Charles Bradley: "Changes"

How about a Black Sabbath cover today?

Here´s soul man Charles Bradley (featuring The Budos Band) with "Changes". It was released as a 7" for Record Store Day not long ago, and Daptone Records uploaded it on SoundCloud.

Falling Behind

I´m falling behind in this blog. So much great music is being played and released, that it´s almost too much!
I realized that I have hardly mentioned the new Richard Thompson album here, so I will cheat a bit, and just make a list of recommendations to catch up.

You know what I like, so please check these ones out right away, if you need some more great music that is!

AKODE: AKODE (Gaffer Records)
- Norwegians Johannesen, Høyer, Knedal Andersen with Alan Wilkinson very much alive in Sandnes (Norway)!

Charles Bradley: "Victim of love" (Daptone/Dunham)
- Powerful, hot soul.

Grand General: "Grand General" (Rune Grammofon)
- Prog-jazzrock with Ola Kvernberg on violin and viola.

Kristoffer Lo: "Anomie" (Gigafon)
- Slow, dark, spooky tuba music.

Roscoe Mitchell: "Duets with Tyshawn Sorey and Special Guest Hugh Ragin" (Wide Hive)
- Let´s cite the record company: "Frequently called an innovative genius, Roscoe has a remarkable ability to catch the improvisational spark with a practiced and methodical accuracy." Nice!

Phantom Orchard Orchestra: "Trouble in Paradise" (Tzadik)
- Beautiful experimental music with a.o. Maja Ratkje and Hild Sofie Tafjord.

Shuggie Otis: "Introducing" (Epic)
- Much talked about funky disco-soul. I found this one on Record Store Day (top picture).

Mark Solborg: "The Trees" (Ilk/The Orchard)
- Fantastic album from the Danish guitar player Solborg, with a.o. Evan Parker and Mats Eilertsen. Listen at bottom of blog post.

Splashgirl: "Field Day Ritual" (Hubro)
- Beautiful doom piano trio, with Eyvind Kang guesting.

Richard Thompson: "Electric" (Proper)
- Great rock-and-doom-and-gloom-folk. I need to see Thompson live again! Soon!

Charles Bradley

If you have read this blog for some time, you may have noticed that I have to have some soul thrown in at irregular intervals.
This time I´m glad I chose Charles Bradley, and what seems to be his debut album, "No Time for Dreaming", released on Daptone (in 2011 or originally in 2010?), the same company that gave us Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings.
This is funky, hot soul with a great horn section, and Bradley has got a fine and raw voice. A damned good album!

We even get cover versions of Neil Young´s "Heart of Gold" and Nirvana´s "Stay Away"!

Sad But Superstitious

Oh come on!, it´s Friday night! Let´s have a party with waxaudio´s mashup of Stevie Wonder and Metallica.

Tightrope

Oh, come on, let´s forget about free jazz and prog rock! It´s friday, and we´ll have some dance music instead. Please welcome Janelle Monáe! She just released "Archandroid".
The performance is from Letterman of course, but watch also the official video right here.

I Learned The Hard Way

Make sure your dancing shoes are shined, and get up, because Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings are back with "I Learned The Hard Way" (DAP 2010). This is funky, tight soul, and even if the songs are mostly about the oh so hard love, it still turns out a party!
Sharon Jones is a grown up lady with a grown up voice, and the band is really smoking, with horns, organ and everything you need. The Dap-Kings are: Thomas Brenneck, Binky Griptite, Dave Guy, Ian Hendrickson-Smith, Bosco Mann, Homer Steinweiss, Neal Sugarman and Fernando "Boogaloo" Velez.
I still love the previous album, "100 Days 100 Nights" (DAP 2007) (sorry, only in my Norwegian blog), but "I Learned The Hard Way" is even more complete. I don´t think the album has one weak track.