Michael Jablonka

Michael Jablonka is a musician so prolific that you may think he devotes every waking hour to his art and, if the fantastical nature of many of his songs are anything to go by, several hours of his dreams as well.
In addition to performing as Michael Kiwanuka’s chosen guitarist; a role that has found him touring arenas and festivals worldwide this summer. He has been fine-tuning his own powerful 21st-century take on bluesy alt-funk and soulful indie-rock. Michael Jablonka’s gifted, intricate guitar skills bely the no-frills anthemic intent of his rootsy songcraft.

Born and bred in the capital, 27-year-old Michael Jablonka has been gigging since the tender age of 14 as an in-demand guitarist for hire. Those to have enjoyed his dextrous services include Charlie Brown, Stooshe, Shakka and Delta Maid before fellow North Londoner and Brit-soul sensation Michael Kiwanuka came calling.

Around the same time, he decided it was time to blaze his own trail as a bandleader and songwriter, collating a set of crack musicians and intense yet universal alt-rock’n’soul tunes that scream for wider appreciation.

I Found You was one of the first tunes he wrote as a solo artist though it took a while to manifest - "I had writers block" - he explained - "and a chorus with nothing much else. I imagined the verses to be a constant build up and wanted the chorus to be that break free moment."

We'll be playing I Found You on Ralph's Radio KC Indie Show on Sunday 17th December so remember to tune in from 5-7pm on rkc.noip.me Internet Radio playing in 162 countries worldwide.

Dopesickfly

Ralph's favourite video this week is Barriers by Dopesickfly. 

Founded in the summer 2015 in Glasgow Scotland having busked the streets of Glasgow, the band evolved there sound into a Neo Soul, Rock, Hip Hop, Acid Jazz fusion with just the right amount of Funk. 

The lyrically explosive, musically diverse, Funk Rock Hybrid known as Dopesickfly emanate an upbeat feel good vibe inviting everyone to join in with catchy hooks and dance their heart out! There encouraging & sing of life connecting to all ages of people- making music for people!




Barriers (Official Music Video) Filmed & Edited by- ChilledAffinity Featuring April Granelli The album DOPESICKFLY is available now:

Bandcamp: dopesickfly.bandcamp.com/album iTunes:
itunes.apple.com/gb/artist/dopesickfly Spotify:
spotify.com/artist/6WfSpX8qP9BxeuUn



Follow Dopesickfly
Website: dopesickfly.com Facebook: facebook.com/DOPESICKFLY Instagram: instagram.com/DOPESICKFLY/
Twitter: twitter.com/DOPESICKFLY/

Áine Duffy & The Hypnotyst - Video Of The Week

Ralph's featured video this week is Grit by Áine Duffy & The Hypnotyst.

With GRIT Áine Duffy & The Hypnotyst flirts with dance, rock and funk to innovatively combine genres and moods, creating their own individual sound which is designed to get concert venues rocking and the dance floors moving.

Written, produced and recorded by Áine Duffy & The Hypnotyst.
Mastered by Emily Lazar at The Lodge Mastering, New York.

Shot in Kinsale Co. Cork, Ireland.
Actors: dale Coleman and Rogan Gee. Makeup: Sinead O Neil.

 

December 1st:          The Harbour Bar     Bray, Ireland                 Tickets & More

December 3rd:          Madame Claude     Berlin, Germany            Tickets & More

December 17th:        Hackett's Bar          Skibbereen, Ireland       Tickets & More

Peach Trees

As an East meets West collaboration (that's Cleethorpes and Southport, not Russia and America) Peach Trees have come up with a pretty damn fine piece of get up on the floor, funky-ass disco music, made all the more listenable thanks to the soulful vocals of London-based Mr Ernie Jackson.


The release of This Is The Love by the nascent get-together of musical minds Ambrose Chappel and Dave Hubbard brings a poptastic blend of retro disco vibes and soul vocalising that would have happily blasted out of the speakers of Studio 54 (New York not Darlington) and make you want to get down with your bad self.

Ernie Jackson

As the beat builds with Ernie's soulful vocal, the sexy backbeats and dee-lightfully sensual sax will drag you onto the dancefloor. It's shades Chic or Alexander O'Neil back in the summer of '87 dragged kicking and screaming into today's musical mix by some assured production on the part of Ambrose and Dave and outstanding vocalising by the super-smooth Ernie Jackson.

It's got 12" vinyl single release written all over it and Ralph will be giving it a spin on the Radio KC Indie Show this week.

Here's hoping Ambrose (who features on the Ralph's Life CD) and Dave (of The Online Festival fame) aka Peach Trees continue to bring such funk fuelled gems to our turntables, especially with such high quality collaborators adding to the mix.

