The Crossing

by Menahan Street Band

Overview

After Jay-Z scored a hit with a song that sampled the title track of the Menahan Street Band's debut album, Make the Road by Walking, the band sunk the royalty money into building a studio and toiled for many years on its glowing sophomore effort, The Crossing. The Brooklyn-based instrumental band is comprised of players from some of the bigger names in the soul/funk revival of the late 2000s and beyond, including key figures from the Budos Band, Sharon Jones' Dap-Kings, and Antibalas, not to mention being spearheaded by Dunham Records (a Daptone Records sub-label) founder Thomas Brenneck. The Crossing expands somewhat on the band's debut, with the group plucking inspiration from a wide spectrum of soul and funk subcategories. The breezy springtime shuffle of "Everyday a Dream" draws on subtle hints of psychedelic soul, while darker numbers like "Three Faces" and "Lights Out" re-envision the moody horn arrangements and distant drum sounds of '70s funk and soundtrack composers like David Axelrod. The band also introduces more abstract keyboard sounds on The Crossing, as with the wobbly synth that sits high in the mix on the faux spaghetti Western-flavored "Bullet for the Bagman." Between the newfound electronics and a more heightened use of fuzz-faced guitar tones, the album has a fierceness and darkness that were absent before. A somewhat convoluted influence can also be heard in the band's staggered beats and use of negative space, calling to mind the earliest rudimentary production work of the Wu-Tang Clan's RZA. In a roundabout way, it makes sense that the Menahan Street Band would find as much influence in work that samples obscure '70s funk and soul as they do the original artifacts themselves. Somewhere between the two, the band cultivates a rich collection of emotionally complex instrumental soul, with precise musicianship meeting inspired production and a deeply studied obsession with the often sampled and less often acknowledged obscure geniuses of soul music. ~ Fred Thomas

Product Details

Release Date:	11/13/2012
Label:	Daptone
UPC:	0823134002913

Tracks

1. The Crossing
2. Lights Out
3. Keep Coming Back
4. Three Faces
5. Sleight of Hand
6. Every Day a Dream
7. Seven is the Wind
8. Bullet For the Bagman
9. Driftwood
10. Ivory and Blue
11. Ivory and Blue Reprise

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Menahan Street Band   Primary Artist
Cochemea Gastelum   Flute
Victor Axelrod   Organ
Homer Steinweiss   Drums
Nick Movshon   Bass,Drums
Dave Guy   Trumpet
Leon Michels   Organ,Sax (Tenor)
Thomas Brenneck   Bass,Guitar,Ukulele,Autoharp,Synthesizer,Piano (Electric)
Jared Tankel   Sax (Baritone)
Mike Deller   Piano
The Bushwick Philharmonic   Featured Artist
Bobby Chupete   Congas

Technical Credits

Gabriel Roth   Mixing,Executive Producer
Victor Axelrod   Group Member
Homer Steinweiss   Group Member,Package Design
Nick Movshon   Group Member
Dave Guy   Group Member
Leon Michels   Group Member
Thomas Brenneck   Mixing,Producer,Group Member
Menahan Street Band   Composer
John Carbonella   Package Design
Mike Deller   Group Member
Sugarman   Executive Producer