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New Release from Spy G featuring Jay Click available Out Now on iTunes ( this ones a bouncing tune )

10/12/11

Our 1st Album Review by Trevor Locke of Arts in Leicester

Excluded has released a first album of songs. The Leicester based organisation provides a mobile recording studio and records and produces music made by people who are excluded from mainstream services: those who are homeless and who might also have drug and alcohol problems or have been in prison.

Making music helps with rehabilitation, Greg Semple told us. Greg set up Excluded when he was a volunteer with Action Homeless and the YMCA. Sound engineer Greg has been homeless himself and knows what it’s like. He has also discovered how music can provide people who are facing problems with an empowering medium.

The first album has 15 tracks and four radio edits and is an amazing collection of musical delights. Several of the artists have recorded songs from their native background; including Angolan music, Irish folk, rap and hip-hop.

Chilla, for example, by JK and Fegredo, has a compelling reggae beat with some really great rhythmic content, trumpet backings and strong rasta feel. Many of the tracks celebrate the musical culture of the artists who made them. Track 4.Muxima by Ney Corte Real and Tony Du Du is sung in Angolan, backed by some really splendid guitar work.

I particularly liked Drowsey Dub by Joshua Dean, with its Irish folk violin parts blended with dub beats; a really exciting fusion of musical idioms, it was an inspirational track. It reminded me of the Afro-Celtic Sound System albums in my small but perfectly formed collection of CDs. You can hear this track on the Excluded web site.

R ‘n B, rap and hip-hop are strongly represented but what comes across is the musical vibrancy and eclectic mix of idioms. I liked some tracks more than others but anyone with a broad taste in music will something on this album to excite them.

Greg Semple’s work with Excluded is remarkable and deserves a wider audience.

Trevor Locke

3rd November