Me? I'm still polishing my disco ball...

The Cut Throat Razors

Ralph's just blogged SAMA winners Colonel Mustard and The Dijon 5 and having dug his disco ball out of the shed, Ralph thought it was about time he further investigated Scotland's burgeoningly manic and funky 'disco-tastic' ska scene.  

Where better to start than with The Cut Throat Razors and the release of their latest EP Motown's Lost It's Soul which is due out on November 27th. Having recently played their track Jessica Rose on the Radio KC Indie Show to some excellent feedback it was with great anticipation that the turntable was spun for this new release.









The Cut Throat Razors are a funktabulous 11 piece with a reputation for tearing up the stage with a fun-filled musical extravaganza to delight their fans during live shows. The release of the Motown's Lost It's Soul EP see's them add some new tricks to their repertoire. 

First track up is the eponymous Motown's Lost It's Soul and the lyrics were inspired by the Julien Temple documentary Requiem for Detroit about the disembowelment of that once great city. The de-industrialisation and societal chaos that accompanied it chimed loudly with vocalist Scott Crawford's own experience of growing up in Paisley.

It's got a moody Stax-like groove with choppy guitar and sexy horns in abundance. It's probably outside its time and place, but who cares...you could almost believe you were walking down Seedhill Road wearing a big pink fedora, checked strides and a fur collared coat.




Losing My Mind is ascribed by The Cut Throat Razors as 'What is it about lust that can turn otherwise sane people just a little bit bonkers. It's not just people either, in the animal world it could be argued that it's even worse. Take hares for instance, they're normally very happy to get chased around a dog track by half a dozen pre-rescue greyhounds but come the month of March they take up boxing and can be found knocking lumps out of each other in farmers' fields everywhere and all for a little bit of nooky'.

Whilst, for me, it's not the strongest track on the EP it's got an infectious synthi-ness going on that's hard to stop going back for.



She's My Baby, on the other hand is a groovy tune no self-respecting Mod or Modette would pass up the chance of sashaying to on the dance floor. Great horns and Sixties vibe that'll see The Cut Throat Razors fans bouncing at gigs.

A Beautiful Day seems to have a more introspective vibe with more of a story tell. It's got shades of the B52s interspersed with The Rezillos...what's not to like!





You can catch The Cut Throat Razors (Winners of The Sunday Herald 'Best Unsigned Band' 2014) live on the 14th of November if you're lucky enough to be at The Big One Festival in Dorset or at the EP launch in Stereo, Glasgow on November 27th ably supported by another Ralph's Life favourite, Supa and Da Kryptonites (of whom more later).

John Lawrence

Just when you thought that a quality prog-rock concept album was a thing of the past, along comes the uniquely trippy Songs From The Precipice album by John Lawrence which harks back to the heady days of Jethro Tull, King Crimson, Steve Hillage, early Genesis et al.

Songs From The Precipice is a complex work which requires an intensity of concentration from the listener rarely required in the lighter output of many bands and artistes today. Veering from jazzy stylings to folky and then rockier themes, it's as diverse in it's composition as it is compelling to listen to.

John Lawrence was a founding member of Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci and with four critically acclaimed solo albums under his belt, is also one of Wales’ leading record producers as well as a busy live sound engineer. He writes a diverse range of music, cohesive in its timelessness, seamlessly blending classic rock, folk, blues, funk and jazzy genres, whilst somehow keeping its feet firmly on the ground. 






Recording alone in his studio, based in the remote Welsh mountains, John Lawrence has a unique approach to orchestrating the sound of a full band. Layering all the instruments himself, allows him to create more intricate arrangements, and express his creativity and vision through his multi instrumental talents. Inspired by the fabulous dark sky views of the heavens above the rugged landscape, attuned to the magic of existence, John likes to push himself musically with an holistic approach to production, that translates into incredibly beautiful, boundary transcending music. 

The Winachi Tribe

Seeing as they're almost next door to Ralph it's about time The Winachi Tribe from Warrington (and Leeds) got a shout out. They've just released their debut single Time For Love and it's seriously funked up in their own inimitable grooved up style.

Although Time For Love is a debut release for The Winachi Tribe, individual band members are already well established on the music scene. 

Percussion legend Inder Goldfinger was a member of Ian Brown's band for thirteen years, and vocalist Liam and keys player Antony collaborated with Keith Allen in the studio and also toured with him as vocalists in his band Fit Les as part of his Olympic opera Will Cliff Be There?.

