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Daptone Records, Soul Family n°1

In less than ten years of activity, Daptone, New York independent label, has become the leader of a return to soul and funk: you can even consider it was the major label of the 2000s for African-American popular music, and is still developing.

Beyond the real commercial success of the label, around artists like Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings , Lee Fields, The Budos Band and some others, and his critical reputation The organic sound that is his trademark was an unexpected extension to the general public, producers and artists, Lily Allen Al Green via the rapper Nas, trying to capture their advantage some of the magic potion popularized - in every sense of the term - By Amy Winehouse and producer Mark Ronson.

Daptone's story begins in February 1965, in Charlotte, North Carolina, in the studios of the country music legend Arthur Smith, the day when James Brown recorded it with his band Papa's Got A Brand New Bag, inaugural act of the invention of funk, whose impact is felt throughout the soul scene and beyond, even giving birth, a few generations later, what has been called the "deep funk" mode of revivalist Back to the roots of funk in response to the late 80's, sounding more and more synthetic that may be adopted groups like Cameo.

A source ...
saxophonist and co-founder of Daptone, Neal Sugarman highlights the impact of Brown's music: " There's really nothing comparable to the unique arrangements and muscular grooves that created James Brown and his orchestra. "
Gabriel Roth and Homer Steinwess Binky Griptite confirm any fundamental influence in their personal history, records of Brown. For Binky Griptite, " James Brown's music is like air: it has always been there! I was 6 years old in 1972, so it is not oldies for me, but pop! During my childhood in the ghetto, there were only soul on the radio, and everyone knows that James Brown is the Godfather. "

Daptone's story also begins in the early '90s, when a young student at the University of New York named Gabriel Roth spends most of his free time to listen and listen to the work of James Brown discovered a few years earlier: "I've always liked his music, but I think I've become fanatical about the age of my 16 years. I went to see my sister in New York and a friend made me a tape of Brown's productions, as well as some Tapes of the first records of Meters. I spent the next year with these tapes in my walkman loop. "

Daptone's story also begins in Paris in the late 80s, when Philip Lehman, a collector of rare funk and graffiti artist known as the Bando, founded with a friend Pure Music label to compile some some of his singles. Installed in 1995 in New York, he met Gabriel Roth, and together they founded the label Desco, inaugurated in 1996 by a sublime single from Lee Fields. If history runs short after a few years - and the publication of 16 singles and 6 albums - It allows Gabriel Roth to meet artists who will play a role in the history of Daptone, such as Sharon Jones - discovered as a chorister at a session of Lee Fields - and saxophonist Neal Sugarman.
Philip Lehman, himself, continues his career in the music world by founding the label Soul Fire.

Daptone's story is finally starting in 2002 after a brief and unsatisfying detour on the side of a major label, Sony is with saxophonist Neal Sugarman, author of two albums on Desco with Sugarman Three, Gabriel Roth decided to go back into the adventure of a independent label, it wouthit match a personal fantasy " it is not my chosen career. I always wanted to be math teachers. I started producing records for fun and one thing led to another. In fact, I continue to make records for fun. We've always done it ourselves in order to achieve exactly what we wanted, ironically, this may be my lack of desire to belong to the music industry that has made me the leader of a label. "For
Sugarman is as much the will get involved in the music business as the need explaining his involvement in the birth of Daptone "When Desco ended, I had already recorded the third album Sugarman Three and the first disc of Sharon Jones. No label will allow us to have the same conditions as Desco, so we decided to start our own label. "

Daptone Sound ...
Consistent with the course of its founders, it is a funk-oriented records, signed Sharon Jones, Lee Fields and The Sugarman Three, that Daptone is first noticed. The musical direction soon to be open to other styles, be it the soul, afro-beat and gospel, as Gabriel Roth says: "We just records that we like. There really is no conscious decision to move from one sound to another. Over the years, we looked at different types of discs. In the future, we loved producing a good blues record! "

When asked to define the sound from his studio, House of Soul, which won a Grammy for the album Amy Winehouse, is a spin he replied: "Mad Dog, woof! "And he must therefore look to the label's founder, Neal Sugarman to get a tentative answer is that in three ideas:" Raw, soulful and honest. " Steinwess for Homer, the sound is Daptone " to the old, but so refreshing: the former because it has that classic analog sound hot, but so refreshing because it is a sound we hear more. It takes a good team of musicians, producers, songwriters and engineers to achieve this, and Daptone has . As an engineer
Sound and producer, the goal of Roth, who often acts under his alias Bosco Mann, is simple: "Make a disk that is actually pleasant to listen. "Far
sometimes obsessive fetish of the deep funk scene, and even if he does not neglect the use of equipment" vintage ", it stresses the lack of superiority of analogue material compared to historical contemporary digital techniques: " These are musicians who make music. People attach importance to the equipment. "As the Binky Griptite," sound Daptone's only natural and unadorned. Until something sounds good on record, it has to sound good in the room where we play! We listen to all the classics of the 50s and beyond, so we want our records sound good compared to them! .
concrete method of recording artists varies Roth: "It's always different . I love to record everything live, but often we deal first with the rhythm section, sometimes with horns or singing in another room or even in the same room. Strings and orchestral elements are usually recorded separately, and the chorus. The disc Naomi Shelton and all of those in the Budos Band, were recorded completely live. "
The registration process remains separate from the stage to Roth:" There are many things that work in concert but not in the studio, and vice versa. The tempos tend to be faster, the ensemble has in general more energy, more dynamic and there are more "tricks" such as transitions and the like, the staging. In the studio, on the contrary, we enter a more subtle and have more complex arrangements. "
The tours and concerts, however, play a fundamental role in the life of the label: many European fans whose first contact with music label occurred during a show intense Lee Fields with Sugarman Three or Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, even before his first album to be distributed here. As Neal Sugarman said, " some groups do not rotate, but for Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, the scene is very important: I think the first impression that the show is Sharon Jones leaves marks! "We can also expect to see published one day a DVD devoted to artists from the label, guitarist Binky Griptite working there ... especially

