Those of your who regularly peruse the aisles of London’s Sounds of the Universe might recognise Neal Birnie as the shop’s 45s expert. If you’re less acquainted, Neal also channels the knowledge collected through his day job into DJing as Everything is Everything and has recently released a superb mix CD that brings together a host of brilliant classic and under-the radar, funk, jazz-funk disco and Brazilian tracks.
Birnie describes Suncut as “a mixture of some of his all-time favourite soul records that I’ve picked up over the years” and suitably gives Gil Scott Heron the task of imparting some introductory wisdom: “if you enjoy yourself, other people will too”. From this point, we are taken through a selection of of ultra-rare 70’s American summery soul jams, many of which you might recognise from recent 45s mixes from Floating Points and Mr Scruff. Each one represents soul music at its most stripped back, beautifully arranged and jam-packed full of raw emotion.
Around half way, Spade Brigade’s ‘I’m Your Man’ darkens the mood a touch, with some lo-fi and incredibly rhythmic jazz funk, bordering on the more psychedelic side of soul music. Out of this beautiful chaos of huge baselines and flourishes of animated sax and trumpet, comes the peak of the mix, Joyce’s exquisite Brazilian classic ‘Aldeia De Ogum’, which effortlessly transports you to the sandy beaches of sunny Rio de Janeiro. For fans of Gilles Peterson, Mr Scruff and Floating Points looking for something new to wrap your ears around, Everything is Everything and Suncut will be just the remedy.
Everything is Everything – Suncut is now sold out and SOTU, but still available on Discogs. Catch the Suncut show on NTS Radio, bi-weekly on a Monday (8-9pm).
