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Tonight we kick off another season of our funk punk soul rock Sampled & AMPED Thursdays with a remembrance of Harold Melvin, followed by a bevvy of new joints in both hours.
"The Drop with Danno" on GFN 광주영어방송 98.7FM in Gwangju & 93.7FM in Yeosu, Korea. An eclectic radio curation of all things musical spanning the spectrum every week. Broadcasting 8-10pm KST nightly.
Mar 24, 2022
The Drop with Danno
Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes – The Love I Lost
Say She She – Forget Me Not
Vendredi Sur Mer – Monochrome
Elis Regina – Jardins de Infancia (2022 remaster)
Kokoroko – We Give Thanks
Ebi Soda – Gated Community with A Public Pool
Lyves – How Would It Feel
Say She She – Blow My Mind
M Ross Perkins – Industrial Good Day Mantra
Oumou Sangare – Wassulu Don
Say Hazan – Remove The Talk
Mavis Staples feat Levon Helm – You Got To Move
Eli “Paperboy” Reed – I’m Bringing Home The Good News
I.
It is 20 hours past midnight on this sunkissed spring day in Gwangju and of course it is our Sampled & AMPED Thursday night going through the full gamut of the new and recent in the funk punk soul and/or rock realms, and this particular fourth chapter in the work week is splashed by the sunshine as March 24, 2022. This is Danno hoping you’re feeling the fine spring shine like I am from studio 2 GFN HQ right in the heart of downtown Gwangju at the base of Sajik Park, how do you do? Tonight we commence with our Sampled funk & soul first hour, with lots of new & recent to explore from the likes of Mavis Staples, Say She She, Kokoroko, and Lyves to name a good portion but not name em all, and of course. Gwangju’s man on the drums Dan Lloyd will take over hour 2 after that with our Amped rock feature, and lots of good new biz to go over then before we hit 10 bells and cease transmission. Thus, let’s start properly tonight with the history and mark this date when the man behind one of the best disco bands of all time became eternal, and we’ll talk about Mr. Melvin and all of his Blue Notes after we lament the love we lost. THIS is The Drop.
Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes – The Love I Lost
The Drop has departed on our nightly audio adventurism for this evening’s funk punk soul rock Sampled & AMPED foray. This is Danno here in studio 2 GFN HQ and ever at the ready for our fourth chapter and the season premiere of our funk & rock Thursdays.
That was Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes with one of their more popular classics in The Love I Lost. Today marks 25 years since the man behind the band passed away, Harold Melvin passed after several hard months fighting the after effects of a stroke, he was only 57 years of age at the time.
Now, it must be pointed out that Harold Melvin was the leader of the band, but one common misconception is that he was the vocalist, which is not typically true as those duties were handled by Teddy Pendergrass.
Interestingly, this song was supposed to be a slow ballad when the band initially imagined it, but it turned out to be a bit too painful when they rehearsed.
The band told the cymbal man Karl Chambers to up the tempo, and they had not only a hit song but a foundational tune to the Philly Soul sound which became massive from there and even bigger with commercial disco later in the decade.
Harold Melvin, gone far too soon, rest in power.
#9870, @gfnthedrop, pod.
So, to start with the new biz tonight, we’ll get into some power femme soul in the first block, with Say She She, Vendredi Sur Mer, and Elis Regina in starring roles, and we’ll talk about all three of these points in the triad after we listen to the output. THIS is The Drop on your Sampled funk & soul Thursday.
______
The Drop recommissions on the mic as we have officially lit up our Sampled funk & soul first hour foray. This is Danno of course, holding it down up to 9pm on the solo tip with the funk & soul until we are joined by Dan Lloyd for our AMPED rock showcase to end things tonight. Now as to what just went into space on our invisible vessel, let’s get to the details...
Say She She – Forget Me Not (…interesting new music project, the trio of Piya Malik, Sabrina Mileo Cunningham, and Nya Gazelle Brown. The group is reclaiming male dominated music spaces and giving a sly wink to Chic and Donna Summer with this incredibly funky first foray from the group. We’ll hear more from this 7” single that is out May 20th in physical form via Colemine Karma Chief in part 2 this evening.)
Vendredi Sur Mer – Monochrome (…another lovely single from one of our favorite up-and-coming artists true name Charline Mignot, this is an anti-authoritarian song encouraging those who follow to stop as it ends quickly and in poor fashion. This tune features on the Swiss artist’s LP Metamorphose, which dropped in full last Friday.)
