Menahan Street Band, The Exciting Sounds of Menahan Street Band Review

Menahan Street Band is an amalgamation of various musical disciplines spanning years of collective musical exploration by its individual members: Thomas Brenneck (Budos Band, The Expressions, Los Yesterdays), Dave Guy (The Roots, Late Night House Band, The Dap-Kings), Nick Movshon (Lee Fields and the Expressions, The Black Keys, The Avalanches), Leon Michels (Big Crown Records, El Michels Affair, The Black Keys) and Homer Steinweiss (The Dap-Kings, Holy-Hive, Lee Fields and the Expressions). Menahan Street Band is also the official house band for the Brooklyn-based Dunham Records. The ensemble builds its deep sounds by having each member contribute a unique perspective and approach. That group collaboration and the influence of the cultures and sounds of New York City has yielded a signature sound. The Menahan Street Band has created some of modern hip-hop’s most successful beats; their music has been sampled by Eminem, Jay-Z, Kendrick Lamar, Travis Scott, 50 Cent, Curren$y, to name a few. The band has received critical praise for their oft-sampled 2008 debut album Make The Road By Walking and backing Charles Bradley and Sharon Jones. “Vibe is a quintessential element in what I’m going for,” says MSB co-founder, multi-instrumentalist, and producer Thomas Brenneck. “Vibe, mood and emotion.” Menahan Street Band is now set to release their next full-length album, The Exciting Sounds of Menahan Street Band. 

The Exciting Sounds of Menahan Street Band is fourteen tracks that expose new aspects in tone and timbre and mood and design for the ever-creative ensemble. Produced by Thomas Brenneck in the collective’s very own Diamond Mine Studios in Long Island City, NY, the forthcoming album is actualized with a mingling of hip hop, rock and roll, funk, and all of the foibles in between. The striking cover art was created by celebrated artist Ariana Papademetropoulis. The album’s opening track, “Midnight Morning,” is a play of counter-melodies between synth sounds built to a hip horn melody. The groove is deep with style and has a little 70’s sheen to the sounds and flow. The creating of lines to create an entangled counterpoint is genuinely entertaining. “Queens Highway” is led by a clean guitar chordal figure that is augmented by the horns. When the groove enters, the rich octaves performed on the guitar add to the melody’s depth and structure. “The Duke” features the horns against a funky bassline and a swanky rhythm guitar strumming pattern. Counterpoint is again central to the song’s construction, as is the flow between the different feels and form sections. Overall, The Exciting Sounds of Menahan Street brings many influences, sounds, and textures into a particular focus of feel-good vibes with a deep pocket of groove and soul. That’s the short of it!

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