It's kind of difficult to describe what kind of music the Menahan Street Band make, although the ten tracks (there's also an unlisted 11th track) presented on this debut album share a certain pleasant, easy, and sunny vibe. All are unhurried instrumentals, and while it's tempting to call this stuff soul, it isn't that exactly. There's a jazz feel here, too, but it isn't exactly soul-jazz, either, and then there's a certain intangible Jamaican dub feel to how things are mixed, but one can't really call it dub, and while things get lightly funky now and then, it isn't funk. A loose-knit group of musicians drawn from Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings (Dave Guy, Homer Steinweiss, Fernando Velez, Bosco Mann), El Michels Affair (Leon Michels, Toby Pazner), Antibalas (Nick Movshon, Aaron Johnson), and the Budos Band (Mike Deller, Daniel Foder), the Menahan Street Band recorded these tracks with producer Thomas Brenneck in his Menahan Street apartment in Bushwick, Brooklyn, and if it's difficult to put a finger on what their sound should be labeled, it's not difficult to like it. Tracks like "Karina" and "The Traitor" have gently hypnotic and shifting grooves that have just enough nervous energy to stay interesting. Nothing here is going to set the world on fire but nothing here is going to make the world a worse place, either. The perfect Sunday morning listen.
It's here! Make The Road By Walking, the debut LP from Menhan Street Band is out now on Dunham (an imprint of Daptone Records) and it has totally blown me away even more than I thought it would or could. 35 minutes of pure unadulterated soulful sounds have been beautifully crafted by a [...] Related posts:Tropidelico Coming at you in full effect, The Quantic Soul Orchestra... The Natural Yo...
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I was really excited when I caught wind of Make the Road By Walking , the debut album from the Menahan Street Band . It's a super-group collaboration of musicians from Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, El Michels Affair, Antibalas and the Budos Band , brought together by the leadership of musician/producer Thomas Brenneck (whose work includes Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, the Budos Band, and Am...
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Had to throw this up here in anticipation of a funk filled friday.
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I can't properly call this a 'best of,' because I just like what I like and certainly don't claim to have heard most of what you all are hailing, much less have the critical chops to judge it. Plus I listen to a lot of old music and invest accordingly, so here it goes:My 4 favorite albums in alphabetical order that were released in 2008:Atlas Sound - Let The Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Can...
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Some fellow moggers got me on this coffee titled post theme. I'm throwing this track up for a few reasons. I just got the record and I am excited that in adition to being funky it's got some intellectual heft. The track's piano reminds of me a bit Chrlie Brown Christmas, which i checked out for a bit earlier tonight, and it's got some afro-beat horns that go with Oatmeal's Fela vid. Sort of...
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I know I just posted MSB very recently, but I really LIKE this record. This track is not the strongest on the record, but it's quite a bit of fun. I especially like playing it for people and watching strands of recognition hit them - some are confused and some get fired up. I get kinda fired up as well. It could be because we had great football pep rallies at my high school and this song wa...
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I was really excited when I caught wind of Make the Road By Walking , the debut album from the Menahan Street Band . It's a super-group collaboration of musicians from Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, El Michels Affair, Antibalas and the Budos Band , brought together by the leadership of musician/producer Thomas Brenneck (whose work includes Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, the Budos Band, and Am...
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Menahan Street Band: Home Again!From Make the Road By Walking (Dunham/Daptone, forthcoming 10/14/08)This has to be one of my favorite songs I've heard all summer, a beautiful mid-tempo ballad off the new Menahan Street Band. The MSB is the brain child of Tom "TNT" Brenneck, the guitarist for the Dap-Kings and a rising songwriter/producer from within the Daptone's deep camp. I wrote about MSB la...
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It's here! Make The Road By Walking, the debut LP from Menhan Street Band is out now on Dunham (an imprint of Daptone Records) and it has totally blown me away even more than I thought it would or could. 35 minutes of pure unadulterated soulful sounds have been beautifully crafted by a [...] Related posts:Tropidelico Coming at you in full effect, The Quantic Soul Orchestra... The Natural Yo...
More >
| Title | Lyrics | Buy |
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| 1 Make the Road by Walking |
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| 2 Tired of Fighting |
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| 3 Home Again! |
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| 4 Montego Sunset |
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| 5 Karina |
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| 6 The Traitor |
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| 7 The Contender |
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| 8 Birds |
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| 9 Esma |
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| 10 Going the Distance [From Rocky] |
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| 11 [Untitled Hidden Track] |
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Click to purchase…
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 "Make the Road by Walking")
