El Perro Del Mar vs. The Gayletts

The Gayletts were a female group from Jamaica in the late ‘60s to early ‘70s. They were a trio made up of Beryl Lawson, Merle Clemonson, and Judy Mowatt (pictured below, left). The group disbanded when Lawson and Clemonson left for America in 1970. Mowatt remained, and went onto join Bob Marley’s famous backup troupe, The I Threes (below, alongside Marley). Mowatt continued to record for decades after, including a prolific spree of gospel albums between 1998-02.

Like a lot of pre-dub, rocksteady tunes of the era, The Gayletts were minimal and have touches of soul, and even doo-wop at times. They have some real sly 45s on the Hour Glass label, including a nice cover of “Son Of A Preacher Man”, and this, perhaps their best song, “Here Comes That Feeling”.







El Perro Del Mar’s first self-titled album includes a cover of “Here Comes That Feeling.” The greatness of the remake is based on the merit of the original, but nevertheless, is pretty smooth. Enjoy.

The Mumlers release long-awaited debut

Our favorite local band The Mumlers release their debut album Thickets and Stitches on Galaxia Records today. It has been a supremely interesting experience watching the band grow over the past few years, and I believe they are headed for big things. Here's a one-sheet I wrote for their press package a few months ago:

Galaxia Records is proud to present Thickets and Stitches, the debut album from Bay Area indie rock ensemble The Mumlers. The band is comprised of seven talented multi-instrumentalists, including frontman and songwriter Will Sprott. Their sound is comprised of wry, witty lyrics and traditional rock instrumentation tastefully embellished by more unusual elements including swelling brass, plaintive slide guitar, and just a touch of accordion. Like most good things, the band began as a lark; Will recruited a few friends to help him demo some of his original compositions. The current lineup coalesced during these informal basement recording sessions, which became their charming self-released/self-titled EP. Low-key performances at dive bars and art galleries brought them local attention and overwhelmingly enthusiastic word-of-mouth praise. The band’s refreshing blend of lighthearted stage presence and seriously well-crafted songs soon won them fans all over the west coast, including accolades from the press and inclusion in the prestigious Bleeding Edge and Noise Pop festivals. They have played shows with such indie stalwarts at Yo La Tengo, Clinic, Money Mark, and label-mate Tommy Guerrero.
Thickets and Stitches is a portrait of a young band in love with music, exploring the various textures of the rock genre and creating something satisfyingly original. There are crowd-pleasing mid-tempo rockers ("Red River Hustle"), mesmerizing ballads ("The Hinge’s Lament"), call-and-response soul stompers ("Shake That Medication") and songs that defy easy categorization. The result is an entertaining, accessible work of art that music lovers of all stripes are going to fall in love with.
In an effort to maintain warmth and spontaneity, the album was recorded live to 2-inch tape with minimal overdubs. Though the writing and producing was handled within the group, they sought the singular talents of The Legendary Stardust Cowboy (bugle) and Sarah Jo Zaharako of Gojogo (violin) to flesh out their sound. The majority of tracks were recorded at Snowghost studios in rural Whitefish, Montana by engineer Brett Allen. Additional material was recorded close to home at the studio of Jarrod Dandrea. Some time later the tracks were mixed by Thom Monahan (past clients include Brightblack Morninglight, Devendra Banhart, and Vetiver) at the Hangar in Sacramento, CA. Mastering was handled by J.J. Golden (Calexico, Rachel’s, etc.) at Golden Mastering in Ventura, CA.

You can listen to tracks and catch up on band news at www.myspace.com/themumlers or purchase an album here: www.galaxia-platform.com

A Letter From Egon: Conrad "Prof" Johnson (1916-2008)

Conrad O. Johnson, bandleader of the Kashmere High School Stage Band from 1968-1978 and owner of Kram Records, the label that issued the Band’s legendary eight albums and three 7” singles of Texas jazz, funk and soul music, died in Houston February 3rd at 92 years of age.
World-renowned Kashmere Stage Band reunited February 1st in Houston for the first time in over 30 years and played a tribute concert for their leader, the legendary Conrad "Prof" Johnson. Below is a letter from Egon Alapatt, owner of Now Again Records, the label responsible for the release of the Kashmere Stage Band Texas Thunder Soul 1968-1974.

