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The Orange Constant formed in 2012 and has since made a name for itself across the American East. Now residing in Athens, Ga., the group continues to grow a loyal fan-base that craves its vintage-rock sound with a contemporary twist. TOC's debut album,Time to Go (June 2015), was recorded with Grammy-nominated producer John Keane (R.E.M., Widespread Panic) and garnered praise from Relix Magazine as a "confident and polished debut album...laden with connective riffs and melodious charm." The band shares bills with acts such as Perpetual Groove, TAUK, Pigeons Playing Ping Pong, and CBDB and won the 2016 Flagpole Athens Music Award for best "Jam/Funk" band. Its second LP, Point of Reference (March 2017), was produced by Drew Vandenberg (of Montreal, Kishi Bashi, Futurebirds) and demonstrates an urge to break genre restrictions. The band returned to Keane for its third full-length release, Peel (May 2020), which features all five current members. The Orange Constant draws influence from many styles and fans are often drawn to its ability to meld progressive composition and improvisation with a pop-like sensibility. The group is: Andrew Brantley (guitar, vocals), Nickalous Benson (guitar, vocals), Tyler Walker (bass, vocals), Chris Freiberg (keyboards), Sam Groveman (drums).

https://linktr.ee/wearedelasoul

De La Soul is back—but did they ever really leave? After delivering their seminal debut 3 Feet High and Rising in 1989 with the production genius of Prince Paul, the New York City-bred trio of Posdnuos (Pos), Dave and Maseo went on to further impact Hip Hop culture with five more groundbreaking albums: De La Soul Is Dead (1991), Buhloone Mindstate (1993), Stakes Is High (1996), Art Official Intelligence: Mosaic Thump (2000) and AOI: Bionix (2001). But once the digital age exploded in the late ‘90s, De La Soul’s celebrated catalog was unavailable to stream. As the decades passed, the tight-knit group forged ahead anyway—touring the world, connecting with their adoring fanbase and making music on their own terms. Following 2004’s The Grind Date, De La Soul took a hiatus from making albums, but joined The Gorillaz on the track “Feel Good Inc” which won them a Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Collaboration.  In 2015, the group raised over $600,000 on Kickstarter from fans to independently release their album and the Anonymous Nobody, which was their first #1 on the Rap Albums chart, and was also nominated for a Best Rap Album Grammy.   

However, the demand for unreleased De La Soul music was palpable and the cry for access to the first six albums grew louder. Unfortunately, De La Soul was stuck riding a roller coaster of stalled negotiations, dashed hopes and dead-end conversations with their old label, and the group nearly gave up. 

"We have lived without the music up for long, these six albums haven’t been up—ever,” Pos says. “We got used to knowing they weren’t up.” In June of 2021, Tommy Boy Music was acquired by Reservoir, giving De La Soul’s catalog a new home.  In March of 2023, the six missing albums were finally available to stream.  But sadly, right before the catalog release, Dave, the beloved member of De La Soul, passed away. Though bittersweet, De La Soul preserves his legacy and the ongoing impact of their music. 

As iconic songs such as “The Magic Number”, found new life in the film Spiderman: No Way Home in 2021, De La Soul continues to resonate with a diverse population of people. 

As Pos notes, “We’ve noticed over the past several years of tour like, ‘Wow, there’s a father here with his child who also is here with their child. ‘We’re generational. To me, there’s nothing more gratifying than that. That means something. That’s telling about a group. What we were doing wasn’t just stuck to that time.”

“We really naturally been that group for everyone,” Pos says. “It was never about we’re just here for this community, that community, this set of people or these certain fans of Hip Hop culture. We see music as music. We’ve been very resilient, even being a group that didn’t have our music up [on streaming platforms]. We still had these beautiful opportunities through young people finding out about us through a commercial or Spider-Man. Now that it can all be there for people to gravitate to, I’m really happy about that.” 

De La Soul's impact on the musical landscape is immeasurable, with 3 Feet High and Rising widely regarded as one of the most influential albums of its era. Pioneering inventive sampling, playful lyrics, and eclectic beats, the album broke new ground and set a standard for creativity in the genre. Recognizing its cultural significance, the album was inducted into the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress.

The New Mastersounds are an astonishingly persistent funk/soul-jazz quartet who were founded in Leeds, UK in 1999 by guitarist/producer Eddie Roberts and drummer Simon Allen. They recruited Pete Shand on bass and Bob Birch on organ & piano. Bob left the band in 2007 and was replaced by Joe Tatton.  By the close of 2013 (the time of writing) their discography boasted more than twenty 7" 45rpm singles, 8 studio albums, 2 live albums, 1 remix album and several compilation albums, with one more studio album and another live album already recorded and pegged for release in 2014. The band has toured all over the USA (having visited 38 of the 50 states at last count), Japan, and to a lesser extent in UK & Europe.  Influences include James Brown, Grant Green, Booker T, Lou Donaldson and The Meters, as well as the (mainly) UK-based DJs who exposed the four musicians to the sounds of lesser known funk acts at the vinyl-only club nights of the mid-90's.

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