Medina Records

A record that I know little about and part of the reason I’m posting is the hope learning more about this band. What I do know is they were predominantly a reggae band; they released one twelve inch, one ten inch and one seven inch none of which are easy to find (or cheap).

‘Beauty’ is a gorgeous slice of UK soul with such a beautifully constructed rhythm track (love that guitar); it makes me wonder if they recorded anything else like this. If you know any more or if you’re a band member please comment or contact me via my website.

Denym – Beauty

A great thread over at Soulstrut had me digging through my collection for records to blog. Here’s two for now although no doubt there will be more to come.

To be honest most Shakatak music leaves me cold but this laidback funk jam from their debut ticks all the right boxes.

Shakatak – Toot The Shoot

Easily my favourite Sade track; that bassline, that deep funky groove, those vocals….just sublime.

Sade – Paradise [Extended Remix]

Bonus vid: not my favourite Kandidate track (I’ll save that for a later post) but the shirts, the haircuts, the dreamy feel and the over emotional miming make for some hypnotic viewing.

I’m not sure what happened to May but I was busy elsewhere and my blog was neglected. Apologies if you were waiting for updates; I shall do my best to rectify that this month.

As featured on YouTube’s movie channel, this is a documentary originally aired on PBS in the US in 2003. We don’t have a song-poem industry in the UK (that I’m aware of at least) so this was something of a revelation. It’s really an ode to outsider art and if you’re a fan of the Tay Zonday ‘Chocolate Rain’ thing (before it went money mad at least) then it’s well worth fifty five minutes of your time.

If you’re hungry for more you can pick this up on DVD (with lots of extras). Oh and there’s a compilation or two out there also.

Bonus beat: Jimmy Carter Says ‘Yes’ by Gene Marshall