Sometimes you need to step back from a favorite sound or style before it can sound fresh again. It may have taken a few decades, but Motown has been given a second life.  Falling in line next to retro-artists such as Amy Winehouse and Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, Raphael Saadiq’s fresh spin on mid-60’s funk in his latest album is making a powerful first impression. Despite its undeniable old-school approach, Stone Rollin’ is so refreshing that we simply cannot resist the sound.

In fact, he may be doing it better.  After winning a chance to appear on stage with Prince and Sheila E. just out of high school, Saadiq (then still known by his birth name, Raphael Wiggins) joined his brother Dwayne and cousin Timothy Christian and formed Tony! Toni! Tonè!  Since, he’s been a behind-the-scenes player in the industry. Working steadily, he hadn’t held our attention until now.

“Stone Rollin’ ” is the blissful result of Saadiq’s unique blending of the best aspects of motown funk and early 70’s soul, but sporting the spirit of gospel and R&B — a very cool concoction he refers to as “gospedelic”. Saadiq may be a throwback artist through and through, but according to Rolling Stone Magazine,“He doesn’t just rediscover the past, he remakes it.”

As if writing and producing Stone Rollin’ himself, was not enough, Saadiq plays multiple instruments on most of the tracks, including the bass, keys, guitar, percussion, drums and mellotron. It’s easy to get lost in the warm, infectious tones of this album, especially the downright groovy “Day Dreams” where Saadiq pays homage to the late Ray Charles. We find ourselves craving the upbeat, danceable “Radio” and the redemptive “Go to Hell”, but  Saadiq’s sound is so deep that most of the tracks are solid. Take our word for it, this album is what summer should sound like.

“I don’t know where the title Stone Rollin’ came from,” says Saadiq. “It just came out of my mouth one day, but it just made sense with where I’m at right now. I feel like I’m a stone rollin’, like I’m ready to rock. I’m ready to go. Throw me anywhere and I’ll make it happen. I feel really good about this album.”

And Baby, so do we.

Sarah Pytlik. Leah Spurrier. HighStreet. Cincinnati

The stage for the opening act of the night was bare except for a microphone, a huge bass sax, another standard alto sax, and a clarinet. Needless to say we were apprehensive. An unassuming young man in plain plaid clothes came onstage and began to play the bass saxophone. Over the next five minutes, he emitted sounds that were very close to whale voices interspersed with complex rhythms and we knew our life was forever changed.

Every generation has an icon that comes along and changes the way music is made. Buddy Rich, Les Paul, Miles Davis, Eddie Van Halen…all threw curveballs at the way an instrument is played and showed us a new way. Not only the way the instrument is played, but how it sounds as well. And now we have a new genius who is flying under the radar of popular culture yet he is out there, and you should go find him.

Colin Stetson is a Michigan native and Montreal resident who has played with many of today’s contemporary artists including Arcade Fire, TV On The Radio, Tom Waits, and Medeski, Martin, and Wood. His compositions show traces of John Coltrane’s running scale techniques while at the same time evoking Gregorian chants. Some pieces are dark and brooding, while others sound just like a techno song. But the bottom line is Colin has changed the way these wind instruments are played and sound. The breathing techniques Colin utilizes must have taken years to master. You will not believe that what you are hearing can come from a sax or clarinet.

Mr. Stetson has put out several albums including the outstanding, New History Warfare: Volumes I & II. All of his recordings are done live with no overdubs or any trickery other than the occasional addition of reverb. You can find him frequently playing in the New York City area, particularly in Brooklyn more often than not.
After his set at the MusicNow Festival, while receiving thunderous applause, Colin was visibly exhausted. Sometimes works of genius are quite demanding.

Listen to the videos and clips here to see for yourself the brilliant Colin Stetson and see how he is pushing the envelope of music and our perceptions of it.

Michael Spurrier. HighStreet. Cincinnati

Judges by Constellation Records

Remember walking into class for the first time at a new school?  Kind of overwhelming right? You didn’t know what to do.  You weren’t sure where to start.  Sort of like a “deer in headlights” experience.  That’s what stepping into Obscura feels like…and it’s a fraction of even the smallest school cafeteria – it’s a whopping 50’ long by 15’ wide.  What it lacks in size, though, it makes up for in utter intrigue.

Obscura is a tiny antiques and oddities shop in the uber-hip and eclectic East Village, NYC.  They house a plethora of obscure and undeniably obsessive goods.

