Discover the Loaf: April 2010

Saturday, 24 April 2010

Psychedelic soul

83. Sa-Ra Creative Partners - Nuclear Evolution: The Age Of Love (2009)

Sa-Ra produced music throughout the 00's, for the likes of Erykah Badu, Common and other progressive R&B acts. This however is their first full length as Sa-Ra, and it fits perfectly into the confusing modern times we live in.
Sa-Ra come on like a hip-hop act, but can be seen as hip-hop in negative, with no upfront personality, plenty positivity and lack sharp edges, consistent with the haunted audio/wonky styles of electronic beat and ghost box music.
Their music is a mix of hip-hop, jazz, R&B, Soul, and funk; the hip-hop precedents are J Dilla, Kanye, Madlib, Outkast and Native tongues. However Sa-Ra look further back into psychedelic soul, Sun-Ra and most obviously Sly & the Family Stone. The whole album sounds a glorious dazed funk of analogue synths and overlapping themes and vocals, messages like 'you've got to take off your mask for me', 'walk into the sun', atoms splitting, a joyful noise' and ' I just wanna love today', are straight from the afro-future book of sun-ra and sly. Although Sa-Ra live in a post reagan/Bush Hip-Hop world and paranoid warnings abound, 'It's the Pnebonic plague, gotta get away', 'Here they come, dope mans on the block, better go and get your gun'. Unlike old school hip-hop though, these realities seem viewed through a hazy gauze al la Sly's 'I feel so good inside myself, don't wanna move'. The connection with psychedelic soul and the smiling faces trope is clear in the age of love, and they seem aware that this feeling won't last, more than that, it may be dangerous to let your guard down, 'did your daddy tell you that dreams can hurt you?'.

Thursday, 8 April 2010

Related Vids

Grateful Dead - Perform at the Playboy mansion
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVqArOogY-c
Chris Corsano
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdJIwVSDV1M
Acid Mothers Temple
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcQTSEWbGyI
With the legendary Cotton Casino
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_f9ZciEmSw

Sunburned Hand Of The Man Vids

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrWx3Ygt6oY
We were there (I think?)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BsNsg5HrRI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyMKgH6XL6s

84. Sunburned Hand Of The Man - Wedlock (2005)

Sunburned operate as a loose collective of freaks, musicians and streetpunks. Typically utilising guitars, horns, poetry, electronics and masses of percussion to create improvised psychedelic funk jams that can inspire dancing, tripping out, and groaning like a dosed goat in equal measure.

Sunburned first became widely known as part of the New Weird America (taken from Harry Smiths Old Weird America phrase used in the Anthology of American folk music) or free folk scene, a rejection of the usual touring circuits and record labels, which manifested in self organised gigs and hundreds of self released CD-R's. All very hippy, however, Sunburned have a threatening vibe about them and a ferocity live, that comes across much more punk in attitude than new age. At ATP in 06 a vast Sunburned lineup including Chris Corsano (a Sunburned regular, and one of the two best drummers of the 00's) closed the festival to a packed crazy horse, swinging paper mashe bodies and heads close to the audience, wearing crazy tribal masks and drag gear and verbally berating Thurston (the curator) for the queues we had to endure over the weekend, Thurston was stood in the wings.

Wedlock stands as the best in the massive Sunburned catalogue, due to capturing the atmosphere of the Sunburned experience, and being as funky as shit. Wedlock is a double album which follows Sunburned from Brattleboro, Vermont free folk festival 03 (a major catalyst for the scene as a whole) to Alaska whilst taking in shows, impromptu jams and the wedding celebrations of two Sunburned members, including speeches! The whole package vibes from occasion, travel, friends and outsider attitudes, a is a necessary purchase for any serious understanding of the free folk movement.

Discover the Loaf

Saturday, 24 April 2010

Psychedelic soul

83. Sa-Ra Creative Partners - Nuclear Evolution: The Age Of Love (2009)

Thursday, 8 April 2010

Related Vids

Sunburned Hand Of The Man Vids

84. Sunburned Hand Of The Man - Wedlock (2005)

Thursday, 1 April 2010

Townes Van Sant

Link Wray - Rumble

Ry Cooder - Paris Texas

Top 100 Records of the Noughties

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