5 Songs About: Unlikely cover versions

'Woo Hah!! Got You All In Check' by Setenta
Let's start off with one that will grab you right off the bat... this worlds apart contrast pits Busta Rhymes and his debut single with the imagination of The Latin Soul Band from Paris.  You may have to pinch yourself while listening to this - infinite points for creativity on this one...

'Smells Like Teen Spirit' by Robert Glasper Experiment
Taken from the first album that fell under the 'Robert Glasper Experiment' moniker ('Black Radio'), this track sees the group's saxophonist and vocoderist, Casey Benjamin, take centre-stage with a little help from the equally always awesome Lalah Hathaway on backing vocals.  This track is one of the gems in an already 5-star album...

'Girls Just Want To Have Fun' by Gizmo
The brilliant and bold talents of bassist/vocalist/producer Gizmo are on full display here with his complete re-imagining of Cyndi Lauper's 'Girls Just Want To Have Fun' which you can pick up from his EP 'The Middle'...



'C.R.E.A.M.' by El Michels Affair
Truth & Soul's El Michels Affair deliver an excellent presentation of this Wu Tang classic on their album dedicated to the seminal release by the Wu Tang Clan ('Enter The 36 Chambers')...

'Lose Yourself' by Kellylee Evans
Another take on a hip-hop classic, this time by soul/jazz vocalist, Kellylee Evans, as she tackles Eminem's '8 Mile' theme, 'Lose Yourself'.  Wholeheartedly recommend Evans' album 'I Remember When' which sees her also tackling John Legend's 'Ordinary People'...

'Afrokraut' by David Nesselhauf [Review]

If you consider yourself a fan of musical creativity and gravitate to artists offering you that little something distinctive and unique, then hopefully the recent efforts of David Nesselhauf won't be wasted on you.

As far as musical creativity goes, it's fair to say that Nesselhauf's new album, 'Afrokraut', ranks up amongst the most distinctive thing we've heard in quite some time.

Before we get to the album itself, if the phrase 'krautrock' is new to you then some background would probably help in this situation... Krautrock is a term used to describe a short-lived genre of music that thrived in Germany in the late-1960s: the music drew from a variety of genres including psychedlic rock, avant-garde electronic music, funk, jazz and world music styles, and was popularised by bands like Faust and Tangerine Dream.  So fast-forward to a little over some forty years and David Nesselhauf's inspiring efforts to revisit and build on an experimental fusion of African music and German rock.

The producer, composer and multi-instrumentalist delivers thirteen tracks through Legere Recordings that push the boundaries of what you thought contemporary funk could deliver: Kinga Lizz and Kabul Atassi appear on the album stealer 'Open Up!' but highlights slso come in many of the songs including the album's first single, 'Come Along Bintang Bolong' featuring Amadou Bah on vocals.

It's exciting that 'Afrokraut' could birth like-minded projects from Nesselhauf or even other artists that are inspired by the music here.  Either way, there's a truly exciting project to be heard here and worthy of your time.