The Low End Theory

On this week’s episode of The Low End Theory, Shan & OB chat with multi-instrumentalist Alan Evans. As one of the funkiest in-demand drummers on the jazz-funk circuit, Alan played drums in marching bands throughout high school and graduated to playing in different groups before he came up with the idea for the band Soulive with his brother Neal on Hammond organ and guitarist Eric Krasno rounding out the lineup.

With numerous hits to their name, the group rode the “funk/acid jazz” craze of the 90’s and recorded with vocalists like Ani Defranco, Talib Kweli, Jurrasic 5, DJ Krush and The Roots and opened up for everyone from The Rolling Stones and Common to John Mayer, highlighting how varied their sounds could be.

After signing with Blue Note Records, they had the enviable honour of Fred Wesley (of James Brown fame) coming in to arrange the horns for their first album. Since those days, Alan has been writing music solo under his namesake, has toured with the Greyboy Allstars and also recorded an album as Crushed Velvet & the Velveteers through his own Vintage League Music label.

Alan has just dropped a re-release of his 2005 album, Let It Ride, with bonus material and live tracks and it’s probably the funkiest record you will hear all year. All this and we drop a stack of fresh beats, rhymes and flavours for your ear holes.

Shan & OB chat with Mr Benn (Nice Up! Records) about his long career championing bass, reggae and dancehall music. Since his first 12” release all the way back in 2005 on Leisure Recordings, Mr Benn has been blessing the world with his take on sounds that don’t fit into any one niche but always work on a dance floor. He’s worked with some fairly massive artists over the years, including Blackout JA, Massive Attack’s Daddy G, Tenor Fly, Eva Lazarus, the Ragga Twins and Cutty Ranks and he’s just dropped a brand new pop-infused dancehall single called Strangers (featuring the brilliant vocals of newcomer TIya X An). As always, the boys go deep in conversation about his history and his take on modern reggae and dancehall and they also manage to drop a stack of his material from the beginning all the way to today. Plus, the boys pay homage to Prince Quick Mix, an absolute legend of the scene who recently passed and also have a chat to Sydney’s very own Edseven, who’s just dropped a brand new EP with Megatronic on US label, Turntables On The Hudson. It’s a jam packed show that is not be missed, so don’t say we didn’t warn you.

Shan & OB chat with Lance Ferguson and Kylie Auldist from The Bamboos. As Australia’s undisputed kings of funk & soul –  with numerous albums released since their inception in 2001, countless sold-out world tours, festival headlining, songs on hit international TV shows and backing the likes of Eddie Bo, Syl Johnson, Joe Bataan, Eddie Floyd, Betty Harris and Alice Russell, The Bamboos are the “real deal”.

2021 sees the release of their brand new single, ‘Ride On Time’, a storming uptempo funk cover version of Black Box’s 1989 Italo House smash hit that will leave you with no doubt the band still has the fire to lead us all out onto the dance floor post-Covid. Lance and Kylie also chat to the boys about their upcoming gigs, most importantly playing with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and a half live/half streaming gig at the Corner Hotel in Richmond in 2 weeks. All this and the boys drop exclusive sets of hiphop, funk, soul and broken beats that will get you in the mood for another weekend of mayhem.

When it comes to Afrobeat, it doesn’t get much bigger than Femi & Made Kuti. The son and grandson of Fela Kuti, the man who is synonymous with the genre, decided to mince words with Shan & OB on The Low End Theory this week. In between stories of playing and touring with his father, working as an ambassador with Amnesty International and being a spokesperson for the injustices that have hit the people of his native land, Femi discusses the challenges he has faced in his homeland whilst releasing 11 studio albums and also his seminal work with Dele Sosimi in Positive Force from the mid-1980s. Made Kuti, already a respected leader within the world music scene played every instrument on his new album and his music has been labelled a “modern and progressive freedom manifesto”. Upon listening, you would have no hesitation in saying he is changing Afrobeat before our very ears with the hypnotic grooves he both writes and produces.

Shan & OB chat with these two legends about their new records, Stop The Hate and For(e)word, which were both just dropped as a double album titled, ‘Legacy+’. Both are afrobeat, funk, soul, percussive and fiery political message boards that call out the problems that still exist in their home “town” of Lagos, Nigeria. Both are essential listening and the boys get to the bottom (end) of what these two musical greats are all about. All this and Shan and OB drop exclusive sets of afrobeat, Latin and cumbia vibes for your listening pleasure.

