Karl Hector & The Malcouns are another incarnation of the German funk band Poets Of Rhythm, who are incidentally also The Whitefield Brothers. In 2008 they released the Sahara Swing LP, which combined funk, afro-jazz and psychedelic krautrock to inspire hugemongous erections for music nerds the world over. Since then the band has been quiet, presumably working on their new one as The Whitefield Brothers, meanwhile releasing only 1 single in this incarnation (I posted the bside from it here) The one shred of anything approaching new material that has surfaced recently has been this live show recorded in Dublin.

The set list here contains several selections from Sahara Swing, a couple of tracks that I hope are new material and one or two songs recorded by this band in their other guises. There are also a few covers, among which are a Mulatu Astatke classic and a take on Rob Kanda’s weirdo afro-psych favorite “Make it fast, make it slow” which the nerds should recognize as the original to J.Dilla’s “Make it fast”.

Karl Hector & The Malcouns live at ChoiceCuts by ChoiceCuts

The Whitefield Brothers – Breaking Through ft. El Michels Affair

The Whitefield Brothers – Taisho

About 7 years ago The Whitefield Brothers (aka Poets of Rhythm) released a psych-funk cult classic In The Raw. Now they’re back with a follow-up called Earthology.

In the Raw lived up to its name – it was hard hitting, a little weird, a little angular, uncompromising in the drive to create a sound that was both an homage to classic instrumental funk of the past and an advancement into new territory. When news of Earthology was announced I was honestly a little skeptical, as it pointed in a dicey direction. The label write up promised globe trotting for inspiration, experimentation with esoteric instruments, guest vocalists and rappers, etc. Records that come with these kinds of descriptions often end up near disastrous disjointed affairs, long on ambition but ultimately more ‘interesting’ than enjoyable.

So now I’ve had a chance to hear it, and it seems my apprehensions were mostly unfounded. It’s a complicated album that will take some time to fully digest, but my initial impressions are positive. Collaborations with The Dap Kings, El Michels Affair and Quantic come off swimmingly. African themed Sad Nile and Sem Yelesh channel Mulatu Astatke with an easy going reverence. Taisho plays like a pan-cultural jam session in which Bedouins and Mongolians learn about hard drums. In short, there is a lot to like.

There are some weak spots too… for instance I’m not really into Percee P and Med, so their contribution does nothing for me. Joyful Exaltation (the opening track featuring Bajka) reminds me of something by The Art Ensemble of Chicago, which I’m generally not a fan of. Chich sounds like Santa’s elves wylin’ out on some exotic version of a xylophone, and not in a good way. Who knows, maybe these will grow on me with time.

It’s hard to predict how this will play with the general public. It might be a little too weird for some, even for fans of more traditional acts like The Budos Band or The Menahan Street Band. But if you have any passing interest in ‘different’ funk and jazz I would definitely recommend at least giving the album a try.

If you wanna hear a little more, I posted the first single from this album in November here.

The Whitefield Brothers (nom de plume for the veteran german funk band Poets of Rhythm) recorded their gritty dark  kinda weird 2001 album In The Raw back when The Menahan Street Band were still a bunch of marching band geeks in an Iowa high school (this is a completely arbitrary and likely wildly erroneous assumption). As these things often go the album became a bit of a cult hit, and was recently re-issued in expanded form by Now Again records.

The Gift is the first single from their upcoming followup Earthology. It features Edan and Mr. Lif. It sounds like  it could’ve been on Edan’s Beauty and The Beat, albeit slightly mellower and more organic.  Naturally it sounds like it was recorded inside a rusty bucket.  There’s a lot of tuba and echo-effects, and a little Ron Burgundy-esque jazz flute.   I can dig it.

The Whitefield Bros – The Gift ft Edan and Mr Lif