Scene & Heard: “A New Day” by Vladimir Cetkar

“Sounds influenced by George Benson” was my commentary after hearing Jazz-Funk guitarist Vladimir Cetkar for the first time more than a dozen years ago. Cetkar has excellent taste in influences, by the way. His high-energy Post-Disco “Ocean of Love” track from the 2007 OM Vibes, Vol. 1 compilation remains a pleaser, and I’ve kept an […]

An Album or Two in My Head (0065)

SAOUL TWATEAU 2022 SELF-RELEASED To my American friends — consider how most of you were recently asked, multiple times, to choose between a woman’s womb and the price of bacon in Walmart, while others remain willing to convince themselves that a bulky football legend wearing a post-domestic-violence court suit and possible brain damage can be […]

Album in the Crosshairs: Saoul — Paint the World | 2021 | Self-Released

A lovely place to begin, if you’ve been waiting for 17 months to restart the party … Hey, don’t fret We’re gonna make you sweat Don’t forget The funk’s within you, the funk’s within you — “Splash”, performed by Saoul I call Paint the World the must-listen sequel to SuCcumb, Saoul’s previous album. Where SuCcumb […]

Album in the Crosshairs: Saoul — SuCcumb | 2020 | self-released

Get LIQ’d, y’all. It’s 2020 … At the start of 2019 — yeah, feels like a decade ago given the constant azz-whoopin’ 2020’s been handing to us — multi-instrumentalist Saoul gave us his made-for-the-party Seldom Oddity album that instantly made me think of how he can relate to writer James Baldwin’s admonition to “taste the […]

Happy Born Day, Prince!

Prince w̶a̶s̶ is a Rocker. And Prince w̶a̶s̶ is Black music. No contradiction at all. Prince: Question — You like Rock & Roll? [Audience cheers] Prince: Me too. One difference though, I like Rock and Roll — Fun-kay. —Prince, live in Montreux, Switzerland; July 15, 2013 Can’t forget Prince’s birthday today! We all miss him. […]

Aural Dive: “Maxine” by Saoul

Funk as a music genre is far from dead. For the moment, it’s spending time in the worthy hands of multi-instrumentalist Saoul in the form of “Maxine”, the funkiest track I’ve heard so far this year. What makes Saoul’s Funk so unique for 2020 is that he moves beyond the basic, lower-shelf grooves and immerses […]

Album in the Crosshairs: Saoul — Seldom Oddity EP | Special Edition | self-released | 2019

Saoul wants you to taste the bread. And be sexy while doing it. Plus, he has a new release, Seldom Oddity, to help you along … The unsuppressed, sensual funkiness of the multi-instrumentalist’s EP mirrors writer James Baldwin’s admonition to view sensuality — despite the unequal and on-the-brink times we live in — as a […]

An album (or two) in my head 0066

I listened to Harriet Tubman’s latest album again — it’s crazy Deep Space Blackout, where the all-so-dope trio sees our Colson Whitehead and raises it with an ion thruster. Spaceways, Inc. is smiling all the way from Saturn. I’ve also been getting my sway on with a dancefloor-friendly release of vintage Metal, blended into Afrobeat. […]

Album in the Crosshairs: Saoul — The Juice (Independent Release)

I dig songwriter-musician Saoul Bumbu’s latest album, The Juice, for a reason similar to why I have a problem with much of modern Pop music recordings: the songs — even the ones performed by highly competent musicians — sound like the artists are simply playing by the numbers. And you then wonder if the culprit […]

Aural Dive: Saoul Bumbu

Recommended preparation for digging multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Saoul Bumbu’s music is to read how he describes it: “Good Songwriting is the real Pinnacle, no matter what Style or Genre. Write a Tune that still shines when there’s a Power [outage] and all you have is a 6-String and some Candles.” I’ll supplement his quote with […]