Blood Orange " Freetown Sound " .......today's featured album

From now on I am going to try to blog about new music I'm really impressed by as often as possible....I'd like more to people to read my posts so I'm going to have a go at promoting The Soul Guru on social media .

Blood Orange's new album " Freetown Sound " is another excellent album that I'm enjoying a lot .
Blood Orange is Dev Hynes latest project following his recordings as Lightspeed Champion and Freetown Sound   is Blood Orange's 3rd album....and unquestionably their best so far following " Coastal Grooves " in 2011 and " Cupid Deluxe " in 2013
Dev was named the " 49th Coolest Person In Rock " by the NME in 2007

" Best Of You " featuring Empress of Lyrics was the first track to be made available on Spotify etc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1giWnKWIDo

The awesome " Augustine " already has over 800,000 Youtube views and is one of my favourite tracks of the year
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXtzcViZPGA

check the album out on Spotify...it's well worth it

The Soul Guru
x

Michael Kiwanuka's " Love & Hate " is a truly GREAT Soul album

Michael Kiwanuka's new album " Love & Hate ",released on Communion Records, is a truly great SOUL album.....in my opinion one of the best British Soul albums ever

Michael was raised in that well-known SOUL hotbed Muswell Hill ;-)  and won the BBC's Sound Of 2012 poll

I was a bit disappointed by his debut album " Home Again " released in early 2012...to me it sounded like he needed more time to work on his songs

" Love & Hate " ,released 2 weeks ago,shows that he's spent the intervening 3 years working on his songs....the album is a fabulous collection of great songs ....the lyrics and production are as good as anything I've heard this year ..." Love & Hate " is definitely my album of the year so far .

He's been compared to Otis Redding,Bill Withers,Terry Callier and more but  he reminds me of my idol Marvin Gaye more than anyone .....that's not something I say lightly .

The title track is beautiful.......an 8 minute SOUL opus ,Michael's voice is fantastic as is the production....I wish I'd signed him !
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMZ4QL0orw0

" Black Man In A White World " is so relevant today given the state of things in the USA at present....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TYlcVNI2AM

That's what real SOUL music has always done...from Marvin to Gamble & Huff and Gil Scott Heron ..it addresses real issues ...before hip-hop SOUL was the music of social protest......thank you Michael Kiwanuka for bring it back and making SOUL music important again........

The Soul Guru loves YOU
xx

The GENIUS that is Maxwell

Friends,fiends,believers,non-believers and don't knows this week's blog features one of the greatest contemporary SOUL artists who has just released his first album for SEVEN long years.....Gerald Maxwell Rivera...aka Maxwell

Listening to his new album blackSUMMERS'night ,the follow-up to 2009's BLACKsummersnight , the second album of a trilogy , makes me glad to be a SOUL man as it encapsulates all I've loved about SOUL music since Marvin changed my life with " What's Going On " .

I've been a huge fan since Maxwell's seminal debut album " Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite " released back in 1996 . At the time I was A&R Director of Columbia ( the label not the country ;-) ) in the UK so saw him perform at numerous Sony conferences and  in front of a real audiences too - as opposed to Sony executives who must have been the worst audience for any artist to play too .

I've been fortunate to see most of the great SOUL artists live...Marvin at The Albert Hall 1974...Stevie Wonder at his peak many times...Prince - possibly the greatest live performer ever -James Brown ....Maxwell is right up there as a live performer...I was astonished when I saw him for the first time in New York at a Columbia Records showcase ,he was amazing ....I met him afterwards and he was such a lovely guy ,modest but so confident in his talent ,quite rightly .

I've always been drawn to the more enigmatic artists.....Marvin,Curtis Mayfield,Prince,Erykah Badu,to name but a few,and Maxwell is worthy of their company

blackSUMMERS'night features the first single " Lake By The Ocean "
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsSu0bRZEHM

It's brilliant....and listening to it it's clear who Frank Ocean's inspiration is !

It's a joy that after a 7 year break Maxwell has returned with a great album,he sounds better than ever,the songs and production are outstanding....do yourself and stream or buy blackSUMMERS'night asap...it will make your life better

The Soul Guru loves YOU
xx