Want to hear what a difference 10 years makes? Well you’re not going to hear it here. The reason they’re calling this limited 7†a double A-side is because both tunes are so different, equally amazing in different ways. On side A you’ve got the raw hyper funk of Eel Oil imbued with grit and energy, and on side AA the lackadaisical soul of their take on James Blake’ electronic torch song Wilhelm Scream, complete with Hammond, strings and horns, not to mention Megan Washington on vocals.
If anything Wilhelm Scream betrays its recency via its greater complexity, a desire to move beyond the blind worship of the groove into classier orchestration. It’s still reverential, a soul diva helmed slow burner from the mid 70′, yet it’s crescendos build subtly, the work of a band who know exactly where they are going.
It’s not the first time that the Bamboos and indeed Washington have covered a contemporary song, cloaking it with dust and funk. Their version of King of The Rodeo sounds like the original tune that Kings of Leon covered, not vice versa. And when you’re in the occasional cover version business there can be no greater compliment – particularly when you’re dragging it into another genre. The same could be said about Wilhelm Scream. Washington is close mic’d but approaches it, particularly initially a little more detached than Blake, more confessional than earnestly heartfelt and with The Bamboos funky soul in the background it’s impossible not to be swept up into their world.
Eel Oil is a 10 year old long since unavailable slab of raw instrumental old school funk from their first ever single and it’s the incredibly tight sound of a 4-piece Hammond/ guitar funk band wigging out on the groove. The recipe is simple but the energy is palpable and hearing this tune it’s not difficult to understand how ten years later, with four more members they’ve continued to evolve and still make vital backward looking forward thinking music.
It’s a bold move, celebrating your 10 years of existence with one of your first tunes butted up against one of your most recent. Yet it works because despite their retro affinity the band have continued to evolve, and though they’re not departing too far from the 70′ it’s a period that was the golden age of funk and soul, and it’s all theirs to mine.
Bob Baker Fish
