "Expatria", "C-Side", "What It Is", "Daddy Warbucks", "Boulevards", "With You", "More Or Less", and "Right Here". ~ Dusty Groove

Alex Puddu - All I Want Is Your Love

The beginning of 2020 has seen the release of the new Alex Puddu full- length album 'Discotheque', a strong set of soulful and melodic tracks with a tight production that brings you back to the late ’70s and early ’80s jazz-funk and boogie music scene. Apart from the 10 tracks of the official album, some extra material had been produced, and 'All I Want Is Your Love' is a previously unreleased track coming straight from those recording sessions. The song was originally written by Alex Puddu, and features the American singer Rodney Stith, who also wrote the lyrics. A talented soul vocalist from Petersburg (Virginia, USA), Stith's style reminds of Bobby Womack and The Temptations’ David Ruffin.  'All I Want Is Your Love' is an uptempo R&B ballad with a strong hook-line and catchy chorus, and we felt it was great enough to deserve a special 7-inch release. As a B-side, you’ll find the full version of 'Don’t Hold Back', the album's lead single, that became a hit especially among UK radio stations.


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