The Polyversal Souls - Invisible Joy (CD/2LP, Philophon, 2015)
We had the chance to have German drummer Max Weissenfeldt visiting us at Paris DJs recently. Max is one of those legendary musicians that aren't talked about a lot in the music history books yet. But he's been more than heavily featured in what should be your favorite of those history books: the parisdjs.com website you're currently reading! Because Max is one of the founding members of the Poets Of Rhythm, The Whitefield Brothers, and many other crazy-named German funk bands from the last 25 years… With his brother Jan (now leading the Karl Hector project among other things), they were one of the leading forces of the rare-groove funk revival, even appearing on the first Desco Records releases that led to the creation of Soul Fire Records, Truth & Soul and Daptone. There was a nice article in the first issue of Wax Poetics magazine about them, titled 'The Godfathers of Deep Funk', and we've been defending their historical essentiality ever since the first pages of our previous website djouls.com, way back since the mid-90s.
Now 10 years of djouls.com and another 10 years of parisdjs.com have passed and the Poets family is more present than ever in our books. Karl Hector has been releasing 3 EPs (collected on a second album, 'Unstraight Ahead'), along with many exclusive mixes for Paris DJs; the Poets Of Rhythm have seen their catalog extensively reissued ('Original Raw Soul III' on Now-Again in 2012, 'Anthology 1992-2003' on Daptone in 2013); other Poets members than the Whitefield Bros. have been putting out astonishing releases one after the other, with International Ducks, Onom Agemo and The Disco Jumpers, Woima Collective, Ebo Taylor's Afrobeat Academy, Pat Thomas And Kwashibu Area Band, just to name a few.
Max has been quite busy too. He played with DJ Shadow and The Heliocentrics on 'The Outsider' album from 2006, with Dr John & Dan Auerbach on the fantastic 'Locked Down' album from 2012, with Bombino on the Nomad or with Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba on the 'Jama Ko' albums from 2013… and in 2014 he went on a trip to Ghana, which led to many encounters with local musicians, and earlier this year he launched his own, Berlin-based label, Philophon Records, and started releasing a series of instantly collectable and insanely unique 45s from those sessions, ranging from African reggae to Ethio jazz, Ghanian soul and afrofunk. Grab them if you haven't already but first get your hands on this first album from The Polyversal Souls… Gathering guests from all corners of the globe, this record hardly falls in any category. African soul, reggae with Ethio horns, Sun Ra-influenced spiritual jazz, Afro hip hop over heavy rock or deep reggae, Ethio jazz featuring legendary keyboard player Hailu Mergia (Walias Band)… this is a new masterpiece of global raw soul.
The Polyversal Souls - Invisible Joy
(CD/2LP) Philophon Records PH33001, 2015-07-10
Tracklisting :
A1. Yelle Be Bobre feat. Guy One 5:17
A2. Starlet Road Filling Station Romance 3:47
B1. Momaminka feat. Roy X & Lady Red Red 3:50
B2. Sad Nile feat. Hailu Mergia 4:45
B3. Love In Outer Space 3:10
C1. Asembi Ara Amba feat. Y-Bayani 4:17
C2. Race 2:24
C3. Goin' In feat. Afrika Baby Bam 4:22
D1. Dunia Dela Da'a feat. Ana'abugre 4:22
D2. Invisible Joy 3:44
Note : produced by Max Weissenfeldt
Links :
Buy 2LP on juno
The Polyversal Souls : discogs | juno | parisdjs
Philophon Records : official | discogs | facebook | juno | soundcloud | youtube
Press Release :
With their debut "Invisible Joy" the Polyversal Souls are ready to take off. Produced at the Berlin based Ru-Ting Clan Sound Lab by Max Weissenfeldt (Whitefield Bros., Poets of Rhythm), the band invited artists from all around the world to join their musical journey: from N.Y.C. Africa Baby Bam (Jungle Bros.), from Ethopia Hailu Mergia (Walias Band) and from west Africa's beautiful Ghana the music award winning griot Guy One, Ebo Taylor's son Roy X and freedom poet Y-Bayani. The result is a unique piece of global raw soul.
Now 10 years of djouls.com and another 10 years of parisdjs.com have passed and the Poets family is more present than ever in our books. Karl Hector has been releasing 3 EPs (collected on a second album, 'Unstraight Ahead'), along with many exclusive mixes for Paris DJs; the Poets Of Rhythm have seen their catalog extensively reissued ('Original Raw Soul III' on Now-Again in 2012, 'Anthology 1992-2003' on Daptone in 2013); other Poets members than the Whitefield Bros. have been putting out astonishing releases one after the other, with International Ducks, Onom Agemo and The Disco Jumpers, Woima Collective, Ebo Taylor's Afrobeat Academy, Pat Thomas And Kwashibu Area Band, just to name a few.
Max has been quite busy too. He played with DJ Shadow and The Heliocentrics on 'The Outsider' album from 2006, with Dr John & Dan Auerbach on the fantastic 'Locked Down' album from 2012, with Bombino on the Nomad or with Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba on the 'Jama Ko' albums from 2013… and in 2014 he went on a trip to Ghana, which led to many encounters with local musicians, and earlier this year he launched his own, Berlin-based label, Philophon Records, and started releasing a series of instantly collectable and insanely unique 45s from those sessions, ranging from African reggae to Ethio jazz, Ghanian soul and afrofunk. Grab them if you haven't already but first get your hands on this first album from The Polyversal Souls… Gathering guests from all corners of the globe, this record hardly falls in any category. African soul, reggae with Ethio horns, Sun Ra-influenced spiritual jazz, Afro hip hop over heavy rock or deep reggae, Ethio jazz featuring legendary keyboard player Hailu Mergia (Walias Band)… this is a new masterpiece of global raw soul.
The Polyversal Souls - Invisible Joy
(CD/2LP) Philophon Records PH33001, 2015-07-10
Tracklisting :
A1. Yelle Be Bobre feat. Guy One 5:17
A2. Starlet Road Filling Station Romance 3:47
B1. Momaminka feat. Roy X & Lady Red Red 3:50
B2. Sad Nile feat. Hailu Mergia 4:45
B3. Love In Outer Space 3:10
C1. Asembi Ara Amba feat. Y-Bayani 4:17
C2. Race 2:24
C3. Goin' In feat. Afrika Baby Bam 4:22
D1. Dunia Dela Da'a feat. Ana'abugre 4:22
D2. Invisible Joy 3:44
Note : produced by Max Weissenfeldt
Links :
Buy 2LP on juno
The Polyversal Souls : discogs | juno | parisdjs
Philophon Records : official | discogs | facebook | juno | soundcloud | youtube
Press Release :
With their debut "Invisible Joy" the Polyversal Souls are ready to take off. Produced at the Berlin based Ru-Ting Clan Sound Lab by Max Weissenfeldt (Whitefield Bros., Poets of Rhythm), the band invited artists from all around the world to join their musical journey: from N.Y.C. Africa Baby Bam (Jungle Bros.), from Ethopia Hailu Mergia (Walias Band) and from west Africa's beautiful Ghana the music award winning griot Guy One, Ebo Taylor's son Roy X and freedom poet Y-Bayani. The result is a unique piece of global raw soul.
Original post on Paris DJs