FROM EGON ALAPATT OF NOW AGAIN:
He received one hell of a send off. On Friday, the Kashmere Stage Band reunited for a performance at the High School’s auditorium. Filmmaker Mark Landsman, who is producing and directing a documentary on the Band, worked with Johnson’s foundation and Kashmere High School to set off the event for his crew’s cameras. But the reason that the Band’s members, many of whom left the music field after their departure from Kashmere High, reunited and rehearsed, daily, for a month prior to the concert, was to give Johnson the respect he deserved and had fought for, for so long.
The Kashmere Stage Band’s story can be found here (link to the Now Again Section of Kashmere - http://www.stonesthrow.com/nowagain/kashmere/index.html). But in a nutshell, here it is: Johnson, known by those close to him simply as “Prof” took the reins of the Band in the late 1960s and worked with his charges to perfect the idiom that they understood most: funk. Heavy funk at that. By the time that the band recorded their third album, Thunder Soul, they were funking like a mini-JBs. And, by the time they won “Best Stage Band In The Nation” in 1972, they were funking as hard as the JBs themselves.

Yet the Band was relegated to the annals of funk lore, largely due to the fact that the records they released were so rare and, when a collector did get his hands on an original copy, he usually wanted to keep that power for his own ears. A few people did bootleg a song or two in the mid 90s, and, by 2000, the band’s name heated up then fledgling chat rooms when DJ Shadow sampled their namesake track “Kashmere” for the Handsome Boy’s Modeling School cut “Holy Calamity.” With Stones Throw, I reissued “Kashmere,” the first legitimate reissue of a Kashmere Stage Band track, on The Funky 16 Corners in 2001. The band that performed on “Kashmere” as teenagers back in 1973, including Gerald Calhoun on bass, Earl Spiller on guitar, Bruce Middleton on tenor sax and the indomitable Craig Green on drums, performed the anthem and other Johnson-penned classics like “Zero Point” at the auditorium on Friday. It was a overwhelming to say the least. I’m not the kind of person easily impressed by a funk band, and I’m especially critical of those bands that played intensely in the late 60s and early 70s reuniting and performing as a shadow of their monstrous selves, but the Kashmere Stage Band funked like their lives depended on it. By the time they reached the climax on Bubbha Thomas’s modal jazz classic “All Praises To Allah,” and Craig Green rode the uptempo breakbeat like Clyde Stubblefield and Gerald Calhoun plucked those same staccato notes that danced along those same rhythms nearly forty years ago, I stood breathless.
After the event, I mentioned to Prof's son that there were still some Kashmere albums at Prof's house on Rosewood Drive that I needed to transfer, for the possibility of assembling a compilation of Kashmere's ballads. He told me that the family had moved Prof out of that house he'd lived in for nearly sixty years, and that he had moved all of Prof's records into a storage unit on the side of the house. I made my way over and sorted through everything on Saturday, becoming more inspired as I went through the stacks of vinyl. The man's recorded output with that stage band was just tremendous, and the fact that he had kept such meticulous archives of his music, well into his 90s, blew me away.
On Sunday, I drove out to Conrad Jr.'s house to catch up with Prof before leaving for Los Angeles . When I arrived, vinyl in hand for safe delivery, I sat and talked with Prof… we had one of the best talks we'd had in months: about the band, and how good they sounded ("Doggone! Man, could they have sounded any better?" he asked), about Bubbha Thomas and his Youthful Musicians Summer Program and the 45 that they released in the mid 70s - a cover of Prof's "Lost Love," about future performances of the band, and, of course, about future anthologies of the band's recordings. He was most excited about that. Smiling, laughing, and gently prodding me with the same types of questions he did over the first years of our musical courtship ("Look here man, how are you going to do it? With what songs? From where? With the reel to reels?") - and, of course, making sure his business was straight.
He was so thrilled, so happy, so with it... I left feeling uplifted. I hadn't just spoken with a sick man, a man recovering from the heart attack that had confined him to a hospital bed just days before. I had spoken with a peer - a man who was going to be with us forever - carefully stewarding the next steps of his legendary Band, the band whose legend seems to grow greater by the day.
In a way, he will be.
-Egon

Egon is selling original copies of some of the band’s LPs and 45s in order to help the Johnson family pay for Prof’s funeral expenses. If you’re interested – serious buyers only, as these records aren’t cheap – email egon@stonesthrow.com, subject line “Kashmere Records.”