 

This week, we go deep with Keith Sweat, an absolute legend of hiphop, RNB and Nu Jack Swing. As one of the originators, Keith Sweat made a name for himself with his group Jamilah in the 1970’s before striking gold in the mid-80’s with his album, Make It Last Forever, which spawned arguably the first ever Nu Jack Swing hit, ‘I Want Her’. He would go on to release plenty of hits throughout the era before discovering the RNB group Silk, producing their mega-hit ‘Freak Me’. To date, he has released over 13 full-length albums that have all charted with success and he currently hosts the popular RNB radio show/podcast, The Sweat Hotel, getting in big acts, playing great music and staying relevant after 30+ years in the business. Keith chats to us about the highs and lows of the industry as a man who’s seen a lot. All this and we manage a booty call with Australian producer Inkswell and chat about his new album in between a stack of quality funky beats, boogie and hiphop.

Mr Doris & D-Funk give us a world exclusive drop of their new joint with UK rapper MysDiggi. These lads have been dropping bass heavy house, broken beat n dancehall flavored sounds, EP’s n singles for the past 10 years on labels like Upstart, Westway, Defected, Bang!, Ghetto Funk and We Love Records. Their single with 1200 Techniques N’fa Jones, ‘Get Down’, from late 2020 is still destroying whichever dance floors are still out there to destroy.

As usual, Shan & OB go deep into conversation, drop a bag of fresh beats and even manage to make a ‘booty call’ with friend of the show Adam Gibbons (aka Lack of Afro) about his new project. All this and due to popular (or is it unpopular) opinion, the battle of the blends make their 2021 return.

On today’s show, Shan & OB were back with their first interview of the year and had Germany’s finest, Slick Walk, in for a musical showcase. In case you haven’t fully embraced their sound, this duo of Merse (Jazzanova) and Robert Smith (Dusty Donuts) combine a very electronic twist to bass-driven, sample-based hip hop and layer it with mad turntablist skills. They’ve released two highly respected albums, have a couple of “must have” 45’s they’ve dropped on labels like Oonops and Resense and have dropped a number of singles that are very much on the “neo-soul” tip mixed with shades of J Dilla…plus a few phat Oktoberfest knee stompers thrown in just to mess with you. As always, we go deep into conversation and chat about life on the other side of the iron curtain during the Cold War, DMC battles, scratch records, jazz and dropping 45’s. All this and we spin some jams from Jorun Bombay, George Duke, DJ Shadow, Kapote, Marshall Jefferson and heaps more.

This week we pay homage to a true legend of the deep house and broken beat scene, Phil Asher, who passed away last week way too early. You may know Phil as a stalwart of the London club scene since the early ’90s who was revered for his wide-ranging taste in house, funk, jazz and plenty more. He was also behind countless remix and production credits over the years under names such as Phlash and Demonstration and his work as Restless Soul with Luke McCarty is straight-up timeless.

We celebrate the work of a true dance genius by digging deep into the crates and revisiting his earliest productions right through to some of our most favourite recent releases.

Shan & OB are back for a new season of The Low End Theory. We’ve got some pretty huge interviews coming up, but for our first week back together we decided to just play some jams we’re feeling and also play special tribute to the legendary Duke Bootee, who most people know from his groundbreaking production work on The Message from Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five. He was also behind numerous other hits and they all get a spin during a special mega-mix on the show today, plus a stack of brand new releases that we think you’ll love.

It’s all about giving thanks and looking back on what made the show this year, as we go back in time to feature the tracks and guests we either had on the show or played on the show in 2020 for possibly our most banging episode to date. We also manage to mega-mix our favourite songs strictly released over the past 8 months from the likes of Run The Jewels, Lexsoul Dancemachine, Andy Cooper, Monkey Marc, J-Felix, Smoove and Turrell, Flevans, Jorun Bombay, Kylie Auldist, Choi Productions, Phenomenal Handclap Band, The Allergies, Professor Daddy-O, The Haggis Horns and many more.

Seriously, this show has been one of the bright spots of an interesting musical year (for us), so if you love your bass, hiphop, reggae, dancehall, disco, soul, funk, house and beats of the upbeat variety then this one will definitely be your soundtrack (especially for any NYE parties being thrown in 2020 or in the future).

Shan & OB