Muphoric Sounds had yet another an awesome year. Click on the artist’s name, to see what you may have missed this year. At the start of 2010 we debuted with our first video interview with Brooklyn’s ghetto metal group, Game Rebellion—we were able to catch them at their EP release party for Sounds Like a Riot at Santos Party House and then again at Le Poisson Rouge to film the interview. We got to chat with alternative singer Res, who is currently hard at work on her 2nd official album since her debut How I Do. The most anticipated release of the year was from Bilal and Muphoric Sounds got to speak to him before before the release of his Airtight’s Revenge. (He received a Grammy nomination for “Little One” on the album!) To close out the year, we also got to chat with the incredibly smooth artist, Vikter Duplaix about his long musical career and challenges faced in this current musical landscape.

Silhouette Brown released two; DJ Kiva put out the first ever album produced solely on a PSP console BTR8ION – which got a lot of my male friends talking! We also featured cool live footage from Massive Attack‘s show at Terminal 5, Roy Ayers at Betsy Head Park in Brooklyn, Bilal at Metrotech in Brooklyn, The Roots Picnic in Philadephia (with The Roots, Foreign Exchange, YahZarah, Nneka, Mayer Hawthorne, Jay Electronica, John Legend, and Wu-Massacre), Raphael Saadiq at Central Park’s SummerStage, retro soul duo Nikki and Rich, and Little Dragon at Le Poisson Rouge.

On a grander scheme of music, 2010 saw the comeback of Sade with Soldier of Love. While the album was a sleeper to my ears, I will get to see Ms. Adu perform live in June for what I’m sure will be her last ever tour. The Roots gave us the brilliant How I Got Over—from production, to lyrics, to the collaborations; it was excellent! Erykah Badu‘s New Amerykah Pt. 2 dropped, with the video “Window Seat” turning objectification on its head! Salute to Ms. Badu on that one! I said I hoped that D’Angelo would not play us in 2010 – but unfortunately, he did. All that talk of Prince, Questlove, and Raphael Saadiq working on his new album, just disintegrated into thin air. I have no choice but to continue blasting “Glass Mountain Trust,” the tune he did with Mark Ronson.

I’d also like to take this time to thank all the underground artists who reached out on Twitter and Facebook to share their music with us - Shade Cobain, BusCrates 16-Bit Ensemble, Born I Music, Moonsatellite, Nate Smith, Iman Williams, Eagle Nebula, ArinMaya, DiViNe SeVeN, Full Crate, Bobby Blunt, Huey Nuetron, Eric Lau, Malachi Rivers, Greymatter, J*Davey, BUG, Cubic Zirconia, Dela, Phraim, Daru Jones, The Opus, Oddisee, Onra, Paul White, Andreya Triana, Bonobo, Cecilia Stalin, and Kafele Bandele.

Wishing you all the best for 2011 and thank you for your continued support! We are very excited to enter the year 2011, to explore and discover more amazing Muphoric Sounds!

Peace + Love + Light
The Muphoric Sounds Team

The voice singing “Tis your kind of music” is the blast off point for me on “Graham Central Station,” from the interplanetary LP Release Yourself. Graham Central Station was founded by bass guitarist and funk legend Larry Graham. Widely known for his contributions to the Bay Area Funk band Sly and the Family Stone, Graham connected with several bay area musicians (Willie Sparks, Patrice Banks, David Vega, Robert Sam, and Hershell Kennedy) after he left Sly’s group during the early 70′s. Graham would play in several funk and rock bands, went on to release many solo LPs. The album Release Yourself was released in 1974 on Warner Brothers music label and was the second LP from the group, which consisted of band members from Sly and The Family Stone, Hot Chocolate, Azteca, Hot Tuna, and Santana. It would also feature the horn section from the Bay Area group Tower of Power. The group would record from 1973 up until 1998, with seven studio albums, a live LP, and one record Larry Graham recorded with Prince.

“Graham Central Station starts off with a grimy synthesizer that digs deep into my skin. All the songs on the LP are funky. They coat morning pancakes with a buttery mix of soul, rock, gospel, and psychedelic jazz that are bound to get a head nod from any of today’s contemporary hip hop producers. Like an intergalactic church, the synthesizer welcomes like an organ introducing you to vocals, drum patterns, and bass that could be godly or sinful. I love the sound of these musicians together. The vocals of Larry Graham and Patrice “Chocolate” Banks are both sensual and dream inducing. Turn the light off and pick a good position.

“Graham Central Station”

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The main press media refer to Teena Marie as not being a household name, but I can tell you, Lady Tee was a big fixture in my home due to her rugged, raw funk and genuine soul. Highly respected by the black community, yet relatively unknown by her own people, Lady Tee showed that her vanilla chocolate had more soul and flavour than you could stand. An incredible singer with an outstanding range, a songwriter whose poetry was as colourful as a rainbow and ocean wide, and a musician who could bring the funk on so many levels. For her debut album, Wild and Peaceful, her label, Motown chose not to have an image of Teena‘s face on its cover, in fear that the black community would not embrace her. However, when Lady Tee finally joined the stage with her mentor, Rick James for her first single, “I’m Just Sucker for Your Love,” she was received warmly and affectionately – and it has never waned since.

