February 19, 2010

Like obvious forebear Booker T. and the MGs, Brooklyn’s Menahan Street Band–an instrumental outfit led by Dap-Kings guitarist Thomas Brenneck and featuring members of the Dap-Kings, Antibalas, El Michels Affair, and the Budos Band–sounds great both behind an R&B vocalist and in the absence of one. And it was this back and forth (the band on its own and backing the gritty singers Charles Bradley and Lee Fields) that fueled the group’s February visit to the Music Hall of Williamsburg.

To open the show, the Bushwick-based septet ran through tracks like “The Contender” and “Home Again!” from its debut, Make the Road by Walking, an album of uncontrived, often orchestral-sounding soul music that touches on dub, Afrobeat, psychedelia, and Ethio-jazz. But the evening began in earnest with the arrival of Bradley, a former James Brown impersonator. Howling and dancing his way through tunes like the moving “The World (Is Going Up in Flames),” Bradley, dressed in all white, energized the Friday night crowd, and warmed them up for Fields, the night’s headliner.

Fields, also backed by the Menahan Street Band (who presumably transformed into the Expressions at this point in the show), provided a different experience than the one offered by Bradley; where Bradley was loud and ecstatic, Fields was subdued and focused. Simply burning on cuts like the smooth “Honey Dove” and the show-stopping “Ladies,” Fields embodied much of what the Daptone movement is all about: grace, subtlety, and soul. With Fields’s exit, the nearly two-hour revue ended just the way it began: with horns blasting, rhythm section grooving, and people gettin’ down.

Wax Poetics x Converse 45 Series Presents Adrian Younge and the Black Dynamite Sound Orchestra “Shot Me In the Heart”

Black Dynamite, like Michael Jai White’s character of the same name, has always been on the down-low, but now it’s your chance to take care of business and buy it on Blu-ray and DVD. If you haven’t purchased the  soundtracks on vinyl, it’s still not too late; but don’t wait long, because these hand-numbered beauties will soon become rarities.

Wax Poetics partnered with Rockstar Games to create a series of short films showcasing the new mobile studio/beatmaker for the PSP, Beaterator.

Original music by Chin Chin made with Rockstar’s Beaterator.

If you are not a Wax Poetics subscriber*, you’ve been missing out on our Converse 45 Series!

*Offer available to US subscribers while promotion lasts.

As many of you already know, Fela! has been on Broadway for a couple of months now. But while some  may be questioning whether or not it truly delivers, we can firmly cosign this production as the real deal. Like many others who aren’t theater heads, we weren’t sure what to expect either, but once those horns start blowing, it quickly becomes obvious that this isn’t your typical Broadway show. The show is more of an experience, like spending a night at the Shrine while Fela was in top form. Antibalas lays down the grooves and actor Sahr Ngaujah delivers a top-notch performance as Fela that will have you out of your seat and thinking you were in Nigeria back in the ’70s.

Wax Poetics partnered with Rockstar Games to create a series of short films showcasing the new mobile studio/beatmaker for the PSP, Beaterator.

Original music by Spree Wilson made with Rockstar’s Beaterator.

Wax Poetics partnered with Rockstar Games to create a series of short films showcasing the new mobile studio/beatmaker for the PSP, Beaterator.

Original music by Psycho Les made with Rockstar’s Beaterator.