QUANTIC AND HIS COMBO BARBARO: CALI SOUL

Quantic and His Combo Barbaro: Mambo Los Quantic
I Just Fell In Love Again
From Tradition in Transition (Tru Thought, 2009)

It’s good to be Will “Quantic” Holland. His soul/funk remixes and productions are some of the best out there but then he went to developed a love affair with Colombian music and that’s opened into a whole new, beautiful arena of music to craft.

This new album finds Holland teaming up with some of the same players who graced the Quantic Soul Orchestra’s excellent 2007 album, Tropidélico, including the ever-excellent pianist Alfredo Linares, legendary Brazilian composer and guitarist Arthur Verocai, drumming bad ass Malcolm Catto and the singing talents of Panama’s Kabir.

The album is an intriguing blend of multiple styles; it’s not as “Latin” as you might initially expect. Instead, the group finds a way to bring in any number of different elements – a little cumbia here, some Afro-beat there, a dose of shing-a-ling, a whole lotta soul – to each song. “Mambo Los Quantic” is perhaps the closet thing to a set “genre” as you can find here but even then, it’s not like you’d confuse it for something that would have rotated through the Palladium back in the day. “I Just Feel In Love Again” showcases the contribution Kabir brings to the Combo and I love the kind of happy energy emanating as the song shifts through sharp solos from the assembled talent.

Musica Del Alma has another Combo Barbaro song (not on the CD) for you to check out.

Bonus beat: Nostalgia 77 feat. Alice Russell: Seven Nation Army
From the forthcoming Tru Thoughts Covers.

Quantic’s long-time label partners at Tru Thoughts are readying a compilation of cover songs and I am, quite predictably, looking forward to what they’re bringing. One of the first songs they’re circulating is this awesome cover of the White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army” that first came out in 2004. It’s incredible how monstrous they’ve made the signature bassline and when Alice Russell comes tearing in on the vocals, it’s enough to make you cry. Hopefully, I can bring you at least one more selection off this comp once it drops later this summer.