like home ... If
Gabriel Roth refuses to enter into debate with those who describe his work as a retro or nostalgic approach ("I'm just hard), he does not hide his love for vinyl records, he'd much rather the CD or downloading: "I love clutch discs and the idea of a sequence with two faces. The vinyl feel good. Oh and also, ironically, they jump less than CD! I think being able to hold a disc in my hands a lot. And as they say, impossible to roll a joint on an mp3! "
Daptone also gives great importance to the packing of his music, often developed in partnership with designer David Serre. " Some groups participating in the realization of their coverage. We try to ensure that the pouches are consistent with the music and the concept of each album , "says Roth.
Sugarman emphasized that Daptone apart from other labels: "Everything Daptone releases is integrally made at home, since the registration is done on the first floor of our house to the packaging disks is done on the second floor. We are in the line of labels like Stax, Motown, and I do not think any other label has this approach today, "what Gabriel Roth complete stating:" We do not wear pants as often as other labels! "
Beyond musical differences, it is a special atmosphere that characterizes the screw Daptone:" There is clearly a Daptone family, "said Gabriel Roth, like all families, we have brothers and sisters, but also a larger family, with cousins and cousins. Naturally, Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings are a family, as Naomi Shelton, Cliff Driver and team, the Budos Band and his entourage, Charles Bradley (...), Lee Fields ... Antibalas is part of the extended family. There are also people who work for the label and management: Nydia Davila, Mikey Post, Wane Gordon, David Serre, Cathy Bauer, Alex Kadvan Marc Deneree and women, girlfriends and children across the world ... The list is long ! But we really are a united family, we try to pay attention to each other and treat us well. "
Neal Sugarman sees it this way:" Since we are at the base of musicians, we try to be honest with artists and offer them the best contracts possible so that everyone is decently paid. "Homer Steinwess drummer recurring production houses, Sharon Jones Lee Fields, to Amy Winehouse, says:" People listen to their label's artists and respect them in a unique way: I do not the impression of working for a record company, but to be part of a musical family. "We also regularly crosses the same artists, labels on products in neighboring countries such as Truth & Soul, officials from the latest album from Lee Fields," Desco, Soul Fire, Daptone Truth & Soul and today is the same family ... "Asked what he plays now is Myron and E, a group published by the Finnish label Timmion, spirit close to that of Daptone, we also directs Gabriel Roth.

Daptone Planet ...
Access to the Daptone family is wide open, whether beginners or historical artists' We record artists that we like, regardless of their age and experience. I wrote a few songs for Barbara Lynn, but she did not like, and we ended up putting them on the disk Sharon Jones. I would still like to do something with it. We recorded Syl Johnson, Ricky Booby Cailoway and Matos, but nothing has been published. "
The process is identical for some editions, whether of soul, funk and afro-beat, released by the label" should be whether something particularly compelling: not just a disk rare or sought, but something that we think deserves to be heard by more people solely on grounds of musical quality. " It will, however, a little patience to see the arrival of reissues of recordings released under the label Desco, unavailable since the end of the label: " Maybe in a few years. It is too early to start looking back: we're just telling us warm! "As
majors historic soul, whether it's Atlantic, Stax or Motown, Daptone has succeeded in creating a community around the label of fans who regularly follow and buy its spontaneously publications, regardless of the artist concerned. When the studio located in the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn, was robbed in 2008, Gabriel Roth was able to measure the commitment of the public: " The burglary was not so serious: they took a few microphones, a few amps, my guitar, some other stuff ... But the most remarkable was the movement that has attracted support: we have received letters, emails, phone calls from people around the world who wanted to help us. Some people have even loaned or donated equipment. Ultimately, this story has probably made them stronger: we can not stop us! "Unlike
that one might imagine, the success of artists outside the label via the expertise of the team Daptone has not changed much in daily life: "The difference between our artists and those of outside is that we pay our artists to make records while we pay foreign artists to make records. Of course, the album Amy Winehouse has allowed us to get a little more mainstream press. However, I do think that many listeners have made the connection with the Dap-Kings only from his record. "This album of Sharon Jones "100 Days, 100 Nights" is now the biggest commercial success of Daptone, with 150,000 copies sold worldwide. Singles side, it also Jones who won the greatest success, three of her singles (I Just Dropped in to See What condition my condition is in., What If We All Stopped Paying Taxes? And remixed version of How Long by Ticklah do I Have to Wait For You?) among the best sales of the label, alongside more unexpected Make the Road by Walking Menahan Street Band's.
Despite the temptation, the label focuses on a limited number of trips each year: "We prefer out some very good records rather than a large number of disk resources, which seems to be the trap of many labels today, "says Neal Sugarman. Homer Steinwess agrees: "People Daptone records do not leave to earn money, they publish the music they believe in, so they always have good products! "
Fans of Afro-American popular music can only wish them to continue for very long ...