Blog Archives – Rollo & Grady: Los Angeles Music Blog

September 28th, 2017

Kurt Vile & The Violators :: Box of Rain (feat. J Mascis)

Kurt Vile & The Violators
Album: Day Of the Dead (Buy)
Label: 4AD
Kurt Vile & The Violators – Box of Rain (feat. J Mascis)

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September 23rd, 2017

Rollo & Grady Interview with Charles Bradley (March 3, 2011)

Rollo & Grady Interview with Charles Bradley (March 3, 2011)

HEART OF GOLD

Look up soul in any dictionary: it means “strong positive feeling, as of intense sensitivity and emotional fervor.” Charles Bradley is one of the best soul singers of our generation. His raspy vocals are reminiscent of the voices of Otis Redding, Al Green, and James Brown, whose music he was covering when he was discovered in Brooklyn by Daptone Records’ co-founder, Gabriel Roth. Roth took Bradley to meet Tommy Brenneck, who plays with Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, Budos Band, Menahan Street Band, and runs Dunham Records.

Rollo & Grady Interview with Charles Bradley (March 3, 2011)
Tommy Brenneck

Bradley’s brother had just been shot and killed, and Brenneck encouraged Bradley to open up about his life and put it on tape. Bradley’s life gave him a lot to sing about: fatherless since day one, homeless since 14, cooking in kitchens, reuniting with his family only to get terminally ill, getting better only to lose his brother. “Heartaches and Pain” is the song he wrote about the murder of his brother, and its title describes the whole of Bradley’s debut album, “No Time for Dreaming”, a heartwrenching glimpse of how to get through hard feelings and hard times with only your voice between you and giving up. Again: it’s great soul, and it gives our generation a sense of the greatness of that genre as it was in the ‘50s and ‘60s.