What we have here on Monday morning is a surprise. I came home last week to find this 45 in the mail. It was one of those 45s that flies directly under the radar. When I put the needle on the thing, I jumped backed and kissed myself. This was something I hadn’t expected, even after reading the very interesting, minimal press release. Released on Sympathetic Records out of Brooklyn, The Field Trips make analog, instrumental Soul music you can get high to. You know what? They are right. Whatever your poison, get it ready and have fun playing and flipping this double sider until you can not any more. This is exactly a 45 we love here at Flea Market Funk, low key, relatively unknown, and heavy. Based out of Brooklyn, The Field Trips are Brian Wolfe on drums, Dave “Smoota Smith” on trombone, Chem on sax, JB Flatt on piano, Abdou Mboup and Willian Ruiz on percussion, and Michael Reilly on guitar and bass. Reminiscent of the sounds of El Michel Affair, The Menehan Street Band, and Isaac Hayes compositions, this outfit are the real deal. Inspired by 60’s Soul groups like The Ambassadors and J.C. Davis, their dirty soundscape is captured perfectly on this 7″.

“Shirley” has that late Saturday evening vibe and is partly inspired by the J.C. Davis track “Shelly”. You’ve had a few cocktails, you’re feeling loose, and you just want to get down. I’m not speaking over the top, you just are there, feeling good, getting funky. With an ever so slight Reggae injection midway, this track steers right back into the direction of a certain Dionne Warwick track that Dilla may have sampled. Soulful, simple, but lush sounding, this is how an instrumental Soul track should be done, whether it be 1969 or 2013. “I Like You Lady” is a beautiful Soul gem with haunting horn stabs and soundtrack like qualities inspired by the 60’s productions of Gamble and Huff. This flip side is begging to be included in some sort of movie score, it’s that deep. The drums are crisp and as the tempo picks up ever so slightly and the track goes into some cinematic Soul full bore, before you know it it fades to bongos and it’s over. Proper instrumental track this one. Looking forward to hearing more from these gents in 2014.

Get the track here. This record will also be available at Academy Records here in Brooklyn.

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