Il Carbonaro on Colemine Records

Supposedly the Clint Eastwood movies, Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More and The Good, The Bad and the Ugly ran long because Sergio Leone couldn't cut around Ennio Morricone's score. He just couldn't bear ending the scene before Ennio's score ran out. Il Carbonaro sound like they're combining that southwestern lonesome praire sound with dub delay and echo in a new take on the Western, which is exactly what Ennio was known for. Not to mention the A-Side track here also shows up in the movie Postales because they couldn't cut it either...

A-Side's "High Noon" blasts horns in over a cool organ working alternately against the brassy shine. The bang quickly subsides and a funk bassline slowly takes shape under echo xylophone with heavy vibrato, like those psychedelic volumes of lounge music. A reggae tempo feels right at home with a Calexico style trumpet section like Hot Rail. Something about it gets really majestic, those expanses and south of the border tones just get better with a hint of a funk groove beneath this and the dub percussion bouncing off into the distance is an unexpected touch. You can't quite place this in a specific era and the touchstones are hardly noticeable but it's adding up to weird new terrain.

B-Side "Amigo de la Muerte" a funk bass takes opening spot and there's just a touch of that crazy reverb that seems to loop back in on itself and grow louder before they cut it off. The electric has a lot of that wetness, stabbed out in a slow tempo high tension number. A melodica drives the melody and the brass section plays more of a support structure to this lonesome harmonica sound. They keep taking this into an epic place but that solitary tiny organ is that lone stranger driven hard by the gathering dust storms behind him. Ghostly feedbacking delay used sparingly is again what sets this apart. Dub western? Who knew.

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Jive Turkeys on Colemine Records

Who doesn't need the funk in the hot lazy days of summer. Once the sun goes down you need to get off of that couch or rocking chair and put on the singles, one after another. These Colemine releases seriously have you covered in all areas, the dirty almost obscene funk that makes you jump in the shower or a mellow groove like this Jive Turkeys single that Terry himself plays bass on.

"Straight Fire" comes in with a stuttery muted double strum electric, a stepping bassline and high hat fever but the real core of this one is a groovy hammond which grabs melody duty from the third measure in and runs the show completely. Going through the gears, everything from long sustained quivering chords to miniature breathy jabs. The bass line is right behind that organ in perfect time. Something of a slower tempo than I remember Jive Turkeys coming at you, but this is their equivalent of a slow jam. I hesitate even including that youtube video down there because tiny computer speakers do NOT do this justice. It's a poppy groove carnival, you aren't going to find anything ominous or pessimistic about their sound, this is another prime cut.
"Thumpin'" gets back into their hyper jittery sound and the four piece trades off solo pieces, with an extended warm hollow body solo before the bass expands on it's own riff. Like an ocean of people in midtown, this has all the energy of a bustling city. A long exposure shot of the streets blurring into red lines of cars, burning right angles into the film. I like when these singles have their own indirect narratives...well I guess like a book, it's better when you have your own more intimate picture. With a feel like this, you've got to imagine your own lyric narrative, but it's not like your dad's be bop boring jazz. Thumpin' actually has a lot of blues elements, simmering electric blues, almost a Funkadelic sound fronted by Buddy Guy, that sort of eyes tightly closed emotion.

Pick this up from Colemine Records, who also have the best t-shirt in existence. The title of that Gabriel Roth article "Shitty is "Pretty" - get the PDF here.

The Jive Turkeys on Colemine records

For Colemine Records and The Jive Turkeys it’s the perfect time to start thinking about Christmas, it’s getting hotter, summer is here and Santa needs a funky time soundtrack on 45, you know who else needs one? Jesus. It’s his birthday and he’s going to shake his ass if Colemine Records has anything to say about it.

A-Side’s "Get Down Santa" brings back memories of the first single I reviewed from these guys with this signature smooth organ grove. I found an old xerox article recently about creating monster funk 45s (found it at stevemalkmus online of all things) by Gabriel Roth. The thing that stood out was how perfect his advice was, in every way this essay is genius. You have to record SHITTY and have musicians who ignore the past 30 years of music and “…will do exactly what the fuck you tell them to do.” There’s no room for the showboating, or individuality, you just have to nail that groove, hit the simple raw sound and stick with it. If you need to keep adding your own flourishes then this isn't the style for you. Advice that the Jive Turkeys follow every measure, they take a holiday classic and hint around at it, at the end of verses, the cracks between notes. The heavy groove separates for a split second and you immediately recognize this. The make it alright to be blasting this juicy track around the holiday, deck the halls and sleigh bells are mandatory but are now delivered in a groove, almost blues sound that in the hands of these guys, breaks off into their heavy funk. Only the Jive Turkeys would to be able to work this (or probably anything I'm sure) into their particular jazz funk. It’s like they’ve been given this funk problem and turn it right into an opportunity. An old worn out holiday standard? Give it here sucka.

