Three Imaginary Girls - Daptone Records

Weekday cure: new Charles Bradley video

imaginary victoria — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 16:26:54 +0000

"Let's get on 95 / and feel the fire."

Charles Bradley isn't just a performer, he's a force. He's an experience. He's a feeling in your guts that all will be right with the world if we just love each other and try hard enough, that we can simultaneously transcend our heartbreak and embrace those sharp corners of our hearts that shape us. And his latest single, "Strictly Reserved For You," manages to embody his one-of-a-kind essence in the most beautiful and complete of ways -- it's a fully legit track, whether for your next mixtape or your next party playlist, and leads me to believe that the new album (Victim of Love, out last month on Daptone) is going to do some serious damage on this year's best-of lists.

With that said, we've got to take a minute to talk about this gem of a video. It seriously creates a near-indescribable level of joy that translates the heartburst-y bliss of Charles as we know and love him, presented with a hip, beautiful, clean-but-not-sterile vision that almost feels like we're following him through a week of his life. We see the streets he walks every day, we see his coffeeshop moments, his dance moves and work days and park days: Charles In His Van, Charles On His Street, Charles In His Jacket, Charles On A Soundstage, Charles In The Grass. (And ugh, can someone please make a .gif out of Charles Being Birthed By A Hydrangea Bush?? SO GOOD.)

Bumbershoot 2010: Album 101 Prep for Recommended Artists

Chris Estey — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 15:43:23 +0000

It is sheer madness that there are so many great live performers appearing at Bumbershoot 2010 this year. This is my personal schedule to see a cross-section of irascible indie-ness (be it indie pop-friendly Pac NW hip-hop, indie rock, Brooklyn funk, etc.) but mostly focusing on those TIG-sparking artists who either put out a great record recently (and may or may not have gotten the deserved acclaim) or have one coming right up.

So let's begin the plan, and bear in mind if you haven't heard the music that may already be available from these performers, we would recommend checking the releases hyped below out before you attend Bumbershoot 2010. This is not because you would be in any way disappointed with what you will see and hear when you hit the full-genre full-on phenomenon that is the festival this year; just the opposite, we want you to already have some of these songs down to sing/chant/rap along when they pop during the sets. All are recommended and approved.

100 Days, 100 Nights

Bob Ham — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 20:45:08 +0000

http://www.amazon.com/Days-Nights-Sharon-Jones-Kings/dp/B000UO75AY/wwwthreeimagi-20

51L4CH07S6L._SS400_.jpg

Hearing the Dap-Kings add their furiously funky sound to albums like Mark Ronson’s Version and Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black is a fine thing, simply because it helps to raise the profile of one of the finest revivalist groups around. But what those projects were missing is a real soul voice, one that divests their sharp instrumental work from the present, leaving you wondering if you didn’t just stumble across an unearthed recording from 1966.

The combination of Sharon Jones’ brash, throaty pipes with the horn-heavy attack of the Daptones is one of the premiere musical collaborations of our times. Without the other, each act would be undoubtedly relegated to studio work, doomed to obscurity outside the eyes of those of us who scour the liner notes of our CDs. Together, their albums and their fiery live shows have gained them all legions of fans around the world.

With any luck, their new album 100 Days, 100 Nights will raise their profile even more. The short (10 songs at just over 30 minutes) and sweet disc moves along at an unhurried pace, settling into grooves that slide between the punchy swagger of the Stax/Volt studio band and the silkier, sexier sound of Motown’s house band, The Funk Brothers. Above it all, stands Jones, who doesn’t force her vocals on the backing tracks, but rather nuzzles in alongside them, leaving the star power histrionics for lesser singers.

Although the best place to hear these tracks is performed live, where Jones takes full command of the stage and has audiences eating out of her hands by the end of the first song, until she and the Dap-Kings make their way to the West Coast, we’ll have to settle for these glorious, soul-stirring recordings.

The new Sharon Jones album is not only a classic of '60s soul revivalism, but also one of the best albums of 2007.