Cut of the Week 09/29/10

The Budos Band are for real. I had the privilege to see them recently at Southpaw in Brooklyn for their record release party and I was not disappointed. The Budos Band is a ten-piece ensemble (it felt like a small village was on stage) that hails from Staten Island and specializes in a unique brand of Afro-soul, funk fusion. While the influences of Afro-beat legend Fela Kuti and Ethiopian jazzman Mulatu Astatke are undeniable, there is also a heavy dose of R&B and classic soul backed by thick grooves. Label-mates of soul revivalist extraordinaire, Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings, The Budos Band are one of the most impressive live acts I've seen in a while. They play hard, they play loud, and they play funky. Oh yeah, they also were dropping F-bombs non-stop during their interactions with the crowd. Although that may seem somewhat incongruous with their music, to me it simply signified how much fun they were having up on that stage.

Go catch them perform live, they are a must-see act.

Here is a track off their new album, Budos Band III.


The Budos Band - "River Serpentine"

Cut of the Week 09/20/10

On a rainy Tuesday afternoon in May I went out to Crown Heights to meet Ben Laub. In the music world, he is better known as Grieves, a 6-foot, 130-pound, baby-faced 26-year old who is making a name for himself in the independent hip hop scene as part of the Rhymesayers label/collective. I was recently introduced to his music courtesy of his gripping performance at The Knitting Factory as an opener for Brother Ali. However, to call him a mere hip hopper is to miss the point entirely.

Since 2007, Grieves has been putting out music that incorporates the precise lyricism of a rapper with the plaintive singing and sensibility more akin to a bluesman or folk singer. His unabashed heart-on-his-sleeve approach and intense live performances have earned him much acclaim while drawing the ire of some in the blogopshere for being too emotional. At his live shows and on his last album, 88 Keys & Counting, he has been joined by multi-instrumentalist and musical partner, Budo, who provides instrumentation and production atypical of most hip hop acts these days. In fact, 88 Keys & Counting contained not a single sample. Here is a song from that album, an introduction to an artist who boasts inspiration from Big Pun to Bon Iver, and is the best upcoming artist you may have never heard of. Yet.


Grieves - "Catapults" link