Deep Funk — All Formats  

A 12 X 7" box set version of Mayer Hawthorne's breakout How Do You Do – with each track from the album paired with its own previously unreleased instrumental version – in individual photo sleeves that lay out as a full mosaic! The Mayer Hawthorne story was a strange one from the start – white producer/DJ crafting real-deal, moody, sultry throwback soul under a pseudonym that gets him signed to Stones Throw. The best news, really, is that he's still doing what we loved on the Stones Throw record and singles. Skirting both throwback Motown AND indie soul conventions, but winking ever so slyly at them, making strings sound scratchy, warm and well-worn, subtle horns to sooth and stir, his own vocals layered for a group-like effect. Bonus points for his use of the superstar cameo – he brings Snoop Dogg in to SING, not to serve as an obligatory rhyme cameo. Well played, Mayer Hawthorne! Includes "Get To Know You", "A Long Time", "Can't Stop" with Snoop, "Finally Falling", "Hooked", "You Called Me", "No Strings", "Dreaming", "The Walk" and more. Comes in a heavy duty box – which also includes a custom display sheet that can hold all 12 singles. Beautiful!

Mayer Hawthorne moves to the majors on How Do You Do – bringing that fun, neo classic bedroom soul sound he did so well on Stones Throw with him – pretty much picking up right where Strange Arrangement left off! The Mayer Hawthorne story was a strange one from the start – white producer/DJ crafting real-deal, moody, sultry throwback soul under a pseudonym that gets him signed to Stones Throw. The best news, really, is that he's still doing what we loved on the Stones Throw LP and singles. Skirting throwback Motown and indie soul conventions, but winking ever so slyly at them, making strings sound scratchy, warm and well-worn, subtle horns to sooth and stir, his own vocals layered for a group-like effect. Bonus points for his use of the superstar cameo – he brings Snoop Dogg in to SING, not to serve as an obligatory rhyme cameo. Well played, Mayer Hawthorne! Includes "Get To Know You", "A Long Time", "Can't Stop" with Snoop, "Finally Falling", "Hooked", "You Called Me", "No Strings", "Dreaming", "The Walk" and more.

The full length debut of Mayer Hawthorne for Stones Throw – with both classic Motown and 60s & 70s Detroit indie soul influences, done the right way, and all of it wonderful and true to his heroes – after some promising early singles, we can now say emphatically that Mayer Hawthorne is indeed the real thing! On some of this material, Hawthorne is a one man soul band, with the tunes stripped to a gritty, raw soul essence – and on other tunes he gets some assistance on brass, strings and keys – pulling off a number of modes with equally excellent results. He evokes Curtis Mayfield when he gets the falsetto going, but other touchstone influences are apparent – a couple of the more uptempo tunes sound like they could be late 60s Temptations b-sides. Mayer may look like Dwight Schrute on the cover, but don't be fooled – his love for soul music is true and unironic, and he has the chops to pull it off! Titles include "A Strange Arrangement", "Just Ain't Gonna Work Out", "Maybe So, Maybe No", "Your Easy Lovin' Ain't Pleasin' Nothin'", "I Wish It Would Rain", "Make Her Mine", "One Track Mind", "The Ills", "Shiny & New", "Let Me Know" and "Green Eyed Love".

The greatest so far from this soulful Chicago group – a combo who are making big waves way beyond the Windy City, thanks to the tremendous vocals of JC Brooks! The album bursts out with a power the group have never had before – a tightness and focus that shows that these guys are definitely the real deal – and have definitely found their own unique voice in a world of copycat soul and funk – a groove that's completely contemporary, yet firmly rooted in the best bits of the past too – as fresh a change to funk and soul as some of the rootsier styles normally associated with Bloodshot Records! Brooks is a hell of a frontman in a live setting, but doesn't always come across this well on record – and the album may well be the first to really show the singer at his best. Titles include "Howl", "Married For A Week", "Rouse Yourself", "Security", "Ordinary", "Control", "Cold", and "River".

The second album from Chicago's great raw soul torch carriers JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound – their debut for Bloodshot, and a record that's gonna catapult them to the forefront of the live soul scene, in the Chi and everywhere else! The group's proved over the past couple years, via their raw, yet propellant debut album, some great singles, and furious live show schedule, that they're poised to deliver in a bigger way. On Want More they do that and, uh. . .a bit more! JC's a rare singer who can both shout out in a gritty funk mode and coo with charisma on slower soul anthems, and the group delivers on both fronts, too. Producer Jimmy Sutton captures them perfectly. The core group features Billy Bungeroth on guitar, Kevin Marks on drums & percussion and Ben Taylor on bass. Includes "Want More", "Everything Will Be Fine", "I Got High", their great cover of "I Am Trying To Break Your Heart", "Baaadnews", "I Can See Everything", "Sister Ray Charles", "Awake" and more.

A whole new set of mod soul smokers – contemporary cuts, but mostly recorded with a vibe that hearkens back to the sound of London in the 60s – which means plenty of influence from Motown and other Northern Soul sources, plus an occasional touch of jazzy Hammond too! These tracks are all recent, but really showcase the Acid Jazz talent for getting an older style right – not exactly pure 60s, but more the best Brit blue-eyed modes – of the sort you might have heard when Style Council could hit a groover like this, or when some of the more recent Acid Jazz acts are at their best. Titles include "Pandora" by Men Of North Country, "Girlfriend" by The Filthy Six, "Return To Space" by Twisted Tongue, "Ordinary Joe" by Jasmine Kara, "No More Heroes" by Night Trains, "From Now On" by Magnus Carlson, and "Sex Is On Fire" by Jerk Juice.

The greatest so far from this soulful Chicago group – a combo who are making big waves way beyond the Windy City, thanks to the tremendous vocals of JC Brooks! The album bursts out with a power the group have never had before – a tightness and focus that shows that these guys are definitely the real deal – and have definitely found their own unique voice in a world of copycat soul and funk – a groove that's completely contemporary, yet firmly rooted in the best bits of the past too – as fresh a change to funk and soul as some of the rootsier styles normally associated with Bloodshot Records! Brooks is a hell of a frontman in a live setting, but doesn't always come across this well on record – and the album may well be the first to really show the singer at his best. Titles include "Howl", "Married For A Week", "Rouse Yourself", "Security", "Ordinary", "Control", "Cold", and "River".