Music, musings and miscellanea

This review originally appeared at Chartattack.com

You’d think The Dap-Kings would have run out of steam so long ago. Just how far can you go when you purposely chasing a retro sound? But the band and their label, Daptone, have managed to keep things fresh for eight years.

Their latest album with Sharon Jones is no different, still adhering to the old-school funk and soul sound that made the singer famous, yet never coming off as novelty or a rehash of their previous work.

Jones has proven herself to be quite the bombastic singer, and starts things off far more subdued on the mid-tempo “The Game Gets Old” and from there continues to let subtlety rule. Not that holding back is a sign of the group running out of steam; four records in, I Learned The Hard Way finds Jones and the Dap-Kings full of ideas and new ways to approach their sound.

The record ends with the excellent “Mama Don’t Like My Man,” which owes more to doo-wop than funk and soul. It’s just one last curveball on a record that does everything it can to subvert what to expect within a narrow box.

Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings – Mama Don’t Like My Man

“I Learned the Hard Way”