I’m super pumped - I found mah soulmusic!

I was working @ Starbucks in Amherst today, and during lunch I wandered into Mystery Train Records, a great used record store. I told the helpful clerk that I was looking for “music that’s, like, groovy, with a good beat, just kinda bluesy, you know, sorta like Propellerheads meets Stevie Ray Vaughn, you know, funky I guess”.

She wasn’t very sure about this genre, but she put me on to a group called Soulive - and it was *FANTASTIC*. It’s a three-person band: drums, guitar, and Hammond B-5 organ. Groovy groovy stuff. Check em out!

I got all excited and went back and asked for similar stuff. A guy helped me find some classic old-style funk records - I’m listening to “Funkadelic” and “Parliament” now. I’m not sure I like those as much as Soulive, though.

I think mah groove be jazz-funk, dig? Ya!

The Soulive record I have is called “Turn it out”, and here’re the liner notes - I’ve emphasized the sentences that grabbed me:

Right up front, these guys rip. Let’s get that out of the way. But there’s a lot of rippers putting out “funky” albums & most of the time I say to myself, “that’s cool, but I’d rather listen to Jimmy Smith play Jimmy Smith licks, or Grant Green, or early Benson.” Soulive is different. They tip their hat respectfully to traditional funk recipes then add spices you’ve never heard of. Why is their funky stew so new?

First of all, Soulive has developed an original compositional voice. Sure you hear a lot of the classic funk/soul influences, but check the heads of the tunes. The forms are longer, the melodies more intricate without being less powerful. The organ will have the melody and, all of a sudden, the guitar and drums will hit some fat tight kick, and then you’re right back into it - like you hit a patch of gravel and are now speeding back down the asphalt.

Secondly, these guys speak more than just the language of funk. The solos are pushing all sorts of harmonic boundaries, going from blues to jazz to chromatic stuff to free improvisation. The beats are tight and groove in that funky way, but the drums aren’t just there to hold it down - they’re constantly interacting with the soloists and soloing themselves. Al can obviously rip jazz, but there’s all this hip-hop influence too. You gotta speak someone’s language before you can expand their vocabulary, and that’s what Soulive does for you. They’re accessible. They move your body, then your mind. They give you an easy handshake before they twist your arm all up.

Lastly, the recording itself surpasses all of the over-produced, commercial fluff out there. It’s raw and stinky, like you’re there in the club. You listen to it and you smell the beer and smoke. These guys stretch, unafraid to make mistakes. Perfection is boring. You’re discovering the next phrase as they do, just like it’s live. (Their name is Soulive, dummy.) That’s the vibe; live performance as the essence of music.

Soulive has obviously listened to the masters. They’ve eaten it up, digested it, shat it out, thrown it in the compost pile, planted it with their own musical seeds, and out grew the beautiful flower that is this album. This is how culture moves forward, and that’s what these guys are doing.

They’re also having a damn good time making us sweat and smile.

– Jeff Patrick Krasno

I’m telling ya, I’ve found my soul music There’s something reckless about this music, it’s live, it’s the essence of the spiritual life - discovering the next phrase of God’s melody together.