B-Side’s "Funky Jesus" - At least with this track title they make no bones about being a little tongue in cheek. They LEAN into this throwback church organ sound and come out the other side into an uplifting spiritual place. You can see the opening credits to a '70s sitcom just starting to fade with its solid bass line and heavy on the snare, meticulous fills. Seriously, if anyone is looking for a period soundtrack, look these guys up. They trade down to the guitar looping around a bluesy bent melody, but that organ is scooting its way into the gospel side of the funk, acceptable any Sunday, I was honestly always jealous to see those churches that made service look like fun, as a kid. Actually being able to rock out in church? With a band? It seemed like they were having a good time and making music - sure it was for Jesus on Sunday but it was for themselves as well. This slows to a stop comes back in with new beats and goes into a full freak out dance spazz party. When everyone gets a little bit louder now and a little bit LOUDER NOW. The kind of abandonment that made fanatics ban dancing because you can hear the frenzy it whipped up - Real Grapes of Wrath stuff. Proving that the funk is everywhere, there’s nothing The Jive Turkeys aren’t able to make funky and like Mr. Roth says “Two hands on the hi-hat, unless you are actually in Ghana and it's still 1970”

Colemine Records has just started to repress his first releases on color vinyl and talks about it in this latest article in Blues and Soul mag. Pick up this record now before you forget and then try to get it in December and it's long gone.

On The Spot Trio on Colemine Records

Colemine Record's reach extends well beyond the Ohio scene where they’re based. Anywhere the guitars have a wah pedal on that chain of effects or drummers are getting slightly jazzier than usual, diving into funky grooves, Colemine is probably not far behind. In this case they’ve gone all the way to the West Coast to get a piece of the On The Spot Trio, who is, in fact, three dudes who take the classic guitar and drum duo formula and add keys, which is the absolute minimum required to get the groove started, and the two guys left not banging out the rhythms are jockeying back and forth for melody.

When A-Side’s "Suction" starts I can’t help but immediately like this simple, frantic organ line over a slow, drippy groove. The guitar and organ working with and against each other in jumpy riffs, the electric strumming staccato and the organ is fighting back on the left channel. They help each other in bursts and then wander back off on their own again. This beat, the foundation for those two to do serious soul work, a real conversation going on between the two, this organ and warm electric. They ignore each other for a while and then make up, another fight and then a big finish.
"Critically Acclaimed Shit" on the B-Side has a little more of an attitude (makes sense) and a big handheld slow tambourine. There’s distortion on the guitar here diving low. My fiend Matt used to call Turing machine car chase music and “Critically Acclaimed Shit” is walking-down-the-street-being-a-bad-ass music. The only shame of this on vinyl is that you can’t get a digital download to actually attempt to put on that attitude, walking around town, but that could be dangerous to your health. Even just keeping a tiny little bit of this tough sound with you is more than enough. I also can’t help but think when I hear “Colemine Records” but to think of a huge pit full of record fragments, 45' sticking out of the sides, dirty and busted. Terry is lowering singles archeologists into the pit to work by lamplight pulling these fragments and carefully brushing them off and sending them back up the bucket.

Get this from the Colemine Records facebook page, along with some great shirts....gotta get that hammond pedals one...

Jungle Fire on Colemine Records

For the final day of 2012 I grabbed a Colemine single off the stack, not just because it was the next one up in my shuffled deck next to the turntable but because I knew this would be a funky slap awake soundtrack to kick off the new years preparations. You have to mix egg nog and make snacks and get down before tomorrows inevitable downfall. Shoot I might have put this on preemptively, it might be more important in 24 hours or even worse this could be the push to get things started a little too soon this morning.

Jungle Fire out of LA fits the bill perfectly, this eleven piece funk act coming out strong with a nod to the lengthy funk history before them on the A-Side and then sliding right up alongside that legacy with one of their own upon flipping.

"A-Side's "Comencemos' (Let's Start) count's off - uno dos tres right to a strong conga percussion section and a warm, warped electric groove, low and deep with an almost synth porn effect. But this heavily layered funk wouldn't be nearly the complete jam without those crazy bursts from the horn section. The bass breaks off to take on a completely new path after backing up and punctuating that electric rhythm section and it becomes a horn/bass off for a few measures, the blasting against the holy groove. The guitar comes back in a real soft surf jazz melody, bending notes and psyching out with massive delay. So the percussion feels left out and picks up the mantle to slap bang out it's own double time movement. That kind of jazz tradeoff thing happening, each voice stepping up to take a turn at exploring this main groove, to inevitably come back together, each time, rising a little higher, that surprise always there. Another beat you can't help but move to, almost veering into exploitation film soundtrack, the holy grail of funk. Did I mention this is a Fela Kuti cover? Completely changes this.

