B-B-B-Breakbot!

He is French, he is hairy, and now he is back (much like this blog*). Breakbot makes some of the funkiest dance music going around channeling some serious 70’s funk and soul. Heavy on synth strings and groovy bass, I think it’s music that both you and your mum can dance to (at the same time too).

He has recently dropped two tracks as part of separate Ed Banger compilations, firstly “Shades Of Black” on the Let The Children Techno featuring other dance masters like SebastiAn and Cassius. “Fantasy” features on the compilation The Bee Sides, somewhat unsurprisingly featuring B-sides from a few EB artists.

Both are as funky as Bootsy Collins’ underpants, so enjoy.

Shades of Black – Breakbot

Fantasy – Breakbot feat Ruckazoid

Interestingly and somewhat remarkably my last post on Breakbot was exactly a year ago. Interesting huh? Not really…

*blog is not necessarily back, just I will try a bit more.

Cee-lo says “Fuck You!”

Cee-lo Green recently dropped the first track off his upcoming solo release titled Lady Killer. Known as the vocal half of Gnarls Barkley, the duo collaboration with Danger Mouse, Cee-lo sure knows how to deliver a killer vocal track with one of the most distinctive and interesting voices around.

Cee-lo’s new track, simply titled Fuck You, sees him lay his powerful pipes down on a retro mo-town sounding beat overflowing with “ooooohs” and “doo-wops”. The opening major chords on the grand piano contrast perfectly with the ironic lyrics about love, ataris and gold diggers. Cee-lo may just have created the best anti-love song of the year. The video is also thoroughly satisfying and especially useful for karaoke sing-along purposes.

Keep an eye out for Lady Killers coming out in the next few months.

Fuck You! – Cee-lo

Flashback – Simply Red

Whilst the general aim of most music blogs, and indeed this one, is to promote new and upcoming artists and their new releases, credit and recognition must also be given to the Oldies whose influence on today’s artists and of course ourselves has created the rich musical environment in which we operate. Thus, with this irregular series of thematically linked Friday postings, Happymusic hopes to acknowledge these artists and the great tunes that we all grew up with and hopefully introduce you to some new (old) music, if you haven’t already heard it in the last few decades or so.

First up on the list, is Simply Red, simply because their Best Of has been spinning around in my CD player at home lately and is what I listen to first thing in the morning when I can’t be bothered turning on my computer. And simply because they are just too awesome!

Admittedly I was first introduced to Simply Red by my Mum (nothing to be ashamed of), and I loved them immediately. There is something infinitely soothing and cathartic about Mick Hucknall’s mellow vocal delivery, especially for an ignorant and curious thirteen year-old boy. Simply Red’s music is simple, sultry, seductive and sophisticated all at once whilst being a great deal more accessible than deeper Soul/Funk artists such as Barry White and James Brown, whose music quite simply confused me at the time. The disc quickly, and quite indiscreetly, transitioned from Mum’s CD collection into mine, and has remained there for the past decade.

The raw emotion displayed in tracks like “Holding Back The Years” and “If You Don’t Know Me By Now” is enough to move anyone to croon along and unsuccessfully attempt to match Hucknall’s impressive delivery of range. The upbeat mood of their first single “Money’s Too Tight To Mention” and the ever-popular “Fairground” are almost too much fun to sing along to with friends.

If for some unkind reason fate withheld Simply Red from your childhood then there is no time like the present to discover them. They embark on their final tour at the end of this year and their music is timeless and gets even better with the years. So get into it.

A wealth of their releases are available from the website, managed by Hucknall himself.

Holding Back The Years – Simply Red

If You Don’t Know Me By Now – Simply Red

Fairground – Simply Red