Through Flea Market Funk’s existence, I have made many contacts and also many friends throughout he world. It’s amazing to see what big things people are doing that never get any shine or praise, or even get discovered. There are talented musicians, DJs, and producers doing big tings that the public never gets exposed to, but needs to hear. Earlier this year, the Parisian Funk and Soul band Soul Sugar was featured here on Flea Market Funk. Since then, band leader Guillaume Metenier and I have been corresponding frequently on music, records, and of course Soul Sugar. When he asked me quite a while ago what I thought about a demo track the band had recorded (possibly to press to vinyl), I was honored. The track was his reinterpretation and a tribute to the great Augustus Pablo and his classic “East of the River Nile” record. G explained to me that he loved the record as a teenager and it was stolen from him around that time. Since I also had a copy of the record framed in my studio, I must love Pablo. He was right on both accounts. A cover of this song is a big pair of shoes to fill, but if anyone could pull out a quality interpretation of the tune, it was Soul Sugar.

Here we are almost a year later and Soul Sugar All Stars has put this massive tribute record out on his Gee label imprint. With hard hitting drums, G’s spacey organ and melodica (not to mention bass, piano and string ensemble duties), he’s joined by the guitar of Thomas Naim and Yvo Abadi on drums to do this Dub classic in style. Reinterpreting this classic from Pablo is a tough job, but Soul Sugar hold their ground and prove they have more in them than just Funk and Soul: there’s Reggae inside them as well. The A side is killer, but the B side, the version is as G puts it ” a heavy dub mix guaranteed to take you higher. He is right. The Dub version smokes it, and takes zero prisoners along the way. Injecting some Funk into this side’s veins (think Upsetters “Popcorn” style vibe), the B side will get you moving like Horsemouth in the Takeover scene from Rockers. I and I will control the music to the fullest. This record will be out on November 18th on Gee Records. Keep rockin’ nonstop with this one.

Pre-order here.

Keep Diggin’!