In the Pocket Records 143

The Isley Brothers asked, who’s “That Lady”? The Dust Brothers took us to Paul’s Boutique. And the Coen Brothers made some real good movies.

Straight up, if you tag “Brothers” onto the end of your name, you should do pretty well (would you really ask “The Dusts” to work on your new record?). Producers Jim Greer and Brandon Arnovick, aka The Rondo Brothers, knew this. And they knew how to turn out a funky little masterpiece for Bay Area jammers Vinyl.

Here’s what happened: date unknown, Vinyl hit In the Pocket Studios with none other than Talking Heads/P-Funk alum Bernie Worrell on additional keys. At the end of the session, more than twenty reels of the stuff were condemned to a life on the shelf.

Lucky for us, the Rondo Brothers were tapped to resuscitate the sessions and the resulting Fogshack Music, vol. I, out now on In the Pocket Records, is a fine, fine thing.

The opening “Give and Go” is a percussion-heavy dance floor melter replete with punchy horn lines and Worrell beatin’ the keys like it was Stop Making Sense all over again. “Whatever You Want To” is a spooky, downtempo cut that owes more to Portishead than Tito Puente or Parliament/Funkadelic. “Clickety Clack” tours through Lee Perry territory, dubby horns and all.

In short, grab this disc, and keep your eyes peeled for the Rondo Brothers. The production/reconstruction here is top-notch, and damn creative.