Before and After Silk Sonic

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We truly put our all on this record, but Silk Sonic would like to gracefully, humbly and most importantly, sexually, bow out of submitting our album this year.

—Bruno Mars to Rolling Stone

“Leave The Door Open” was the best song of 2021—the song went so far to sweep all four of the Grammy categories it was nominated for. I generally don’t give two damns about the Grammys, but it’s no small feat to nab Record of the Year while we were all still stuck at home and heavily plugged into personal media consumption as an escape from the on-going global panorama.

Still, Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak’s collaboration managed to charm the hell out of the world with its reverence to vintage soul with a modern twist. For a lot of folks, it was the first time people really heard this kind of tribute to the kind of soul that was so genuinely influenced by Aretha Franklin, James Brown, and Prince. While those influences loom large in modern music, pop music rarely employs this kind of dedication to emulating the sound the way that Silk Sonic did.

Despite the fact that Silk Sonic may be the most popular group to showcase this vintage soul sound, they’re certainly not the first to do this, and I hope that they won’t be the last. In the meantime, while we wait and see if Silk Sonic reunites again or if another musical act manages to employ a similar sound with similar impact, I propose that these materials may scratch that itch into modern takes into classic soul.

Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings - “Inspiration Information”
Spotify - Apple Music - Tidal

Let’s start with one of the best acts to popularize modern vintage soul. The late, great Sharon Jones, and the all-star band, The Dap-Kings, put their own spin on this Shuggie Otis classic back in 2009 for the compilation album, Dark Was The Night. For me, this stands out for not just being a great soulful cover of an already soulful song, but that it’s a great example of how SJDK, typically known for its upbeat dance floor burners, could manage to slow it down without sacrificing their trademark sound.

The Resonaires - “Standing With You”
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This song occupies the same spiritual space as Silk Sonic’s “Leave The Door Open”, given its sweeping and cinematic underpinnings. Beyond the similar vibe, one of the more subtle parts of this song that I particularly enjoy is the duet between lead singer Saundra Williams and the fuzz guitar played by Vincent John. So much of soul is call-and-response, and that’s what make’s “Leave The Door Open” shine, and that’s what makes this song shine the same way. It’s the call-and-response between Saun and the guitar, the back-up singers and Saun, it’s even established in the opening chords between the French horns and the lead guitar. My call is for you to give this song a spin. This is the song that opened a recent 45rpm record set focused on soul and soul revival.

Say She She - “Forget Me Not”
Spotify - Apple Music - Tidal

Let’s swing into the funkier side of soul revival. Say She She is a seven-piece funk band fronted by a trio of women. The band name itself is a reference to Nile Rodgers’ legendary disco band, Chic—which is all to say, the septet wears their inspirations on their sleeves. Here, the trio’s vocals are well-balanced with the solid bass groove, the organ plinks that pepper the song, as well as a killer flute solo during the breakdown. Soul revival has variety, and this track is but one example of that sonic diversity.

Mayer Hawthorne - “Back Seat Lover”
Spotify - Apple Music - Tidal

If you’re looking for a treasure trove of soul revival with a modern twist, Mayer Hawthorne (as well as his work with producer Jake One under the moniker Tuxedo) is probably the best next step to take after listening to An Evening With Silk Sonic however many times you’ve done so at this point. “Back Seat Lover” takes an equal amount of queues from blue-eyes soul yacht rock by the likes of Michael McDonald and Kenny Loggins, as well as 80s-era Prince. The coda toward the end, in particular, rings echoes of “I Wanna Be Your Lover”.

Night Owls ft. Destani Wolf - “Let’s Stay Together”
Spotify - Apple Music - Tidal

Covering a well-known soul classic like Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together” is risky. Covering any particular classic carries the risk of sounding like a tired re-tread, being a little boring, or on the other end, going too damn far and trying too hard. In this case, Night Owls, a Long Beach, California-based reggae outfit, puts their own balanced spin on the track. Possibly, the key here, was to replace the iconic horns with keys and organs and honestly, just do their own damn thing. Soul music has a rich history of doing covers—Aretha’s “Respect” is a cover. We’re all just paying tribute to the stuff we love.