Elis Regina – Jardins de Infancia (2022 remaster) (…to finish a classic right here from one of Brasil’s most legendary vocal muses. This tune just received a very proper remaster treatment of Falso Brilhante or Fake Shine, Regina’s classic LP from 1976.)
Now we’re just about to reach the end of our real estate here on the air, so let’s cut quick to London for our final pair of joints. On deck we have Kokoroko with their latest called We Give Thanks, which is the lead single to their album set for August release via Brownswood, and that LP is titled Could We Be More so keep an eye out for more in the coming months. After that we have the latest from Tru Thoughts artists Ebi Soda and a single called Gated Community with A Public Pool, the second single from the upcoming Honk If You’re Sad LP, due out April 29. This is The Drop on your Sampled funk & soul first hour.
Kokoroko – We Give Thanks
Ebi Soda – Gated Community with A Public Pool
II
Into the 2nd quarter with the slow cooking on our Sampled funk & soul first hour, we open with another joint from Say She She, but first, that was another favorite of ours although far less recent a discovery. That was...
Lyves – How Would It Feel (…if it feels like you’ve not heard from the UK-based half-Italian soul singer Francesca Bergami, that’s only because we haven’t heard from the artist since before the pandemic. This is the first single to the upcoming Change EP, although I can’t call when this is going to be out, as there’s nothing concrete on that front.)
Say She She – Blow My Mind (…this is the b-side to the aforeplayed Forget Me Not, which is an upcoming 7” single out on wax on May 20 via Colemine Karma Chief. For those who had the name Piya Malik as vaguely familiar when we discussed the group in hour 1, the artist has previously featured with El Michels on the Big Crown main player’s latest record, Yeti Season, released late last year.)
#9870, @gfnthedrop, pod.
So, continuing forward, we have something new from M Ross Perkins and his label debut on Colemine. E Pluribus M Ross is out everywhere now, and we got something from that to start the block, and then we’ll head to the Sahel for tunes from Oumou Sangare and Shay Hazan, and we’ll discuss all three of these after we let them ease. This is The Drop on your funk & soul Thursday night.
___
Back on The Drop for final yaddas of our first hour tonight. Continuing along with our Sampled funk & soul first hour soiree, and Dan Lloyd will be in shortly for our AMPED Thursday season premeire. That being duly noted, let get to the notes on the notes for now…
M Ross Perkins – Industrial Good Day Mantra (…E Pluribus M Ross is out via Colemine Karma Chief Records, which is the artist’s sophomore LP and label debut. This is really a masterclass in home recording, with the Dayton OH-based artist releasing a brilliant psychedelic blues-based record that has been getting a lot of love since release.)
Oumou Sangare – Wassulu Don (…this is one of the lead singles to the upcoming record from the Songbird of Wassoulou, which is a region in Mali south of the River Niger that she hails from. Timbuktu drops on April 29 via World Circuit Records.)
Shay Hazan – Remove The Talk (…this is from a record that I honestly slept on last year called Reclusive Rituals. The album sees the artist in a very personal mode, expressing love for jazz, rnb, and Morocco’s gnawa music in the process. Reclusive Rituals by Shay Hazan, do check if you liked that, good stuff.)
Okay, so we are gonna switch back to some bluesier stuff to finish. Up next is the timeless Mavis Staples featuring the dearly departed Levon Helm on a new cut called You Got To Move, which features on a new live record called Carry Me Home. After the two closely linked artist recorded this at Helm’s studio in upstate New York, he passed away the next year. Carry Me Home is due out May 20 via ANTI- so keep an eye out. After that we’ll slow it down with something from Eli Paperboy Reed called I’m Bringing Home The Good News, and this is from the upcoming Down Every Road LP, due out April 29. THIS is The Drop and that’s a wrap on the first half.
Mavis Staples & Levon Helm – You Got To Move
Eli “Paperboy” Reed – I’m Bringing Home The Good News
III & IV AMPED
Royal Blood – Honeybrains
Weezer – Angels on Vacation
Placebo – Happy Birthday in the Sky
Arcade Fire – The Lightning I, II
Muse – Compliance
PLOSIVS – Hit the Breaks
Crawlers – I Can’t Drive
Counterpunch – Waiting in the Wings
Def Leppard – Kick
Delta Spirit – What’s Done is Done
Holy Fawn – Death is a Relief
Royal Blood – Honeybrains
British rock duo Royal Blood have surprised fans with the release of a new single, Honeybrains.