Time For Love features Julie Gordon (Happy Mondays / S.W.R) and has been chosen to feature in an upcoming feature length documentary about legendary night club The Hacienda. Titled Do You Own The Dancefloor? the film premiered at Glastonbury Festival's Groovy Movie Cinema Tent on Saturday 27th June at 6pm.




The Winachi Tribe influences are as diverse as their own musical output. Parliament Funkadelic and Sly & The Family Stone sit alongside The Happy Mondays, Primal Scream, The Rolling Stones and The Beatles, creating a melting pot of references that create a truly individual sound.

Vocalist Liam says "You can hear different influences in our music and maybe take a guess as to what we were listening to when we wrote a certain song, but you can't really pin us down into any specific genre. One thing that ties all our music together though is us. Our stamp is all over it." 




The video to accompany Time For Love stars Keith Allen playing an older version of vocalist Liam. Also making a cameo is lead singer of Alabama 3, The Rev D Wayne Love as the DJ at the club. 

"We had a lot of fun making the video" Liam says . "I hope that comes across when people watch it. I think it captures the feel of the song perfectly."

Snippet

Snippet aka Johnno Casson is the quintessential English musician.  Prolific, diverse, entertaining, clever, wistful and whimsical (no more so on his previously released mini-album 'DIY' and the track 'Let's Talk About Us' on which he comments on his winkle (and he isn't introducing us to his pet mollusc Brian). Prolific as ever Snippet has released an EP of tracks that should be on everyones 'Summer Playlist' and it's called, appropriately enough, 'The Sunshine EP'.




Previously Ralph's referred to Snippet as being all things to all listeners bringing you everything from funk to electro. If you haven't already been introduced to his inimitable stylings then this is the perfect lead in...go and seek out his back catalogue or even better check him out live...I think you'll find he's one of the nicest blokes you'll ever meet, as was proved when he kicked off the Ralph's Life CD all-dayer in London's Proud Camden earlier this year.





The EP was performed, recorded, produced and mixed by the man himself and mastered by Wim Oudijk. Snippet was quoted as saying "the EP is six unique nuggets of sunshine 'SnipHop' that are big on bounce, low on fat (but always 'phat') & full of technicolor loveliness."

Following on from the previously mentioned and critically acclaimed D.I.Y Album, Snippet takes it up a notch with a batch of killer songs cloaked in sweet layers of retro synths & hand crafted loops, topped off with vocal hooks to die for...music to lift your spirits & put a spring in your step.





From the first bars of the lead track 'We Luv The Sunshine' the lyrics are uplifting and the whistling infectiously cheerful. Second track in and the instrumental 'This Way Up' with an Ivor Cutler harmonium vibe leads you into the optimistic and bouncy 'Can I Luv You'. 

'Misplaced Youth' is a more soulful, reflective track whilst 'Run For Your Life' moves up a gear again with a 'SnipHop' vibe, finishing off with the quirky 'fLIP' showing just how versatile Snippet can be.




We Luv The Sunshine by Snippet

If you don't believe me then... 

“Snippet: A National Indie Treasure…The most played artist ever on BBC Introducing - Fresh On The Net” 
Tom Robinson BBC 6 Music

Mothers Finest

Given Ralph's love of all things Indie and interest in Crowd Funding projects, his attention was grabbed when he heard legendary US funksters Mother's Finest were eschewing record companies and self-financing their first release in 10 years using Kickstarter, effectively making their fans their record company!







In-keeping with Kickstarter campaigns once you make your contribution, you get exclusive access to everything (depending on your contribution) that goes on behind-the-scenes – hear the actual song demos, watch videos of the live recording sessions, see fun photos, and get updates on how the process is going. 

You will see how it all happens, from the very beginning to the very end. Mother's Finest offer incentives like rarely seen video, private conversations with the band, backstage access, personal items, and lots of other unique creations.

The group has created a sound they describe as a fusion of Funk, Rock, Gospel, R&B Metal and Jazz, taken directly from the street to the stage to the studio, that is Afro-Euro Mosaic Soulful and Electric, transcending musical division, and negative stereotyping.

Back in the day, this kind of fusion music was rare to say the least, but the versatility and originality of Mother's Finest, brought down many barriers.  Mother's Finest is Joyce Kennedy, Glenn Murdock, lead vocals, Jerry "Wyzard" Seay, Bass, Gary "Mo" Moore, lead guitar, John Hayes, lead guitar, Dion Murdock, drummer.

Known internationally, they are incomparable and unique in their ability to bring it in concert and now after several year's quiet, they're still one of the best live bands anywhere in the world.

Take this unique chance to get involved with the band, become part of their story and in the process claim your reward by pledging to help them produce the album and spread their infectious funk worldwide.