I was lucky to have seen her twice — once in London at the Apollo for her Ivory tour and again at BB Kings in New York City during the early 2000s. Both shows, Lady Tee performed with high energy, running up and down the stage, wiggling her hips and her voice going even further than her recordings. You’d leave her shows wondering, How did she do that with her voice? Her shows were intimate and her vocals were always raw with emotion. I specifically remember a scene at her BB Kings show, when she asked the audience if she could remove her shoes. A man in the audience yelled out, “Do what you gotta do, Teena!! Do what you-gotta-do!!!” She removed her shoes, then sat on a stage stool, then said with a relaxed laugh says, “Now, I can really throw down on y’all!” The same man in the audience yelled out again, “So what the hell you been doing, Teena?!?” She went deep that night.

Yesterday, we lost a legendary artist. She was the owner of some of R&B’s seminal classics that will be cherished by many generations to come. Her heart was pure soul.

Love Always, Teena Marie!

There are too many songs that I love by Teena Marie, but “Lovegirl” is one of those tunes that resonates with me every time I hear it; I’m a funkster at heart.

And then “Portuguese Love”….is a masterpiece!

Yes, Muphoric Sounds is on the Olivier DaySoul bandwagon. How could one not?! The Washington, DC native, now based in the UK, recently did the Mr. Saint Louis EP, with producer Oddisee (if you missed it, you can check it out here). On “Finer Things,” DaySoul teams with UK producer Eric Lau, where  Lau brings in a classic soul groove with great percussion and key arrangements. DaySoul lays a sexy falsetto on top, making the tune butter. Not sure if it will appear on DaySoul‘s forthcoming album, but to get a sense of what DaySoul is about, the video below is from Put Me On It and Homebase NYC CMJ showcase at Southpaw in Brooklyn earlier this year.

“Finer Things” by Olivier DaySoul (Music by Eric Lau) Free Download

There are certain singers who evoke a sentiment in their listeners. Eric Roberson is one of those singers. Silky voice, realist songwriting, with a beat that soothes one’s soul. “She” is taken from the Music Fan First album that hit 2009 and is one of those albums that continues to grow legs. “A Tale of Two” was nominated for the Best Urban/Alternative Performance in 2010, and for this coming Grammy Award ceremony, Eric has been nominated in the same category, and for the track “Still.” When good music is created, it’s timeless.

I absolutely love it when love hits my in-box! This love is in the form of Label Love Vol. 2, a project spawn from One-Handed Music, where they join forces with other independent labels to put tunes together that are either community staples, or previously unreleased. This eclectic collection of tunes feature some of our favored independent labels – Melting Pot, Ninja Tune, One-Handed, Plug Research, Tru Thoughts, and Ubiquity. What’s apparent in this compilation is the distinct identity each label has in sound. Very nice treats from Ahu, Maddslinky, Bilal, Paul White, Full Crate, and many others! Did I mention that this is a free download in courtesy of One-Handed Music! Check out my favs below and head over to the Bandcamp page for the free download!

Earlier this year, we gave you a taste of soul singer Iman Williams, the Alabama native soul singer, currently residing in Atlanta. Stupid Human Tricks contains songs Iman has recently worked on and the production is by Pittsburgh native, BusCrates 16-Bit Ensemble (you can recap on Muphoric Sounds feature here), and well suited collaborations with Velben, Porsche Smith, and new comer Farnell Newton. The catchy title, Stupid Human Tricks is perfect for Iman‘s collection of realist songs on how one behaves in relationships – particularly the duet with Velben on  ”I, Confide“ where Iman‘s verse speaks of getting in touch with your inner-self and gaining confidence; it all starts with you. With Buscrates16-Bit Ensemble‘s mixture of grooves with heavy laden basslines, as Iman‘s voice crosses effortlessly between warm soul and jazz, makes Stupid Human Tricks a solid production. Looking forward to hearing more from this artist. Check out the tunes below then head over to her Bandcamp page to purchase the album!

As a thank you for your continued support, we have put together a year-end giveaway—gifts that exemplify the sensibility of the Muphoric Sounds audience, who have a natural zeal for culture and music fused together.

Two winners will be randomly selected to receive the following items:

• One copy of recently published The Anthology of Rap edited by Adam Bradley and Andrew DuBois, the first ever book of its kind which features the inventiveness and vitality of rap’s lyrical art, with a foreword by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and afterwords by Chuck D and Common.

• One DVD of the docudrama Wildstyle – deemed as the ‘best hip hop movie of all time’! Wildstyle documents the convergence of one of cultures longest-standing musical forms—a DVD that all music heads must own.

To be entered to win, send an email to contests@muphoricsounds.com with the subject line “Givewaway” by Thursday, December 23rd, 2010 for a random drawing. Two winners will be selected and notified by Monday, December 27th, 2010. (We dislike spam as much as you do; your contact information will never be sold or rented, in compliance with US Spam Laws.) So get yourself in it, to win it, and share the word with your friends.

A big thank you to Yale University Press for donating The Anthology of Rap. You can also watch an interview (just a teaser) with Common, Kurtis Blow, and The Anthology editors!