WEDNESDAY MAY 11, 2016
Boulevards (Captured Tracks)
Jamil Rashad, a/k/a Boulevards, is the embodiment of funk. Taking queues from pioneers such as Prince, Rick James, and Earth Wind & Fire, Boulevards seamlessly delivers cheeky, party-themed jams that range from raw and risqué to soulful on his debut LP Groove!
From an early age, Jamil’s father, a R&B Radio DJ, exposed him to jazz, blues, and R&B. This pushed him to get involved in the city’s local music scene early on in his youth. In his teens, he embraced the punk and metal scene in his hometown of Raleigh, NC; genres that would later go on to influence Rashad’s songwriting by way of their tight technical precision and power. After an art school education and several stints in local bands, Jamil rediscovered and returned to his first true love: funk.
Boulevards evokes a spirit from a time that combined intricate production with a focus on rhythm and getting people back on the dance floor. With Groove!, Boulevards does just that. On tracks like “Patience,” Rashad melds pop with vintage hip-hop elements — think Eddie Murphy meets The Sugarhill Gang — and it just works. “Cold Call” introduces a slow hypnotic groove before a symphony of synths, creating a rhythmic cadence that stays with you even after the party is over. However, to give Groove! merit solely based on nostalgia would be a mistake. Groove! is not just a rework of a classic sound — it is an intelligent collection, an evolution to reign in a new era of funk – heard via the disco pulses on tracks like “Weekend Love” and “Up On Your Love,” nodding to industry giants like Pharrell and Breakbot.
Bringing back producers Roller Girl! and Taste Nasa, who helped craft his critically received self-titled EP. Groove! delivers catchy songwriting, infectious bass lines, and plenty of hooks to keep you grooving until dawn, a clear indicator that there is still room for funk in 2016 – and that room will be occupied by Boulevards.
Jamil Rashad, a/k/a Boulevards, is the embodiment of funk. Taking queues from pioneers such as Prince, Rick James, and Earth Wind & Fire, Boulevards seamlessly delivers cheeky, party-themed jams that range from raw and risqué to soulful on his debut LP Groove!
From an early age, Jamil’s father, a R&B Radio DJ, exposed him to jazz, blues, and R&B. This pushed him to get involved in the city’s local music scene early on in his youth. In his teens, he embraced the punk and metal scene in his hometown of Raleigh, NC; genres that would later go on to influence Rashad’s songwriting by way of their tight technical precision and power. After an art school education and several stints in local bands, Jamil rediscovered and returned to his first true love: funk.
Boulevards evokes a spirit from a time that combined intricate production with a focus on rhythm and getting people back on the dance floor. With Groove!, Boulevards does just that. On tracks like “Patience,” Rashad melds pop with vintage hip-hop elements — think Eddie Murphy meets The Sugarhill Gang — and it just works. “Cold Call” introduces a slow hypnotic groove before a symphony of synths, creating a rhythmic cadence that stays with you even after the party is over. However, to give Groove! merit solely based on nostalgia would be a mistake. Groove! is not just a rework of a classic sound — it is an intelligent collection, an evolution to reign in a new era of funk – heard via the disco pulses on tracks like “Weekend Love” and “Up On Your Love,” nodding to industry giants like Pharrell and Breakbot.
Bringing back producers Roller Girl! and Taste Nasa, who helped craft his critically received self-titled EP. Groove! delivers catchy songwriting, infectious bass lines, and plenty of hooks to keep you grooving until dawn, a clear indicator that there is still room for funk in 2016 – and that room will be occupied by Boulevards.
