Daptone Gold – Various Artists

Words by Audra Tracy

Funk music is universally badass – and you should treat it with respect! You should shun it from your iPod and listen to it on sweet crispy vinyl, the way our forefathers intended. So drop the needle on Daptone Gold, ‘four solid sides of soul’ featuring Sharon Jones, Antibalas, and The Budos Band, and let the silky smooth sounds butter up your brain.

There are tons of jam-bands playing funk music these days, but Brooklyn-based Daptone Records is the real deal – they strive to capture that old school tone by recording on vintage analog equipment – and it shows. In an industry flooded with Pro-Tools and digital masking, Daptone continues to crank out music that’s truly organic. This compilation features real musicians! And real singers! What a concept!

The eleven piece Budos Band bring a huge brass sound ‘Up From the South’, while Binky Griptite with the Sugarman Three get frisky for ‘A Lover Like Me’. Best known as Amy Winehouse’s backing band for Back to Black, The Dap Kings are all over this release, from groovin’ with Sharon Jones to jammin’ on the raucous instrumental ‘Nervous Like Me’. Jones can really belt on ‘Make it Good to Me’, but her playful duet with Lee Fields on ‘Stranded in Your Love’ is simply adorable.

Daptone Gold is the best argument for new vinyl that I’ve heard in a while. So pick one up, because as Dap King and producer Gabriel Roth points out, ‘you can’t roll a joint on an mp3’.