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2011
| BS 191
$6.95

Want More

JC Brooks & the Uptown Sound

LIMITED EDITION LP SOLD OUT!

Features the wonderful re-imagining of Wilco's "I Am Trying To Break Your Heart"

With a sound that calls to mind a meeting of Otis Redding and the Stooges—JC Brooks & the Uptown Sound get crowds twisting and writhing on the floor--a post-punk reimagining of JB’s moves and MG’s grooves.

Full Description

With a sound that calls to mind the melting pot Chicago Uptown neighborhood they’re named for—a meeting of Otis Redding and the Stooges—JC Brooks & the Uptown Sound are ready to bring that energy and sense of place to the whole world.  On Want More, JC Brooks & the Uptown Sound’s first album for Bloodshot, the charismatic Brooks erupts with raw emotion, harnessing the Uptown Sound’s post-punk reimagining of JB’s moves and MG’s grooves to unleash pure and uncompromising soul music.

Ranging from sweaty on-the-one workouts (“I Can See Everything”), dance-punk booty shakers (the title track), garage rock thump humps (“Baaadnews”), the wonderful re-imagining of Wilco's "I Am Trying To Break Your Heart" and aching R&B ballads (“To Love Someone (Who Don’t Love You)”), the band never misses a step.

Check out that smooth keyboard action on "Everything Will Be Fine," a wicked counterpoint to the jumpy rhythm and tear-it-up guitar soloing.  And is that a touch of Philly soul with the tick tight horn section and JCB's falsetto vocals lighting up (pun intended) the, ahem, elevating "I Got High"?  If you can listen to "Sister Ray Charles" without moving, see a doctor; how something so raw can be so smooth is testiment to the hands-off production of Jimmy Sutton (JD MacPherson) and the solid sender musicianship of the Uptown Sound.

JCBUS are not just another throwback group; they came to be during an age of war, envisioning an aggressive dance music with lyrics that dig deeper and hit harder than the usual “baby, baby” fare.

Short Description

  • It’s this ability to go deeper and darker with their words while never losing the groove that sets JC Brooks & the Uptown Sound apart, from their predecessors and their fellow revivalists.

    — Driftwood Magazine

  • Whether or not Brooks and company find the best way to handle life's twists and turns, their words are laced with honesty, as a burgeoning band brings a joyous song to life while singing about the everyday. It's what pop musicians have been doing for decades: singing relatable tunes for people who can hum along when they're not muttering, "Yeah, I've been there.

    — NPR's Song of the Day

  • Frontman Brooks brings genuine heat to his role as sweat-soaked soul shouter, especially on the maximum R&B of “Sister Ray Charles” and the strutting title track, which sounds like the MC5 jamming with Otis Redding’s horn section.

    — Metromix

  • A lively set of gritty old-school soul and funk injected with some raw garage-rock aggression. An energetic blend of tight, funky rhythms, stabbing horns, keyboards and guitars accompanies frontman JC Brooks, whose impressive vocals gracefully glide between grainy shouting and smooth crooning with some spine-tingling falsetto on songs ranging from hedonistic party starters to socially conscious anthems.

    — KEXP

Track List

  • 1. Want More
  • 2. Everything Will Be Fine
  • 3. I Got High
  • 4. I Am Trying To Break Your Heart
  • 5. Don't Lock The Door
  • 6. Baaadnews
  • 7. To Love Someone (That Don't Love You)
  • 8. I Can See Everything
  • 9. Missing Things
  • 10. Sister Ray Charles
  • 11. Awake

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