Live Music

Last night I went to a show. I can't remember the last time I saw live music, much less really fucking great live music. Wax Poetics hosted a show at SouthPaw (Park Slope represent-zent) featuring Bronx River Parkway (Truth and Soul Records).

The story behind my obsession with Bronx River Parkway and other revivalist funk groups is quirky. I was a pretty big record-head in the latter half of high-school and all through college. Junior year of college I came to NYC to visit some friends and get in some digging (rifling through dusty crates and crates of mildewed records searching for gems). On my second day, I decided to hit up TurntableLab, though with no idea where the store-front was located. So I did what I always do, walked around till something happened.
Well, around 1pm, I found myself nearing the East Village, and came upon a promising find (though not TurntableLab, by any means)—a clean, organized, pretentious looking shop. Now, I didn't expect to find any bargains, mis-shelved vinyl... But figured what the hell, and came in. Started picking through the stacks, found some great stuff—not too terribly high-priced, and started chatting up the guy behind the counter. Found out he had a huge stack of New York revivalist funk 45's behind the counter, those records they always advertised in the back of Big Daddy (RIP), and now, Wax Poetics. Great stuff, for the most part, really vibe-y and soulful, with brilliant drums. Had him play a couple dozen and picked out 8 or so to add to my purchase.
Those 7'inches turned out to be my favorite finds from the whole trip (although the Syl Johnson and Main Ingrediant lps still get constant rotation).

Well, I got back to Boston, and in making my usual rounds to the diggin spots, I started to find more of these 45's. Picked up a couple doubles, gave a couple away... Just really good music. Not super-rare, not something you would really play out, but great stuff to just chill with. And fun to mix.

But back to the original point, out of all those groups, Bronx River Parkway has to be one of my favorites. Stripped-down, gritty, latin-tinged funky-goodness. Phenomenal percussion, horns are always on-point, mellow keys, and heavy, just-sparse-enough bass. This aint an MP3 blog, or I'd post a couple tracks. But damn, it felt good to check out a show.