This is really just a start. I think I’ll plan on doing soul revival showcases every Friday or Saturday. That said, we’ll definitely get back at it next week with a similar energy. I’ll plan on posting about 3 or 4 times a week. Sometimes with a theme, sometimes not. We’ll at least categorize these posts under Soul Revival Showcase for easier reference in the future.

In a few days, I’ll go over my playlist building process and go over a handful of the songs for my DJ set over at Speck’s Records & Tapes—which is happening tomorrow at 12pm.

Back Again For The First Time

It’s 2022 and I’m starting a music blog.

I’m not thinking of starting a music blog, I’m just going to do it.

Here are my concerns:

  1. Music blogs feel like a relic of a bygone era given how much sway major labels have in our streaming habits. Those playlists that get pushed in your “For You” feeds and the song snippets that get pushed on TikTok and IG reels? Some of it is organic, but most of it is due to major label influence. That’s how it always has been—streaming services are just the most recent format for major labels to push their artists into your ear holes.

    All that being said, there was a pocket of time when music blogs were doing some amplification of the college radio and public radio ethos of keeping everyone’s ears to the ground. We were also going to waaaay more shows and the New York indie sleaze scene was keeping things interesting. Illegal art was thriving—I’m talking about unsanctioned sampling by the likes of Danger Mouse, Girl Talk, and The Hood Internet, among others. Unfortunately, just like with torrent services and Napster, major labels don’t really appreciate that kind of manipulation of their intellectual property.

    Still, I think that there’s room for little old-ass me to just have a space to expound on the music I love. I’ve been DJing for the better part of this year—DJing regularly for the first time in over a decade. I’ve been making bigger waves than I ever did in 2011-2012, but the aim remains the same: it’s all a labor of love. This time around, I just have a better-paying day-job and I’m able to make extra money from DJing (even with an upcoming residency).

    I feel like a music blog would be a great way to bring broader context to some of my sets and selections. Maybe it’s masturbatory—but I feel like it’s a better in-road for more people rather than asking people to physically show up to places I’m spinning records in the midst of various public health crises. Plus, I want to make music more conversational. Podcast in the future? Maybe. Music blog now? Absolutely.

    I’m not going to sit here and say that what I’m doing is going to completely buck major label material. Far from it. Major labels have deep wells of talent that shouldn’t be ignored—but the world is so much more than all of that. It’s not just about smaller labels, but also international labels and the labels that fight to preserve vintage sounds that have fallen by the wayside. I think a lot of non-major label material provides a lot of context to major label sounds.

  2. I don’t want this to be a fly-by-night fancy that I get tired of after two or three posts. Maybe a Squarespace blog isn’t the way to go, maybe it is. I don’t want to do Medium—too many paywalls. My Tumblr seems like an option, but I need this to be a format and to stay on a schedule—Tumblr is too haphazard and it’d be too far a thematic shift for my generally-dormant once-popular page. I guess WordPress is an option, but I don’t have the wherewithal to really explore that right now.

    Squarespace it is for the time being. I’ll deal—plus, if this is really just about me being able to talk about these things rather than an effort to chase clout and popularity, then the format doesn’t really matter as much, right? Sure. Shrug.

  3. This damn thing will take time. Then again, I don’t have much of a social life at 38-years-old. My best friend around here is running like a million restaurants and opening a million more while incubating the city’s best culinary talents. I’ve got nothing but time, and things that you love deserve your time.

Really, those are all my concerns. They’re three concerns that are all pretty easy to tackle, all things considered. In the meantime, here’s a very short playlist with songs about coming back capped off with a song about not forgetting about me. Let’s have some fun.