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The uniting of a sublime female soul singer and a skilled funk band has been reinvigorated this century with Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings and Nicole Willis & The Soul Investigators entertaining both sides of the Atlantic. The Sweet Vandals share a similar classic deep funk sound and Mayka Edjo’s powerful voice fits somewhere between the marvellous vocalists in the aforementioned acts.

A fantastic instrumental beginning to ‘I Got You, Man!’ sets the tempo for the album, this is bass-heavy deep funk! Stabs of Hammond organ by Carlo Coupé punctuate that opening loop and he shines on The Sweet Vandals’ self-titled album, whether furiously dextrous with his right hand or calm with his choice of chords, which provide a lovely balance to the deep rhythms, such as in ‘You’re Getting It’. Coupé also produced the album, which has distinctively live-sounding acoustics, presumably a result of his recording methods using a tape machine along with vintage microphones and amplifiers.

Bass-heavy deep funk & raw soul

A few ballads are included which balance out the intensity of the rip-roaring funk numbers, with ‘Nite Lites’ providing the album with a mellow close, in a track that really allows Coupé to show his abilities with a Hammond in hands. Teasingly the brilliant hook in ‘I Got You, Man!’ returns leaving the listener wanting to immediately revisit the album’s standout opening song.

For fans of Daptone, Jazzman, Freestyle Records or Keb Darge, champions of these contemporary funky sounds, then The Sweet Vandals is a release that will delight, with it’s mix of raw soul and charged up funk. The band is currently extensively touring Germany, their album is out now on Unique Records.

Links:
The Sweet Vandals myspace
Unique Recordings