Is it R&B? Is it Funk? It is certainly some sorta Soul!
November 24, 2014 9:02 AM   Subscribe

I just heard this song for the first time this morning and it is blowing me away. Can you recommend more like it: Curtis Harding - Heaven's on the Other Side

My only knowledge of music in this area has been by way of the P-Funk and Otis Redding, but this is like an average of the two. He's definitely NOT the hardest working man in show business...it's effortless, so smooth, not too hip-hoppy, not too laid back, the guitar is perfect, the horns don't hit too hard - they just slide along, and his voice. It is a nearly perfect song and I need more like it (and yes, I am going to buy the album)!

Open my ears MeFi. Is this pure 'Soul'? Or some sub-genre or mixture of genres? The suggestions on Soundcloud don't do it and I spent an hour on Pandora, but all I've found is margarine and I want that real, smooth butter.

(Here's the other song I've been able to track down on the internet, Keep on Shining, which is great, but a little more uptempo than the first song)
posted by zyxwvut to Media & Arts (7 answers total) 13 users marked this as a favorite
 
Raphael Saadiq to me epitomizes that modern take on the classic R&B Motown sound, which is what I think you're after.
posted by ladybird at 9:11 AM on November 24, 2014 [4 favorites]


Best answer: This is new music, so it's an homage to both soul-funk of the 70s but with modern garage-y and indie-pop elements (and even a little Ceelo) (Heck you should check out Ceelo!). Similar stuff would probably be recent rather than from that era. It doesn't really have a name other than Soul though.

There is a huge recent movement of new Funk/R&B music that pay respect to the 70s. Check out the entire Daptone records catalog, but especially Sharon Jones, Charles Bradley, Sugarman 3, Clairy Browne & The Bangin' Rackettes, and my personal favorite Nicole Willis and the Soul Investigators.And you've heard Back to Black right? The Daptone players played on it. For an less druggy non-US version of check out Clairy Browne & The Bangin' Rackettes.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 9:20 AM on November 24, 2014 [2 favorites]


Look into Cody Chessnutt. His recent album, "Landing On A Hundred," is a bunch of guitar-driven, contemporary and funky soul. It doesn't have the hint of disco that this (most excellent) Harding track has, but I can close my eyes and imagine this Harding track fitting in with the Chessnutt album.

Also you might want to take a look at Shuggie Otis. He sort of pioneered psychedelic soul, and he doesn't have much in the way of driving energy, but he does have that "this isn't quite funk or soul but is also both" element.
posted by entropone at 9:40 AM on November 24, 2014


Little Feat.
posted by dilaudid at 9:50 AM on November 24, 2014


What you're looking for is just called "70s soul," though much 70s soul doesn't really fit your criteria. You might also try looking at disco, but most of that's going to be too uptempo for you. Most releases on Hi Records would probably appeal to you.

Here are a few tracks you might try:
Evans Pyramid - Never Gonna Leave You
California Playboys - Just Say a Four Letter Word
Dee Edwards - I Can Deal With That
Coco and Ben - Good Feelin
Carstairs - It Really Hurts Me Girl
Syl Johnson - Back for a Taste of Your Love
ORS - Body to Body Boogie
posted by vathek at 9:52 AM on November 24, 2014


Well, the page you link to for Keep On Shining itself rather helpfully refers to the track as "Neo-Soul." Perhaps that would be a helpful term?

And the page for Heaven's on the Other Side uses the term "garage soul." That one I haven't heard before, but might also be helpful.
posted by Naberius at 10:58 AM on November 24, 2014


I love these guys so much I'll smash 'em into any askme... BUT i really think you might dig 'em

Vulfpeck:
1612 [feat. Antwaun Stanley]
It Gets Funkier (woo!), pt. II (wooo!), pt. III (woo!)
Outro (do u like sax?)
posted by stinkfoot at 8:31 PM on November 25, 2014


« Older I hesitate to condemn it as wholly a bad novel...   |   Learning to sew on a vintage sewing machine Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.