Album Review ~ Prince Fatty Meets Nostalgia 77 ~ In The Kingdom Of Dub

Hello!

Welcome to this weeks main review which will feature a collaboration of two great musical minds that are Nostalgia 77 (Benedict Lamdin) and Prince Fatty (Mike Pelanconi). Nostalgia 77 is a jazz producer from the UK that is signed to the Tru-Thoughts independent label and has recently produced the latest album from Jamie Cullum. Prince Fatty is one of the hottest dub/reggae producers around at the moment in the UK scene. Merging together Nostalgia 77's jazz songs with Prince Fatty's dub remixes, it certainly sounds like an interesting blend of genre's. 

Prince Fatty has taken some classics from Nostalgia 77's catalogue of songs such as 'Quiet Dawn', 'Angel With No Halo' and his cover of 'Seven Nation Army'. He has reworked them and taken jazz into the world of dub and reggae. Fans of Nostalgia 77 can re-live some his his best work, but merged into the form of dub.

The music itself is very clear and distinct, something you'd expect from a dub/reggae album. Its great to hear such smooth guitar 'chanks' throughout a song along with crystal clear drums to sparkle the quality. The session musicians used for each track are top notch and on the money. That note for note quality is a rare sound to find these days. 

Prince Fatty has managed to blend his dub expertise and sounds impressively with Lamdin's jazz work, especially on the tracks such as "Skeletons Dub" and "Little Steps Dub". Working around all the little niche parts from a double bass to a piano solo from the Nostalgia 77 original tracks. Adding in enough elements of dub into the tracks for them to be new and reworked tracks, but not to over-power the originals to make sure people know what is his work and what is Nostalgia 77's work.

It's great to hear guests such as Alice Russell on "Seven Nation Army Dub" really shine through on this record. She has one of the best voices in the industry, but is also a hidden gem. Keeping the strongest elements in a track before you add a dub/reggae feel is something only an experienced producer like Prince Fatty can do, very well. 

The artwork (shown above) is one of my favourite pieces this year alongside with the artwork from Paolo Nutini's 'Caustic Love'. Sometimes I come across new music and want to listen to it purely for the design of the artwork, love the yellow/orange monster. 

I enjoy listening to the jazz influences from the songs such as "Positive Force Dub" being mixed with the dub production. The trumpets sound fantastic on this track and can really turn a notch up in the record. Hearing certain instruments put to the forefront for certain songs in each track just gives the album something to keep a drive going with throughout. For example the drums (especially) and the bass sound amazing in "Skeletons Dub" and really shine through on this particular track.

The album has been played a lot on BBC Radio 6 Music with the single "Medicine Chest Dub" in the 'C' List of the 6 music playlist (as of 29th October). DJs such as Lauren Laverne, Nemone and Tom Ravenscroft have all been playing the songs across the station. 

The tracks that are personal favourites of mine are "Quiet Dawn Dub", "Medicine Chest Dub", "Freedom" and "Skeletons Dub". By all means listen to the whole album, but these are the stand-outs to me. "In The Kingdom Of Dub" is out in all good record stores and the new single from Tru-Thoughts containing "Medicine Chest Dub" and "Skeletons Dub" is out in November!

Thanks for reading and until next time. 

Lewis

Seven Nation Army Dub Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/tru-thoughts/seven-nation-army-dub-feat-2

Nostalgia 77 Website: www.nostalgia77.com/

Nostalgia 77 Twitter: www.twitter.com/Nostalgia__77

Prince Fatty Facebook: www.facebook.com/princefatty

Prince Fatty Twitter: www.twitter.com/prince_fatty

Album Review ~ Gregory Porter ~ Liquid Spirit

Hello!

Welcome to blog post 33, I hope everyone is doing well! Today I have a wonderful artist I discovered a few days ago called Gregory Porter who is a downright wicked jazz/soul singer! The album is full of gems and such a wonderful pick up for me to find!

Gregory Porter comes from California and was originally going to become a professional footballer, but due to injuries that put his career at an end (thank god too!). His debut album "Water" was nominated for 'Best Vocal Jazz Album' at the 53rd Grammy's! His following record titled "Be Good" was very popular in the Netherlands and got lot of recognition for his soulful jazz voice. 

His latest album Liquid Spirit has attracted a lot of attention from across the globe with a number 12 spot in the UK album charts, 8 in Germany and 7 in Denmark! Porter's breakthrough into the mainstream market is becoming apparent with much coverage on BBC Radio 2 and some on BBC Radio 6 as well. 

Liquid Spirit warms your heart, calms you down and lets you forget about your troubles. It sends you on a little journey with Gregory through the world of jazz, but on a completely different scale. In some respects the music has its own genre in the form of jazz, but I can't quite put my finger on it. I think its the soul element throughout the record that makes this album different to most jazz albums. 