The song revolves around an angular and convincingly guitar-like lick from bassist and frontman Mike Kerr and, compared to their stomping past sound, feels like it plants a foot in garage-rock territory.
The surprise release is therefore in keeping with the off-the-cuff feel of the track and the sentiments of a band who are clearly itching to get out on the road.
“Instead of sitting on new music, waiting for it to grow old,” say Royal Blood. “We thought it’d be fun to let you in on what we’ve been working on over the past few weeks before we head out on our biggest tour so far! It’s as new to us as it is to you. Crank it x”.
On that note, Royal Blood have a huge list of dates scheduled between now and the end of July, taking in a run of European appearances, an extensive UK tour and 27 shows across the US and Canada.
Weezer – Angels on Vacation
Weezer released two albums in 2021, the arena-rocking Van Weezer and the piano-focused OK Human. The prolific streak is continuing into 2022. For a long while, Rivers Cuomo has been teasing a series of four albums themed around each of the four seasons. It wasn’t idle talk. Today, on the spring equinox, the first of those releases is here.
The SZNZ project will actually comprise four EPs, each one interpolating a movement from Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons. Other inspirations for the project include Pagan myths, religious rituals, magic, and Shakespeare. We heard the lead single from SZNZ: Spring earlier this week, the cheery and high-fructose “A Little Bit Of Love.” Now the full seven-song project is here. “Shakespeare makes me happy!” Cuomo sings on “Opening Night,” the jaunty opening track. “So happy! And I’m happy to be with you.” The next song, “Angels On Vacation,” begins with a hallelujah chorus of sorts and proceeds to reference both bluebirds and the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Placebo – Happy Birthday in the Sky
English rock band Placebo have shared their new song titled “Happy Birthday In The Sky,” which appears on their upcoming new album dubbed ‘Never Let Me Go’ (due out March 25th, pre-order).
A presser states, “Where the album’s opening singles considered themes of personal accountability, tech-saturation, and humanity’s true place in the world, ‘Happy Birthday In The Sky’ is Placebo at their heart-breaking best. Brian Molko grips every word and releases it in a flurry of controlled expressive outpouring, revisiting dark emotions to tell a story of loss and the mechanisms we use to cope with it.”
Molko comments, “Happy Birthday In The Sky for me, is one of the more heartbreaking moments on the album. Happy Birthday In The Sky is a phrase that I’ve been using for quite some time. When I say, happy birthday to people who aren’t with us anymore, it communicates the kind of heartbreak that we’re really, really good at communicating I think. You know that sense of loss, that sense of desperation. It’s as if a part of your body and your soul has been ripped from you unfairly. And you pine and you pine, and you wait.”
Arcade Fire – The Lightning I, II
Arcade Fire have announced their new album. Entitled WE, the band’s sixth full-length is due out on May 6th via Columbia Records. As a preview, they’ve shared the first single, “The Lightning I, II.”
Arcade Fire set out to record an album in February 2020, but when the pandemic began, Win Butler and Régine Chassagne decided to hunker down and write more songs instead of sticking with what they already had. “It was the longest we’ve ever spent writing, uninterrupted, probably ever,” Butler said in a statement.
The finished product, WE, is at once a double album and a practice in restraint. Seven songs unravel in 40 minutes, split between two sides: Side “I” deals in isolation, while Side “WE” revels in human connection. The project was produced by Radiohead’s go-to boardman, Nigel Godrich, as well as Butler and Chassagne, and recorded across New Orleans, El Paso, Texas, and Mount Desert Island, Maine.
Muse – Compliance
There are several things that Muse are willing to share at this time, such as the name of their upcoming album, Will of the People, its release date of August 26th, and the band’s newest single, “Compliance.” There are also several things that the English rockers are purposefully choosing to conceal, including what, exactly, they were thinking when they turned to those loaded words. But it seems increasingly likely that Will of the People will mark a turning point for the band; that they are either about to charge into a political fight that will cost them a swath of their audience forever; or expose a hollow nothingness at the center of their whole artistic project.
At first glance, the tracklist for Will of the People certainly seems politically aware, with multiple songs that might reference one of Muse’s favorite themes: the individual’s struggle against unjust systems. In addition to the title track, “Compliance,” and recent single “Won’t Stand Down,” there are also songs called “Liberation,” and “Kill or Be Killed.” Other titles might serve just about any occasion (“We Are Fucking Fucked”), and some must remain opaque for now, including “Verona,” which could be about anything from a nice vacation to Romeo and Juliet to the Everett Massacre on Bloody Sunday.
