Tag: Screamin’ Jay Hawkins

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Nick Hakim Returns with His Spectral Take on Singer/Songwriter Soul

With the release of Where Will We Go Part 1 and Where Will We Go Part 2, the Washington, DC-born, Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter Nick Hakim quickly established a national and international profile for a sound that effortlessly blurs genres as it possesses elements of classic soul, the blues, the soulful troubadour tradition of Van Morrison and others with hauntingly spectral electronic production and a soul-bearing, confessional intimacy.

Now, it’s been some time since I’ve written about him; however, Hakim has been busy writing and recording the material that would eventually comprise his forthcoming full-length debut Green Twins, which is slated for a May 19, 2017 release through ATO Records. Interestingly, Hakim can trace the origins of Green Twins’ material to when armed with the masters for Where Will We Go Part 1 and Where Will We Go Part 2, the Washington, DC-born singer/songwriter relocated from Boston to where he was based at the time to Brooklyn. And as soon as he moved, he spent his time fleshing out incomplete songs, writing and recording sketches and lyrics on voice memos and a four-track cassette recorder. The Washington, DC-born, Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter then took his demo’d material to studios in NYC, Philadelphia and London and built upon them with a number of engineers, including Andrew Sarlo (bass, engineering and production), who were tasked with keeping the original spirit and essence of the songs intact. As Sarlo explained in press notes, for many artists, a demo usually serves as a rough sketch of what the song could eventually become; however, for Hakim, the feeling is that the demos are much more like creating a temple — and as a result, you simply clean, furnish and prepare entrants for a profoundly religious experience.

Thematically speaking, the material on the album focuses on particular aspects o this life. As Hakim mentions in press notes, a lot of the material is based on what he was thinking at that very moment, and in many ways the album consists of a series of self-portraits. “I also felt the need to push my creativity in a different way than I had on the EPs,” Hakim says in press notes. “The record draws from influences spanning Robert Wyatt, Marvin Gaye and Shuggie Otis to My Bloody Valentine. We wanted to imagine what it would have sounded like if RZA had produced a Portishead album. We experimented with engineering techniques from Phil Spector and Al Green’s Back Up Train, drum programming from RZA and Outkast, and we were listening to a lot of The Impressions, John Lennon, Wu-Tang, Madlib and Screamin’ Jay Hawkins.” And as soon as you hear the album’s first single “Bet She Looks Like You,” the confessional and intimate songwriting remains, as it’s soul-bearing to a point of being heartbreakingly visceral; but it manages to be a subtle expansion upon his sound — the song manages to remain hauntingly spectral while possessing an equally subtle, bluesy swagger.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Comprised of Lou Nutting (guitar, harmonica, vocals) and Ben Brock Wilkes (drums, vocals), the up-and-coming Virginia-born, Brooklyn-based duo Winstons can actually trace their origins to when the duo met while working at Williamsburg hotspot Baby’s All Right. With the release of two EPs Turpentine and Black Dust back in 2015, the Brooklyn-based duo received attention for a soulful, garage, blues rock that owes an equal debt to The Black Keys, Screamin’ Jay Hawkins and , complete with a visceral and forceful earnestness, and for making a point of recording live to tape with no touch-ups, no overdubs, no retakes; first thought, best thought. And as you’ll hear on the duo’s latest single “Without You,” off their forthcoming “Without You”/”Enough” 7 inch, the result is a song that possesses a forceful immediacy and heartache.

 

 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Furious Funky and Punk Rock-Inspired Soul Sounds of Omaha’s High Up

Featuring sibling and founding duo Christine Fink (vocals) and renowned singer/songwriter Orenda Fink, arguably be known for her stint in Azure Ray and for a solo career, along with Greg Elasser, Josh Soto and Eric Ohlsson, the Omaha, NE-based punk/soul/funk collective High Up can trace its origins to when its frontwoman Christine Fink would perform at local karaoke bars across Muscle Shoals, AL. As the story goes the first time that Orenda Fink caught her sister sing at nearby Sheffield, AL’s Old Town Tavern, Orenda was blown away by how Christine brought the entire house down. Several years later, Christine moved to Omaha to be closer to her sister Orenda — and Orenda began to see that no matter where her sister performed, the crowd turned into putty in her hands — with people lining up to buy her drinks, shake her hand or make requests of their favorite soul songs.

However, after a while Christine began to feel depressed and aimless as her life became an increasingly dreary shuffle between uninspiring minimum wage jobs and the thrill of her weekend performances wore off. One night, the siblings had a conversation about the future– particularly Christine’s future — and Orenda insisted that her sister should try to pursue a career in music, as performing for people was what made her the happiest.

After several discussions the Fink Sisters decided to start their own band with the premise that sonically speaking the project would draw from a variety of influences including Janis Joplin, Sam Cooke and the Muscle Shoals sound, Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, The Velvet Underground — and doing so in a way that would showcase Christine’s soulful pop belter vocals and Orenda’s carefully crafted songwriting. The Finks then recruited Elasser, Soto and Ohlsson to further flesh out the project’s sound. And to my ears at least, the band’s sound as you’ll hear on their latest single “Two Weeks” off their soon-to-be released self-titled EP manages to sound like Iggy Pop’s “Lust for Life” but filtered through furious Muscle Shoals-meets James Brown funk, and a bit of ska for good measure. Adding to the fury behind the song, the song’s narrator speaks of a specific situation that should feel familiar to anyone, who has slaved at a miserable job — the ecstatic joy of telling your employer “Fuck you! I quit!”

And although the narrator admits that being broke and not knowing when you’ll see money sucks, being reminded of your dignity and self respect is a powerful thing — and that going out there without a safety net and risking everything to achieve your dreams is an admirable thing. Interestingly, the recently released music video follows a protagonist, who quits a miserable job to pursue a music career but in her own way, following her own vision.