Radio 2 have been pushing the song "The 'In' Crowd" which is a very fast paced jazz tune. It can really get your head nodding with the pace from the four piece. It was such a relief to hear this type of music on BBC Radio 2 during the day, they certainly brought out the stops for this song. 

The musicians in this album are amazing. I have to give a huge applause from myself of how professional and impressive the other musicians are to make this album what it is. Gregory's singing just sounds so effortless. Though his voice can't be faulted, its the perfect blend of melodic power and I'm glad he's gone down the route of jazz and soul.

A personal favourite of mine isn't exactly jazz when you first hear it, but I just instantly fell in love with the song and Gregory's voice from this song alone. The song is "Hey Laura" and it was really the reason I bought the album. I love jazz anyway, but even if I didn't, his voice convinced me to buy the whole album just from one song. Its so simple, but calming and just a perfect example of how beautiful music is. 

Songs like "Movin'", "Liquid Spirit" and "Wind Song" keep the momentum of the record going. Whilst you can easily relax and wind down to songs like "Brown Grass", "Wolfcry" and "I Fall In Love Too Easily". 

The duo of a pianist and Gregory Porter to me personally is just pure heaven. There's no other way to describe it, this album has made me realise why I fall in love with music. Beautiful pieces like this album need to be listened too and I hope everyone who reads this will agree with me. 

Let me know what you all thought of the album and if you would buy the album off the face off the one song I'll leave as the video for the review, "Hey Laura".

Until next time and thanks for reading

Lewis

Facebook - www.facebook.com/gregoryportermusic

Twitter - twitter.com/I_GregoryPorter

Youtube - www.youtube.com/user/GregoryPorterMusic

Album Review ~ Camera Soul "Not For Ordinary People"

Hello!

Welcome to blog post 32 and I would like to say thank you for all the support with getting near to 3000 views, its insane! Today I'll be celebrating with a fantastic jazz/funk band called Camera Soul and their latest album "Not For Ordinary People". Camera Soul are based from southern Italy (Bali), led by veteran composer brothers Piero and Pippo Lombardo and fronted with the vocals by the wonderful Serena Brancale. 

Piero (one of the composers) messaged me and asked if I could review their latest album and of course I said yes, but I what was in store was about to blow my mind. My ears were in for a rare treat of just pure soul, jazz-fusion and funk from this band that are starting to become more popular across the world. 

Camera Soul are inspired by legendary horn line, soul, R&B and jazz-fusion artists such as Earth, Wind and Fire, The Commodores, Tower of Power and Stevie Wonder. Put all of those together and you have this band. They certainly have a 'Jamiroquai' tone to them, but so much more purity to the sound. 

One song I would recommend to you to sum this band up would be the second track "Mama". It just keeps my head bopping throughout the whole track and enterains throughout with drops and bridges and always has treats in store. The album is very well produced, since this is a large band its difficult to not get anyone lost within the music. They have balanced everything perfectly to make it such a crisp sound which is an absolute delight to the ears. 

Piero and Pippo certainly know what sounds to create from each instrument at which point. You can sit back and really focus on the arrangement of the band and listen to each instrument.  A personal favourite of mine is the jazz guitar and bass lines, it just holds it together and brings a lot of funk to the band. Its left so subtly in the background to just groove around the riff. A good example would be the verses in the song "I Don't Like Roses". Another head bopper might I add!

During the album you can start to hear some Italian characteristics come into the music. Whether its a certain riff from an instrument or genuinely just the feel, it gives the band that difference about them which every band looks for. The band have a great mellow tone during the verses and can really kick up a gear in the chorus. Enough to keep the song exciting to the listener, but not enough to try be too brash which is a nice change. 

Their tight playing and soulful music is making a real dent in the music business and are certainly making a noise about it. In October 2013 this album was 2nd in the UK Soul Charts and spent a gigantic 15 weeks in those charts too which is a fantastic achievement by the band that is well worthy of its place.

The album has got the band a range of awards such as 'Best Instrumental Jazz Solo',' Best Engineered album', 'Producer of the Year',  'Song of the Year' & 'Best R&B Song'. Not a bad collection of awards, but boy do they deserve it. I would agree with all of these especially ' Best Engineered Album' for just the clear sound from every instrument on this album and how balanced everything is. 

The songs that I recommend are 'Not For Ordinary People, 'Mama', 'The Happiest Day' and 'I Don't Like Roses'. The rest of the album is brilliant, but these are the ones to check out for a little taste tester first. 

I hope you all enjoy the music and thank you for reading. 

Until next time

Lewis

Website: http://www.camerasoul.eu/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Camera__Soul

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/camerasoul?fref=ts