The Whitefield Brothers
In The Raw
Soul Fire
Admittedly, before I received this disc, I’d never heard of Soul Fire Records nor The Whitefield Brothers. I still really have no clue who they are (though rumor has it that the group’s none other than Germany’s Poets Of Rhythm), but I have instantly become an ardent fan. In The Raw is rougher than skin through a cheese grater and funkier than a tannery in July. The Whitefields combine Afro-Rock with a muddy – and, yes, raw – New Orleans funk. Ultimately, this disc sounds like a mixture of early, Free Your Mind Funkadelic with the benefit of later Clinton/Collins works and The Meters fronted by Fela. This is a brilliantly atavistic album that’ll leave you reveling in the stank goodness of its supreme funk.
Soul Fire Records: http://www.soulfirerecords.com