Fantasy Guys
"After listening the new Fantasy Guys album for the first time, I could only think of one thing: damn I wish I owned a pool. It’s not that I’m not content to be sitting at my desk, headphones on, sorting through my notes and thoughts about the album. It’s just that it occurs to me how this music is perfect for certain contexts. Here is a non-exhaustive list of situations for which the new record is an ideal soundtrack: floating around a pool, swinging in a hammock, driving the A1A with the windows down, smoking weed on the beach, playing Donkey Kong Country, grilling hamburgers. You get the idea. Fantasy Guys’ Inyo Galatea, Maddy Davis, and Mitchell Hardage really just want you to relax and have a good time. Following last year’s Surfin on a Wave of Juice and the follow-up instrumental EP, Dreamin’ of the Sea, On Poppy Island arrives just in time for the summer, and with it they have harnessed the power of sun and Sega. The LP is a shimmering mix of cheeky island pop, R&B-inflected loungers, and chill video game vibes. Across 13 tracks they expertly mesh keyboard beats, sunny guitars, and ethereal falsetto vocals with jazzy flute, funky bass licks, and vibraphone and synth textures. And despite that reverse engineered list of sounds, the result is greater than the sum of its parts; it’s a unique and cohesive record that is quite unlike any other music being made in Atlanta right now. To the uninitiated, it would be easy to dismiss Fantasy Guys as comedy or satire at first listen. With an album cover that looks akin to an SNES title screen, and songs with emoji-culture titles such as “Bae Caught Me Vapin’,” “420 Tho,” and “Aloha BB Girl,” you can practically see the band members winking at you as you consider whether or not to dive in. But there is an earnestness in their meticulous craft. The laid-back vibes and playful accessibility of the music somewhat mask just how precise the album is in its construction — never quite basic, but also never full-on proggy or complicated. That is a fine line to walk, and Fantasy Guys walk it deftly. On Poppy Island is bursting with sun and sand, and manages to showcase a little bit of everything. There’s an intro track. There are pun-y song titles. There are flute solos. There are upbeat songs and slow songs. There are instrumentals that sound like the beach courses in Mario Kart. But the true testament to the album’s utility and creativity is that you really want to listen to it over and over in spite of its mostly subtle cheekiness. Whereas you might hear “Jazz” by Tenacious D, laugh heartily, but never really need to hear it again, with Fantasy Guys you get music that is fun but also has a shelf life. This isn’t the Lonely Island’s “I Just Had Sex” or Weird Al style parody, this is an honest, earnest, fun exercise in genre where the players are genuinely committed to what they’re creating, even if they can’t perform without acknowledging the weed session joke that led to the band’s creation. I asked the group where Poppy Island is and if it’s a real place. Their answer was succinct, and a perfect indicator of exactly what you’re getting into with this record. “Poppy Island is everywhere you want to be,” they tell me. “It is the sweet cosmic Pangaea of each of your happy places.”Fantasy Guys live in the sweet spot, and they want you to come chill with them. On Poppy Island is the soundtrack, and it’s on repeat. Come on in, the water’s fine." -Immersive Atlanta
"After listening the new Fantasy Guys album for the first time, I could only think of one thing: damn I wish I owned a pool. It’s not that I’m not content to be sitting at my desk, headphones on, sorting through my notes and thoughts about the album. It’s just that it occurs to me how this music is perfect for certain contexts. Here is a non-exhaustive list of situations for which the new record is an ideal soundtrack: floating around a pool, swinging in a hammock, driving the A1A with the windows down, smoking weed on the beach, playing Donkey Kong Country, grilling hamburgers. You get the idea. Fantasy Guys’ Inyo Galatea, Maddy Davis, and Mitchell Hardage really just want you to relax and have a good time. Following last year’s Surfin on a Wave of Juice and the follow-up instrumental EP, Dreamin’ of the Sea, On Poppy Island arrives just in time for the summer, and with it they have harnessed the power of sun and Sega. The LP is a shimmering mix of cheeky island pop, R&B-inflected loungers, and chill video game vibes. Across 13 tracks they expertly mesh keyboard beats, sunny guitars, and ethereal falsetto vocals with jazzy flute, funky bass licks, and vibraphone and synth textures. And despite that reverse engineered list of sounds, the result is greater than the sum of its parts; it’s a unique and cohesive record that is quite unlike any other music being made in Atlanta right now. To the uninitiated, it would be easy to dismiss Fantasy Guys as comedy or satire at first listen. With an album cover that looks akin to an SNES title screen, and songs with emoji-culture titles such as “Bae Caught Me Vapin’,” “420 Tho,” and “Aloha BB Girl,” you can practically see the band members winking at you as you consider whether or not to dive in. But there is an earnestness in their meticulous craft. The laid-back vibes and playful accessibility of the music somewhat mask just how precise the album is in its construction — never quite basic, but also never full-on proggy or complicated. That is a fine line to walk, and Fantasy Guys walk it deftly. On Poppy Island is bursting with sun and sand, and manages to showcase a little bit of everything. There’s an intro track. There are pun-y song titles. There are flute solos. There are upbeat songs and slow songs. There are instrumentals that sound like the beach courses in Mario Kart. But the true testament to the album’s utility and creativity is that you really want to listen to it over and over in spite of its mostly subtle cheekiness. Whereas you might hear “Jazz” by Tenacious D, laugh heartily, but never really need to hear it again, with Fantasy Guys you get music that is fun but also has a shelf life. This isn’t the Lonely Island’s “I Just Had Sex” or Weird Al style parody, this is an honest, earnest, fun exercise in genre where the players are genuinely committed to what they’re creating, even if they can’t perform without acknowledging the weed session joke that led to the band’s creation. I asked the group where Poppy Island is and if it’s a real place. Their answer was succinct, and a perfect indicator of exactly what you’re getting into with this record. “Poppy Island is everywhere you want to be,” they tell me. “It is the sweet cosmic Pangaea of each of your happy places.”Fantasy Guys live in the sweet spot, and they want you to come chill with them. On Poppy Island is the soundtrack, and it’s on repeat. Come on in, the water’s fine." -Immersive Atlanta