Frootful’s follow up to 2011’s album of the week at Jazz FM Colours is a a two sided, Latin infused, Soul explosion. This is the first single off of the anticipated September 23rd full length Heavyweight on Freestyle Records. Featuring UK vocalist Mazen Bedwei, “The Road” has Bedwei summoning up the spirit of Curtis Mayfield (he’s worked with The Impressions before) on this track, while guitarist Nick Radford puts just the right touch to this soulful side through out. The flip, “Benedict’s Boogaloo” is a dirty and down home slice of Soul Jazz filled with guitar licks, gritty organ, and some in your face bass that has dance floor shaker written all over it. Bedwei, who was first featured on the Freestyle release “Something’s Gotta Give” on Van Gelder’s Sounds From The Soul Underground shows some great vocal talent, tackling the sweet Soul like a pro. The Soul from Bedwei’s mouth falls into the same sound as a Myron & E release, a powerful, movin’ on up type of effort with all the right ingredients a Soul 45 should have. The sound is late 60’s, timeless and breezy, reminiscent of Windy City Sounds from days gone by. It’s balanced out by the grease filled funky B side. The Isley Brothers had an all woman act called The Sweet Cherries who did their song “Don’t Give It Away” on T-Neck. “Boogaloo” reminds me of it, without the extra long drum break. On a side note, guitarist Nick Radford is a bad ass illustrator who has done much known work, not to mention the art work for Frootful, so fans of clean design (and good music) grab up some of the past releases while you can. These two tracks are a teaser for the full length, Heavyweight which looks to be a winner all around. Grab this 7″, available from Freestyle on September 22nd.

Pre-order the record here.

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