To provide context, the band has shared a carefully-worded statement. Will of the People “is influenced by the increasing uncertainty and instability in the world,” they wrote. “A pandemic, new wars in Europe, massive protests & riots, an attempted insurrection, Western democracy wavering, rising authoritarianism, wildfires and natural disasters, and the destabilization of the global order all informed Will of the People. It has been a worrying and scary time for all of us as the Western empire and the natural world, which have cradled us for so long are genuinely threatened. This album is a personal navigation through those fears and preparation for what comes next.”
PLOSIVS – Hit the Breaks
PLOSIVS is a new punk band created in late 2021 that serves as a collaboration of members from four different bands. The lineup of the new crew includes Rob Crow from Pinback on guitar and vocals, John Reis from Hot Snakes on guitar and vocals, Jordan Clark from Mrs. Magician on bass, and Atom Willard from Against Me! on drums. PLOSIVS released their debut single, “Hit The Breaks,” in early September of 2021.
PLOSIVS’ debut self-titled record, PLOSIVS, has now been released on 3/17 through Swami Records.
Crawlers – I Can’t Drive
Liverpool's Crawlers have shared an excellent new single and video, I Can’t Drive.
Following viral hit Come Over (Again), the quartet's latest effort is about “the romanticism of mental illness and heartbreak and how the media portrays it compared to the raw reality”.
Says singer Holly Minto: “This situation is about how me and my sibling went through break ups of toxic relationships. My mum secured that we didn’t need anyone else by filing for divorce from my dad and we all went through it together.”
Counterpunch – Waiting in the Wings
Counterpunch have been keeping '90s-style skate punk alive for over 15 years, though they haven't released a new album since 2014. That'll change this year, with a TBA LP coming via Thousand Island Records and SBAM Records, and new single "Waiting in the Wings" proves they've still got it.
Def Leppard – Kick
Def Leppard have announced their 12th album, Diamond Star Halos, which will arrive on May 27th. In advance of the LP’s release, the veteran UK rock band has unveiled the first single, “Kick.”
The album news comes ahead of Def Leppard’s highly anticipated co-headlining stadium tour with Mötley Crüe. The North American outing had been postponed twice due to the pandemic, but is finally set to kick off on June 16th in Atlanta, with tickets available via Ticketmaster.
Diamond Star Halos marks Def Leppard’s first new studio LP in nearly seven years, following 2015’s self-titled effort. According to a press release, the album was inspired by ’70s glam-rock artists such as David Bowie, T. Rex, and Mott the Hoople. In fact the title Diamond Star Halos references a lyric in the T. Rex classic “Bang a Gong (Get It On).”
Delta Spirit – What’s Done is Done
Delta Spirit have announced new album One is One which will be out May 20 via New West. "One is One essentially says, ‘What is life all about? Here are some observations,” says frontman Matthew Logan Vasquez. The video for first single "What's Done is Done" is in honor of World Down Syndrome Day and stars Jamie Brewer (American Horror Story) and Zack Gottsagen (The Peanut Butter Falcon) and was directed by longtime collaborator Michael Parks Randa. “Before starting Delta Spirit, I worked in an adult transition program for people with disabilities and it was such a rewarding experience," says Vasquez. "As a society, we really underestimate the capabilities of the disability community, especially in the creative arts. We've been collaborating with Randa for years, and after seeing his inclusive film Best Summer Ever, we were energized by the idea of doing our part to help further inclusion in the music industry."
Holy Fawn – Death is a Relief
Two years ago, the Arizona heavy shoegaze band Holy Fawn released their EP The Black Moon, and it ruled extremely hard. Right now, Holy Fawn are on tour with Deafheaven and Midwife, and that sure looks like a sick triple bill. Today, in the middle of that tour, Holy Fawn have come out with a new single with the charming title “Death Is A Relief.” It’s a good one.
“Death Is A Relief” sprawls over six minutes, building from a quiet beginning to a swirling, howling metallic climax. In a press release, frontman Ryan Osterman says that “Death Is A Relief” is “a song of loss… feeling like everything around you is moving and feeling stuck in place no matter how hard you fight.” In the song’s PJ Koelbel-directed video, a woman drags a body across a sunny, ominous landscape.