The London Souls and Con Brio

'Split 7"'

Blues | R&B | Funk | Alternative Soul | Soul | Rock

Unsigned
2017

Music

garage-blues duo the london souls funk it up with con brio for ‘split 7″‘

August 14, 2017
125 Picks

One of my favorite things in all of music is when bands from totally different ends of the musical spectrum team up to show some mutual appreciation. Sometimes this can have disastrous results (sigh, Lulu), but when it works, it’s just fucking fantastic. That’s how you end up with a split 7” featuring the vintage garage blues of The London Souls and the funk and R&B of Con Brio.

Their two contributions don’t carry a common theme, and the 7” mostly stems from London Souls’ Chris St. Hilaire and Con Brio’s bassist Jonathan Kirchner having grown up together. But the two tracks both kill in their own ways. And both owe an uncertain debt to the music coming out of Memphis in the late 50’s and early 60’s. The London Soul’s “Certain Appeal” is a stripped down shuffle with a boogie-woogie piano taking on a world oversaturated with constant advertising and reality TV. Con Brio’s “All Over Me” is a little more next-wave but those horn licks sound straight out of that Stax records dirty R&B. Either side of the 7” is going to get your blood pumping. And look, I make it a policy not to trust anyone who only likes one kind of music. So the only question is: which side do you spin first?

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