While stock varies over time, only at Obscura will you come across things like a taxidermied toad, classic anatomical models, half-a-century-old pamphlets like one on how to play a harmonica through a newspaper, authentic mining helmets and lanterns, nearly a century-old fraternal, YMCA, and community theatre costumes, ancient pharmaceutical tools, and even antique gentlemen’s walking sticks.

In our endless pursuit of all things unique and inspiring, we just had to stop in and say hi.  We were happy to learn taking photos was welcomed.  Here are a few of our favorites for you to observe and (hopefully) enjoy. Talk about a conversation starter.

HighStreet. Cincinnati.

The title of this non-search engine-friendly album by veteran garage-rockers The Greenhornes is four star symbols in a row. While this title might be misinterpreted as a rating, that mistake would be understandable given the strength of this music.

Inasmuch as the Greenhornes are known, they are perhaps best known as the band from which bassist Jack Lawrence and drummer Patrick Keeler were poached when Jack White and Brendan Benson assembled The Raconteurs. However, their history extends as far back as 1996, when the band frequently played around the Greater Cincinnati area, and released its debut, Gun For You in 1999. Musically, The Greenhornes never strayed far from the garages and basements of mid-1960s America, where three chords and a broken heart could reliably yield distilled, high-octane rock and roll. The riffs and lyrical ideas weren’t exactly groundbreaking, but because the music was pure and primal, this could be easily overlooked.

With the release of 2001’s Dual Mono, the Greenhornes were poised for a broader audience. Even then, Jack White often name-checked the band in interviews as one of his favorite acts. Dual Mono delivered too, boasting a lean, muscular sound that disregarded much of the previous thirty-five years of music history that preceded it. However, after a string of live shows and an uneven EP, the band went silent. With the Raconteurs becoming an ongoing concern, one could be forgiven for thinking the band had simply vanished.

Now, nine years later, ★★★★ finds the band in a similar vein, which is to say that, while certainly derivative, few complaints can be made about the quality of this music. Reduced to a three-piece, Lawrence and Keeler rejoin singer/guitarist Craig Fox for an album that expands the overall sound of the band, but still draws little inspiration from music that was created after the Johnson Administration.

The new component to the Greenhornes’ sound is psychedelia, most evident in tracks like “Cave Paintings” and the unsettling “Go Tell Henry.” Elsewhere, the band finds ample muses in The Kinks and psych-era Stones, as songs like “Get Me Out Of Here” and “Better Off Without It” demonstrate an expanded palate of pop hooks. The rest of the album is filled with capable garage rave-ups, allowing Fox’s perfectly adequate (but never slick) vocals to drive songs about girls and how much it can hurt when they leave, a subject matter that needs no updating for modern times.

★★★★ will find a happy home with fans of Jack White projects and the neo-garage scene that percolated in the early 2000s. White’s earlier praise of the band is not inflated, and there’s little surprise that he was able to create his own successful results with Lawrence and Keeler. Overall, music must ultimately progress, but spending a little time with the Greenhornes is as good a choice as any when seeking out the immediate, tube amp-driven sounds of the past.

Ryan Harrell.HighStreet.Cleveland

Enjoy.

We absolutely fell in love with this video for musician Jeremy Messersmith’s song Tatooine. Artist Eric Power created a beautiful stop motion animation with cut paper, retelling the whole Star Wars Trilogy within a two and a half minute song. His work is intricately detailed, and it’s lovely. We keep replaying the video to observe the Star Wars world with a new 2D twist.

Eric Powers has experimented other mediums to create stop motion videos such as yarn, clay, and fabric. Check out his additional music videos including a whole section inspired by old school video games at his website.

HighStreet.Cincinnati

HighStreet.Cincinnati

So we’ve never seen any of The Black Keys’ videos before, but these three brand spanking new creations from their latest album Brothers are just delightful. Funny and clever. You choose your fave.

Brothers is a little more bluesy than their previous albums. We hear R&B influences and hints of soul, perhaps inspired by their latest collaboration with hip-hop greats Mos Def, Q-Tip, and RZA just to name a few, under the guise Blakroc.

These Akron boys continue to do us Ohio folks proud. So show ‘em some love and buy their latest, Brothers.

“Tighten Up” by The Black Keys from new album Brothers

The second “Tighten Up” video by The Black Keys from new album Brothers

“Next Girl” by The Black Keys from new album Brothers

HighStreet.Cincinnati