The B-Side "Tokuta" is an original composition heavy on that layered percussion section and a deep horn low end melody. It breaks for the rigid electric structure to take over movement duties. The bass begins it's understated groove path and the horns go back to the incredible punches to this sort of sci-fi sounding structure. In both pieces there's just an unbelievable amount of rhythm changes and precision in working out what is essentially this celibration dance groove music. Those things shouldn't necessarily go together, this kind of talent and preparation should be harder to add up to having a good time, the point of all this after all. But I think that's what makes this such an accomplishment... I have great respect for musicians who can so completely master a sound like this, like the lowly seven inch itself, it's done out of the pure love for this style and that makes this all the better.

Check out a sweet sample from a sesame street record player:



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Dojo Cuts on Colemine Records

If you were wondering, like I was, what that picture of Australia was doing mashed into the Colemine logo on this single from Dojo Cuts... well, it's because Terry has gone to the other side of the earth in his search for contemporary soul and funk. If you are an exceptional case, Colemine is coming for you, geography makes no difference. This time, the Ohio based label must have been after the wakka-wakka jazzy electric funk from this eight piece and the eyes closed, clear blue pipes of Roxie Ray. on "You Make Loving Real Easy" she's the obvious focus, playing with the dynamics of her delivery, playing off the band... down in the calm, whispery quiet to matching the bursts from this substantial horn section. All in a sort of matter of fact, no nonsense style, one minute it's completely low and quivering, holding back, letting you in on this intimate moment and the next second she busts loose in a celebration of "....making love real easy" the double meaning no accident. She's a little bit on the prowl, out to go get whatever she wants with that talking wah creeping up behind her. It would be easy to focus on Roxie's expression and personality but don't overlook this great arrangement, the drumming in particular, this guy makes them really whisper right along with Roxie...there's nothing like that fade out breakdown when the whole funking thing comes back in.
Teh B-Side, "Love Me Right" finds warm reverb strumming leading the intro to this one. I'm also hearing that real unique raspy, maybe Janis side, or Otis Redding when he busts out on "Try a Little Tenderness", it doesn't matter what you're into, that will change you. Every little moment she's talking about is just killing her, letting you in on this inner monologue with this kind of distance that makes you feel a little bit voyeuristic, but you aren't going to stop this midway. Huge twangy surf solo...so slow, you can hear the pick practically scraping the strings, you can keep turning this up, and when she's joined by the rising brass, no one will mind this is entertaining the whole block.

I'm also really getting into these plain sleeves, the whole idea that the art doesn't even play into your impression before you play this, completely about the music. There's something pure about that idea... and these look completely timeless, like they just stepped out of a crate from the late '60s.
Get down in the Colemine Records and add this one to your cart.

The Jive Turkeys on Colemine records

Terry from Colemine Records got in touch the other day about his soul & funk label he's been running out in Middletown, Ohio. Seems his dad was a big time 45 collector and Terry grew up trying to get his friends in second grade to listen to the Heartbreaks instead of NKOTB, the label eventually started as a way to legitimize his band's release, but it worked the other way around and he's stuck with a serious label pushing twenty releases at least...and a sweet hammond organ t-shirt which I have to remember to order before they sell out. The first one I grabbed was from Cincinnati locals the Jive Turkeys, a four piece who've been playing together as Soundscape, a hip hop project for years until their love for the raw stripped down break beat narrowed that one element of Soundscape down to instrumental FUNK and The Jive Turkeys. Leave everything else behind, focus and the beat and getting down in a pitch perfect homage to the late '70s porn soundtrack.

"B.A." made me say" oh good god damn I need this old dirty jam" completey instrumental, jamming on that high register wah sound. The soul guitar and that groovy organ working together perfetly in sync, hitting the end of that measure stopping...just...a....second and DOWN on that final beat, solo out the electric, this is nailing that superfly, across 100th street sound. You have to move to this. Jzzy strumming, I'm hearing crazy fashion, and bellbottoms. Such a killer drum break on this, and played live, it's too much, couldn't there be room for a kind of pimp Tortoise sound out of Cincinnati? Well, there is now. I keep asking myself if this is a reissue or cover version because they'r hitting this style dead on. Give me an old VHS player, I have to pimp slap someone.

"Chicken foot" is just as full of groove, but a little bit looser with a hefty bass line and guitar noodling with that airy hammond organ, jabbing around, almost taking on an electric guitar feel... a slower groove than that A-Side but this one is going a new direction with that organ driving this one. The wacka guitar is just to support that head shaking organ. Live, there would be applause after these solo's like an old jazz record. Lots of false stops and starts, all playing second position to this expert drum rhythm. You find a guy like this that can deliver a solid, delicate and complex beat like this you better treat him right, he's a hard one to come by. Expert dirty funk, not precious at all with this raw party. Hell yes.

Plain sleeve, big hole 45, should have found a scratched dusty copy years ago, but no this was presssed up recently...spinning below:



Get it from Terry at Colemine who learned it from watching YOU dad!