Dunham Cinematic Soul!

Menahan Street Band - Tired of Fighting (stream only)

The last couple of years have been huge for the retro soul and funk label Daptone and its artists, and one of the newest beneficiaries of all of this fame is the Menahan Street Band, an aggregation of Daptone musicians organized by multi-instrumentalist Thomas Brenneck (erstwhile guitarist for the Dap-Kings), who has started the Dunham label for his own productions on the band and Charles Bradley, recorded at his home studio. Whether or not people were aware, the MSB's "Make the Road By Walking" became part of the mainstream consciousness thanks to it being sampled for Jay-Z's mega hit "Roc Boys." The band's debut album, Make the Road By Walking, will be released on October 14. The kind folks at World's Fair sent me a review copy and I have to say that Brenneck and his gang have put down a solid set of instrumentals that evoke '70s film scores and really cooks. When I say "'70s film scores" I want to emphasize that I don't mean pastiches of blaxploitations movie soundtracks; each of the ten tracks are highly atmospheric and there's a level of sophistication that really thrills the listener.

I'll invite you to take a look at the World's Fair press page for the band for more info and for a download link for "Make the Road By Walking." Today's feature is "Tired of Fighting," which has also been released as the B-side of Charles Bradley's new Dunham single, "The Telephone Song." Soak in the atmosphere of this tune. This is powerful stuff.