Time for some selections that are drenched in soul, two tunes that are contemporary manifestations of soul music, unique in their own right, along with two tunes that are the original definitions of soul.  First up, a track off the new Mos Def, The Ecstatic.  Now if you’re like me, you may have been a bit turned off by some of Mos Def’s later work, starting with 2004’s The New Danger.  Did I dislike it?  Absolutely not, I thought it was OK, but by no means did it grip me like his landmark 1999 release Black on Both Sides.  It sort of took Mos Def off the music map for me, I started seeing him in movies like 16 Blocks (just meh) and Be Kind, Rewind (hell yeh!).  This new release, however, has been hailed by listeners, critics and fans as a return to what made Black on Both Sides so good, a departure from his marked phase exploring rock n’ roll and bluesier sounds, and a return to hip hop.  No less steeped in soul, this newest release has me reconsidering what I thought I knew about Mos Def.  Today’s track came upon recommendation from my friend Zach, who records as both Shigeto and Frank Omura, and it features the collaboration of Georgia Anne Muldrow, who I must say has a beautiful, soulful voice, reminiscent of classic soul vocalists.

Next up, we take a quick trip back in time to a time when all was not like it is.  Gil Scott-Heron grew up and lived in a different age, one where racism and ignorance were so prominent that they were considered socially acceptable, and where resistance to this sentiment was just beginning the process of changing the world.  Gil Scott-Heron may end up being remembered for his famous spoken-word poetry, like The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, but there is a musical side to him that cannot be overlooked.  I first heard Gil Scott-Heron and Brian Jackson‘s Winter in America in 2005 while living in Pittsburgh with my friend Marcus Harris, musician, producer and then-frontman of hip-hop fusion group The Beats n Verbz (The BNVz).  Despite the turbulent times, Gil Scott-Heron made music that speaks to the heart, speaking to a range black issues, but I feel this music will prove timeless and transcend racial boundaries to make statements about the nature of the human heart, and this soulful track definitely accomplishes that.

It’s not exactly rare to hear soul in house music, especially classic Chicago house.  Despite the current landscape, house music, like so many other genres, was created by African American musicians, often serving as a means of solace from social or political oppression.  While this track doesn’t necessarily speak to that directly, it is most definitely paying homage to the same kinds of soulful croons that inspired the original house tunes.  Admittedly, it sounds a little bit like an old Moby track, and the question arises regarding the true soulfulness of some white dude dropping old soul samples into his house tracks, but this 21 year-old Parisian sound engineering student, who released this track on Wolf + Lamb, seems to understand the appropriate way of nodding to soul without pretending to be someone or something he is not.  This track rolls along with just the right amount of soul and house, making it yet another great addition to the WLM catalogue, and a great release for Le Loup.

We’ll close things out today with an undeniable master of soul, Marvin Gaye.  You simply can’t talk about soul without Marvin entering the conversation.  This track, Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler) is intoxicating, to say the very least.  It’s provided the backdrop in countless films for the night-time inner-city drive-by sequence, it captures the emotion of living in a city like New York, the social and political issues that pervade everyday life, the struggle to live on despite squalid living conditions and a system that seems to have left people behind, and the ultimate triumph of the human spirit and love over all.  There is an important message to be heard in songs like this, and no matter how many times you hear it, tracks like this can continue to give you goose bumps and shivers running down your spine.  That was Marvin, and that is the effect his music had and continues to have on listeners, past, present, and future.

Mos Def – Roses (feat. Georgia Anne Muldrow)

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Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson – Your Daddy Loves You

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Le Loup – See Line

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Marvin Gaye – Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)

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Posted in Music Posted by Alex on Jul 13 2009 01:30 pm

Tags: Brian Jackson, Georgia Anne Muldrow, Gil Scott-Heron, Le Loup, Marvin Gaye, Mos Def, Wolf, Wolf + Lamb