This is not only a debut album but also a debut on jazz-not-jazz, a review of an album that was produced and recorded in my homeland Germany.
Phil Kullmann is the mastermind behind Raw Artistic Soul. He wrote, co-wrote, recorded, arranged and mixed What About Love plus he plays keys, drums, percussion. Pretty impressive! But Raw Artistic Soul isn’t another one man show where one tries to do everything and misses the spot. Phil has teamed up with a spectacular line-up of 14 musicians and singers to give the idea of a musical collective a renaissance. And no, I won’t mention all the names here even though space isn’t really an issue in an online review :-)
If you know the first 12″ single of Raw Artistic Soul, The One Cultural Groove EP from autumn 2004, that included Nawella and Pa El Bembé, you have a small impression of the collective’s sound. A fine blend of house rhythms with Latin, afro and Spanish elements.
The first songs like What About Love or Cocobutter are a little too pop-happy-go-lucky-house for my personal taste. So I better skip them.
Things get much better with Flores Para Ti though. This is a classic Latin/Spanish house track with great guitar work and scatting by Rafael Cortes. MAW and George Benson would be proud of this song.
It gets even better with the stomping afro inspired groove of Felipes Dubstyle with its brass section. Fela Brasil is another highlight, a cool summer groove with lots of percussion and a flute by Domingo Patricio.
Ra Soul Vibes features Christoph Eidens on vibes who gives this song a Roy Ayers feeling. Together with trumpet and trombone this is a stunning little ditty.
There also a great Afro-Cuban song (Esto Si Lleva) with call and response by Edisney Portales Vega and Michel Martinez. This song wouldn’t be out of place on any Snowboy album.
Add to this the afore-mentioned hypnotic groove of Nawella and the percussion-driven Pa El Bembé plus the introspective Buddhism and you have a diverse album full of warm and highly danceable sounds. Who needs summer when you can have your own piece of summer with Raw Artistic Soul’s journey into sound when it’s released on May 9th 2005?
Tracklisting of What About Love: 1 : Mr Walker/ 2 : What About Love (feat. Mirta Junco Wambrug)/ 3 : Cocobutter (feat. Blain Paulos)/ 4 : Corazon (feat. Mirta Junco Wambrug)/ 5 : Bathanga Vibes (feat. Migrant Souls)/ 6 : Flores Para Ti (feat. Rafael Cortes)/ 7 : Felipes Dubstyle/ 8 : Fela Brasil (feat. Domingo Patricio)/ 9 : Nawella/ 10 : Ra Soul Vibes (feat. Christoph Eidens)/ 11 : Kana (feat. Laygwan Sharkie)/ 12 : Esto Si Lleva (feat. Edisney Portales Vega)/ 13 : Pa El Bembé (feat. Edisney Portales Vega)/ 14 : Buddhism (feat. Mirta Junco Wambrug) | released 2005 by GoGO Music
For more infos visit gogo-music.net and rawartistic.org.
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