Live on the spot with Su Comandante, first play first song part 1
2"BLACK & LOUD: JAMES BROWN REIMAGINED BY STRO ELLIOT"
ALBUM FEATURES TEN REMIXES OF CLASSIC JAMES BROWN SONGS BY STRO ELLIOT (OF THE ROOTS)
Celebrating the pioneer of funk James Brown, Urban Legends, a division of UMe, Universal Music Group's global catalog company, has teamed up with Elliot, to create Black & Loud: James Brown Reimagined by Stro Elliot, out February 4, 2022. The album, consisting of ten remixes of classic James Brown songs, will be available digitally on DSPs, physically as an LP on black vinyl, and will also have a clear vinyl color variant available as an e-commerce exclusive on the Urban Legends website. Pre-order the full album beginning January 7, 2022, HERE.
Listen to the first single, "Machine No Make Sex" now HERE.
Stro Elliot, a producer and collaborator with multiple GRAMMY-winning artists, spent his childhood playing, studying, and listening to jazz, funk, and soul legends, building a rapport with James Brown tracks at an early age. "The 'Godfather of Soul' was The Godfather of so much more," says Elliot. "There are genres and subgenres that wouldn't exist today without him. Whatever genre one might place me in included. This is a dissection and celebration of that."
For Black & Loud: James Brown Reimagined by Stro Elliot, Elliot had the chance to handpick ten classic James Brown hits and remix them, infusing inspiration from several different genres. Tracks like "She Made Me Popcorn" (remix of "Mother Popcorn") prominently feature hip-hop style sampling of Brown's vocals, "Machine No Make Sex" (remix of "Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine") transforms the original with Afrobeat rhythms and horns, "Get Up Off" (remix of "Get Up Offa That Thing") and "The Goodest Foot" (remix of "Get On the Good Foot") lean deep into a steady hip-hop groove, while "Coal Sweat" (remix of "Cold Sweat") swirls the '60s hit into a psychedelic electronic daze. All ten remixes offer a completely unique take on the song and simultaneously honor the original track as well as the many genres that stemmed from the "Hardest Working Man In Show Business," James Brown. See the full tracklisting below.
Orquesta Akokán – 16 Rayos
Following their critically acclaimed Daptone debut, Orquesta Akokán is ready to unleash 16 Rayos on the world's dance floors. Recorded in Havanaʼs famed Egrem Studios, the group displays a cohesion forged by an intense performing and touring cycle. The musical conversation that began in the Areito studios three years earlier blossomed into an easy, intimate dialogue between good friends - allowing full, fearless musical expression and risk-taking outside of their comfort zones. Building upon Perez Pradoʼs dissonant, near avant-garde vision of the mambo, and highlighting the Lucumí subtext of Cuban rhythms and styles, the band continues to explore, develop and expand the islandʼs rich rhythmic palette and repertoire - pushing the conventions of what is considered “mambo” - and drawing deeply from folkloric and religious traditions seldom heard in popular music. 16 Rayos is here to shine its musical rays on us, warm our hearts, and irresistibly move our bodies.