For those of you unfamiliar with the Menahan Street Band, it’s comprised of members who are in Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, The Budos Band, Antibales and El Michels Affair. Based out of Bushwick, Brooklyn, musician/producer Thomas Brenneck’s (SJ&TDK, Amy Winehouse, The Budos Band) Menahan Street apartment studio is where all the magic happens. Their initial release on Dunham a Daptone imprint, “Make the Road By Walking”, was a downtempo scorcher. So much that Jay-Z sampled it on his 2007 smash hit “Roc Boys (and the Winner is). However busy the entire band is with other music projects as working musicians are, they’ve come together to release a new record called The Crossing. Set to be released on October 30th on Daptone, the group has a penchant for a raw, hard hitting soundtrack feel to their music. “Lights Out” is another TKO of a single. If the RZA decided to make a futuristic western movie starring Daniel Craig as a cowboy secret agent sent to save the world, I’d imagine this is a track that would be playing as well as being sampled for beats. Hard hitting drums and beautiful horns haunt you for the whole 2 minutes and 35 seconds trip. It’s a fact, you can’t just stop listening, you need to go again. Hit play one or a dozen more times. “Lights Out” is just a a sampler of what’s to come. Look out for the full length in a few weeks.

Keep Diggin’!