Release
Hypnotic Brass Ensemble - Heritage (Choice Cuts)
There’s nothing more stirring than a marching band. It’s up there with classical, as far as I’m concerned and whilst more than sixty minutes at one sitting tests even my patience, the soaring heights of a well arranged brass section will win in a battle over a synth meltdown any day of the week. Earlier this year I got to interview the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, a band steeped in tradition by the fact that the father of the seven blood-brothers in the band is Phil Cohran of Sun Ra’s Arkestra and teacher of Earth, Wind and Fire’s brass section. The band has released several EPs which you can get on iTunes and a collection of the best of those songs re-recorded for a formal debut with Honest Jons which no doubt would have already been mentioned in this column some time ago. Featuring heavily on the new Gorillaz album Plastic Beach, the band are due to release a new EP of inspired covers shortly called Heritage with the music site Choice Cuts. A lot of the tracks seem like obvious selections given the power of the original material, matching the soul of this incredible band but it’s not until you hear them that you get hit with a sort of ‘why didn’t I think of that’ moment. Outkast’s Spotiotidopalicious and Fela Kuti’s Water No Get Enemy are the two biggest no-brainers but the ones that will hit you over the head are the versions of Art Of Noise’s Moments In Love and Madvillain’s Rainbows… Truly inspiring!
