The Big Hustle Worldwide 2016

Worldwide est le nouvel album du groupe parisien The Big Hustle. Avec un son très marqué funk, ses 11 titres font des incursions dans la soul, le rock, le hip hop… Emmenés par le bassiste Sébastien Levanneur, les musiciens - qu’on a bien envie d’appeler les « hustlers » - sont des aguerris de la scène française. Depuis, plusieurs années, ils travaillent avec des artistes ou des groupes comme Malted Milk, Beat Assailant, Manu Dibango… Ils sont influencés par le funk et le jazz électrique de ces dix dernières années (Lettuce, Soulive, Snarky Puppy, Electro Deluxe). Et ça s’entend !

In 2015, Big Apple Blues released the album ENERGY, which described day in a life of New York City. Boasting entirely original material, ENERGY marked a departure from the well-trodden blues genre towards a fusion of instrumental blues, soul, funk, and rock. Unable to assign the album to a pre-defined genre, the critics labeled it as the “Big Apple Blues Sound.” MANHATTAN ALLEY builds on ENERGY and presents more of the feel-good Big Apple Blues Sound. Like its predecessor, MANHATTAN ALLEY tells its own story, aiming to draw from a well of energy and philosophical, utterly positive reflections on life and creativity. It is inspired by New York City itself - NYC with a nod to Tin Pan Alley - the collection of New York City music publishers and songwriters that dominated popular music in America in the late 19th and early 20th century.

Afrobeat’s rise to common musical currency has been mercurial during the last 5 years as dance music producers embrace more complex Afro rhythms and original West African pioneers like Fela Kuti and Tony Allen receive their dues. Featuring new hip hop from Ty alongside seminal house beats from Masters At Work and ultra-funky original music from Nigeria and Ghana courtesy of Fela Kuti, highlife God E.T. Mensah and more. 2 CD collection of 29 tracks then hits the groove straight away with Aslhley Beadle’s ‘Afrikans On Marz’ mix of Femi Kuti’s ‘Beng Beng Beng’, next up the classic Dennis Ferrer track ‘Funu’ which then leads us to a nicely different track with Tony Allen’sAfrobeat mix of Gigi’s ‘Gudfella’. So many more I could pick out too including DJ Food ‘Dub Lion’ and Orchestre Poly-Rhythmo De Cotonou Benin’s ‘Houe Towe Houn’. Suffice to say this does the job big time.