RELEASES :::: Various – Tru Thoughts Covers [Album]

Celebrating its 10^th year as an independent label, Bristol’s much beloved Tru Thoughts released a 3-CD “best of” compilation last month showcasing the vast talent they have accumulated over the years. Considering back in 1999 founders Robert Luis and Paul Jonas started the label from an “office” under Luis’ stairs, they have not done too badly for themselves over the last 10 years.

Along the way they discovered great artists such as Bonobo or Chris Clark – who later moved on to bigger labels Ninja Tune and Warp, respectively – and they still play host to the ever-prolific Quantic, in his many shapes and forms, the genre-hopping Nostalgia 77, or Australian super-heavy funk combo The Bamboos.

The reason Tru Thoughts has become a label of guaranteed quality in today’s over-saturated musical world is most definitely down to their will to constantly reject the old saying that the music business is “99% business,  1% music”.

Tru Thoughts love the artists that they sign, and they let them know it by releasing this compilation of crossover covers by Tru Thoughts acts.

The 17 tracks are either B-sides or exclusive tracks from the past 10 years, collected for the first time here. Forget whether you have heard of the Tru Thoughts roster: some of these are simply adventurous, hilarious and downright outstanding covers of songs everyone else has grown tired of by now.

Think you’ve heard the White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army” so much your ears bleed? Think again, douchebag. You ain’t heard it like this. The amazing Alice Russell, backed by Nostalgia 77, delivers a powerful soul version of this rock classic, morphing it into a dark, double-bass heavy beast in its own right.

Quantic and his Combo Barbaro give a steaming afro-cuban rendition of Portishead’s depresso-matic tune “Wandering Star” that’ll give Beth Rowley something to really cry about.

Hot 8 Brass Band turn up the heat some more by giving Marvin Gaye’s “Sexual Healing” a smooth jazz-makeover, putting you in the right mood for lovin’.

The diversity of the label’s acts is always on display: J. Viewz turn Michael Jackson’s “Smooth Criminal” into a trip-hop song, and Jumbonics funk up the Strokes on “Last Nite”.

My personal favourite has to be the most improbable cover of “Put Your Hands Up For Detroit” ever imagined. TM Juke take Fedde le Grand ‘s dancefloor hit to the next level with the sweetest of all grooves on display here, punctuated by  tight horns and sexy saxes.

For all the Tru Thoughts fans, this is an essential addition to the collection, clearly portraying how the label got to where it is today: by signing artists who are not afraid to take risks, break down a pop song, and jazz it the fuck up.

To anybody who has not heard of Tru Thoughts – or worse still, thinks that jazz has been dead a long time – this might be the perfect introduction. An album bursting with creativity and a crash-course in reinvention, things that are at the core of this undying genre.

- greg power

~ by drstika on November 27, 2009.