The Sure Fire Soul Ensemble – Rise of The East

While we are continually digging out of some sort of frozen precipitation here on the East Coast, it is always a pleasure when a nice warm front comes through to push the temperature up to sweaty conditions. No, we are not speaking of the sudden return of Summer here in February, but of the new 45 from San Diego’s The Sure Fire Soul Ensemble. With their second seven inch out in as many months, (another output on Timeless Takeover plus one on Colemine Records) TSFSE get back to the essence on this “Rise of The East”. It’s a cinematic stroll through SoCal as the lads get smooth and funky in a soundtrack of their own creation. What we dig about TSFSE is that you can picture any of their outputs as a back drop to Hollywood film, the music cresting as the protagonist gets the bad guy’s money, kills bad guy, and drives off into the sunset in their ’68 Jag out in the desert. You dig? Because we do. They continue to stay in their own funky and soulful lane on this track. The flip, “Sunny Santa Ana” is a mellow gold trip: Latin tinged horns and guitar with a tropical flavor, slow riding you out with B-Side fun. It also combines a surf flavor, and reminds us of our early days when Pops used to take us on road trips playing surf music compilations on cassette from sun up to sundown in his ’69 Chevy step side. Perhaps we are just being nostalgic, but if the music elicits these kinds of feelings, you know they are doing something right. In our opinion, after three sevens, the Ensemble is branching out a bit and embracing not just their cinematic soul influences, but the Southern California culture is starting to creep in on their sound as well. We love that, whether it’s Pet Sounds or The Swingin’ Medallions, it’s definitely cool to see the band taking in some of that rich music history, even if it is just a guitar lick here and there. We hear it guys. With a new year, two new singles, and a S/T full length available in April on the horizon, 2015 is starting off pretty well for The Sure Fire Soul Ensemble. Hear the track below.