false crack = hawaii version of sucker punch

Connie Price and the Keystones->The Shadows of Leaves and Sucker Punch, from Wildflowers (Now Again Records, 2004)

post-brainfreeze/product placement, ridiculously rare 45 insanity, i think new funk is getting grown. The soul fire/daptone/desco stuff that came out a few years ago seemed to be more concerned with the aesthetic of the rare shit that they were imitating over the substance of their music. releases like Wildflowers show a move toward a melding of the various forms that people were feeling on the rare records. Yeah, tracks that feature Malcolm Catto bring the ridiculous loud trashcan 'shitty is pretty' drum action on this album, but that doesn't mean that a melodica and trumpet noodlings can't be there too.

Like the write-up on the Now Again website points out, "Steeped in American funk and soul, Jamaican production aesthetics, Afrobeat, psychedelic rock, late 1960s/early 1970s movie soundtracks, and lots of jazz, Connie Price & The Keystones have melded together their favorite music into a style all their own." The whole 'cinematic' soul thing of course aint mind blowing, but the album works for me cause of the dubby production. If the shit was not so dusty, this would be Ralph Meyerz.

peep the two tracks, 'Sucker Punch' and 'The Shadows of Leaves.' 'Sucker Punch' (aside from sharing the haole version of the name of my blog) starts off straight James Brown. Then gets sneaky and uh, cinematic. 'The Shadows of Leaves' is pretty pure cinematic spy/detective jam, but achieves the mood through the collection of some really familiar riffs. (where is that bassline from?) The lazy horns really resemble PB Wolf's favorite karaoke cut (that was him on that sand dollar 45, right?) "Get Thy Bearings" (which is, incidentally, covered as the last song on the album).

Gotta say though, without the production, i would say this would be a bit too close to something resembling a gorillaz/cinematic orchestra collabo to be interesting. as a whole though, it works.