CONCH WAX

Sunny Saturday morning in the inner west of Auckland i.e. Mt Albert, Grey Lynn, Ponsonby. Scored me some secondhand and discounted gems. I always imagine I’ll play these ‘out’ in a bar/venue in the future as a proper public DJ (not just a radio player), but it never seems to happen.

I believe this 7″ would be good early on the evening as punters begin to relax. Really liking soundtracky spatials of the Morricone western kind, always susceptible to vibraphonics and surprised if this hasn’t been sampled yet.

The A-side of this James Brown classic is hilarious and moving for its sermon. The B-side shows how moody and meditative the JB’s could be, even though they’re known primarily for more uptempo funk.

I’d been meaning to get Darondo’s album Let My People Go on CD or vinyl for ages. It reaches those parts that Willie Mitchell and the Hi sound carved out. ‘Didn’t I’ is now one of my favourite songs ever. I’m surprised there hasn’t been a reggae version of this.

Always partial to disco with ‘sophisticated’ arrangements of brass, strings, backing vocals, mooginess, and twiddly breaks with guitar solos and Latin percussion. The lyrics are effective in their naivete. Some things never change, even though I rarely experience the ‘nightlife’ any more. Thank you Alicia Bridges.

Thanks to Dustin at Conch Records.