As trumpets and saxophones sway from left to right and the crisp snare drum cracks, a hypnotic hold takes the listener back 40 years to the streets of Brooklyn.
The Menahan Street Band, a soul ensemble signed to the independent Daptone record label, released its sophomore album, “The Crossing,” on Oct. 30.
Menahan is the grease to keep the wheels of the music industry turning. Not to mention keeping legs on the dance floor moving. With hip-hop producers running out of oldies to sample, Menahan is providing fresh soul and funk as if it was preserved in a time capsule long ago.
Fellow Brooklynite Jay-Z sampled Menahan for his smash hit “Roc Boys (and the winner is…),” which was declared the No. 1 single of the year by Rolling Stone magazine in 2007, according to daptonerecords.com.
According to whosampled.com, Menahan has also been sampled by the likes of Kid Cudi, 50 Cent, Kendrick Lamar, Gucci Mane and MF Doom.
The song “Three Faces,” which can be found as the fourth track of the album, is very fitting for a group that finds itself producing three different styles in a single album.
One vibe that MSB possesses is a sweet-as-honey soul sound that’s laced with nostalgia, like in the song “Everyday A Dream.”
Another sound Menahan has is the bluesy heart-wrencher. This style was perfected by backing the 64-year-old Charles Bradley in his debut album, “No Time for Dreaming,” a soul-stirring tale of struggle and perseverance.
Menahan often changes its style by going on the offensive with heavy-hitting bruisers. Songs like “Slight Of Hand” and the single “Lights Out” seem to belong in ‘70s action movies with horns that bellow like ornery elephants and guitar cords that cut like samurai blades. With drumbeats as gritty as hip-hop’s Wu-Tang Clan, a three-minute song could leave a listener feeling as if they’ve just survived a 12-round boxing battle.
Any single style could attract someone to MSB, but the listener will return for the classic technical production and a dedication to great instrumental music that is characteristic of Daptone records, whose studios use old school methods to achieve an old school sound.
“We do all of our stuff here on analog tapes. That’s the sound we get. Our editing as well, we do with razor blades and splicing tape,” Neil Sugarman, co-founder of Daptone records, said in an interview with MTV.
