FILE UNDER: JAZZ FUNK BARCODE: CD: 5050580681439 LP: 5050580681453
THE NEW MASTERSOUNDS - RENEWABLE ENERGY label: ONE NOTE RECORDS(ON-022)

 

 

Tracklist

01 Chicago Girl play button
02 Tantalus play button
03 Gonna Be Just Me play button (feat. Adryon de León)
04 Pudding & Pie play button
05 Green Was Beautiful play button
06 Funk 49 play button
07 Yokacoka
08 Living That Jazz Life
09 Stash
10 Groovin' on The Groomers
11 Hip City
12 Swimming with My Fishies

       


 

Originally from the United Kingdom, funky soul-jazz veterans The New Mastersounds have been touring USA, Europe and Japan for over a decade and return here with their twelfth studio album, recorded in New Orleans and Denver and featuring a slew of musical guests.

"Renewable Energy" expands on the NMS template while still providing plenty of the band's trademark sounds. Guitarist Eddie Roberts, drummer Simon Allen, bassist Pete Shand and keyboardist Joe Tatton are joined on this 12-track effort by a number of guests: Sam Bell, one of the founding members of NMS precursor The Mastersounds who also guested on two previous NMS albums, plays percussion on most of the tracks. Mike Olmos and Joe Cohen of the West Coast Horns once again provide added horn action as they did on "Made For Pleasure" from 2015, while Adryon de León from LA band Orgone contributes vocals on "Gonna Be Just Me". Uptempo numbers "Tantalus" and "Yokacoka" see the band flexing their playing chops over a tightly-wound rhythm, while "Green Was Beautiful" and "Groovin On The Groomers" are toe-tapping slabs of soul jazz.The band's cover of James Gang's "Funk 49" takes the album in a fuzzed-out psych-rock direction with Eddie singing the lead, while the moody Hancock-esque inflections of "Stash" and the sweet mellow vibes of "Swimming With My Fishes" add the final brushtrokes of colour to the canvas.