In 2007 I walked into New World Record's last location before closing (miss that place) and this #sharonjonesandthedapkings album was playing. It immediately grabbed my attention with it's pulsing rhythms, vintage sound and Sharon Jones velvety and brash vocals. I had fallen in love with Amy Winehouse's "back to black" album and this sounded like the precursor. Turned out I was half right, the dap kings played on Winehouse's album but this record was a new release a year later. Interestingly the label it was put out on was sort of a Brooklyn collective that was releasing and reviving a stable of vintage sounding soul music. To this day it's a label that I buy their new releases sight unseen and am never disappointed. Do yourself a favor and catch any of them live. Incredible.
I've liked soul music for a while, I would add to my cd collection occasionally if I found used stuff by artists I already liked. Always enjoyed hearing deep album cuts from artists who I was singles-friendly with but was naive to the wealth of the genre. Discovering this disc and the record label that put it out ignited a love for this style of music that lead me to research the genre in a workmanlike way. Reading online articles and purchasing books about soul and R&B music. I started quickly amassing a formidable collection of soul gems. When I get obsessive like this over styles of music I tend to collect first, usually giving each album a cursory listen and then going back methodically and rediscovering the discs I've purchased. Sharon Jones and the dap kings CDs immediately live with me for a while, they ride shotgun in the car, they get ripped to my beloved MP3 player (still have 2 functioning Zunes) and they get played many consecutive Sunday mornings. Just like today.
