rhythm & blues sound of sweet fun Coffee style life

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(c) 1965 Records

Rob Smoughton is probably best known as a long-time member of Hot Chip and Scritti Politti, while his alter-ego Grovesnor has released a number of albums to critical acclaim.

Now he unveils his new band, Black Peaches.

A midway point between the swamp and the tropics, Black Peaches’ music is gloriously loose-limbed and strung-out: a psychotropic stew of country boogie, spiritual jazz and funk.

With slide guitars, Latin percussion and shimmering keyboards, the Peaches sound is a cinematic experience, the soundtrack to a bar fight at the country disco or an incantation of the black arts. At other times they swagger with the easy confidence of Little Feat, Manassas, or Dr John to create a pulsating, unwinding groove for a hot summer's day where no one is in too much of a hurry.

Black Peaches is not just a sextet, but in the mind of its skipper, Smoughton, a destination where various strands of musical flavour and colour coalesce to form a heavenly brew, equal parts melody and groove, grit and bliss, sublimely tight and gloriously loose-limbed.

Black Peaches demanded a band format so, Smoughton sent his initial demos to musicians he fancied roping in, like Nick Roberts, Grosvenor’s live drummer, and Charlie Michael (The Severed Limb, Shock Defeat), a master of Brazilian percussion. Smoughton had played with bassist Susumu Mukai in (Hot Chip frontman) Alexis Taylor’s live band. Duelling guitarist Adam Chetwood, is a fellow country and jazz fan and plays pedal steel too. Thomas Greene (Cold Specks) on keyboards completes a consummate line-up that added ideas to Smoughton’s demos, which he took away and wrote more parts for.

Inspirations include ‘70s Nashville combo Barefoot Jerry and their guitarist Mac Gaden - that combination of southern soul and country coming together, with Caribbean or South American music seeped in.

Steven Stills’ first post-Crosby Stills Nash & Young ensemble Manassas were a blueprint in terms of Black Peaches’ line-up, with percussion and pedal steel.

Then from Brazil, the rhythm section of Baden Powell Sambas’ 1966 album Os Afro Sambas and the double guitar attack of the psych-tinged Novos Baianos, alongside Chicago’s funky post-rockers 5Style and Krautrock legends Can.

After all, peaches don’t only grow in Georgia…

Fire & A Water Sign

Albert King - As The Years Go Passing By (live in Montreux with Rory Gallagher)

Sister Rosetta Tharpe - My Journey to the Sky

Jimmy Reed - Big Boss Man

The Robert Cray Band comes with guns blazing to perform at 88.1 KDHX in St. Louis.  Recorded September 14, 2012.  Enjoy.  Recorded by Jon Valley and Mary Belzer.  Discover more great music at http://kdhx.org.

The Robert Cray Band "I'm Done Crying" Live at KDHX 09/14/12

Track: All Blues
Artist:Jim hall, chet baker, grover washington jr 
 Album:youkali 

All Blues - Jim hall, chet baker, grover washington jr

2009 marks Soulive's 10th Anniversary and over the past 10 years, Soulive have covered a lot of ground musically and literally. Not many bands can say they have recorded with Chaka Khan, Dave Matthews, Talib Kweli and John Scofield. Nor can many bands open for The Rolling Stones on one tour and have Stevie Wonder sit in with them on the next tour, and who else has recorded for legendary labels such as Blue Note, Concorde AND Stax Records? Pedigree indeed!

Of this brand new album founding member, drummer Alan Evans says "This is the Soulive album I've always wanted to record. It's what I've been hearing in my head for years, like when people say "if I could go back in time knowing what I know now" Well, that's what we did with Up Here. The session had the vibe and energy of Get Down but with all of our experiences from the past 10 years put down on tape in a very meaningful way"

The record's opening track "Upright" immediately sets the tone with a completely infectious hook featuring keyboard maestro Neal Evans on an old upright piano. There are some nods to the "old-school" on the record. "For Granted" is a tip of the hat to Grant Green, and Eric plays licks reminiscent of his early solos on Get Down and Turn It Out. Guest vocalist Nigel Hall tears it up on "Too Much" (also released as a killer Freestyle funk 45 FSR7059) while Eric's guitar sings like D'Angelo on the laid-back grind of "Put on Yo Pajamas" (P J's)

The entire record features tight horn arrangements from long-time Soulive collaborators and friends, Sam Kininger and Ryan Zoidis otherwise know as The Shady Horns

No matter how you listen to Up Here, it sounds like you're listening to vintage vinyl. One of the most difficult things about making a record with a great live band is capturing all that live energy while still making the record that's about songs. Up Here does as good a job as any record could in accomplishing this. "Straight up", says Alan, "this is the first Soulive album that I can say every tune on it is my favorites on the album". 

Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings - I Learned The Hard Way

Daptone Records

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