Wrangling The Heard: January

Well, aside from listening to a wealth of Grimes' bizarro pop, Yeo's plaintive Home (still available here kiddos), Battles after their muscular live show and, of course, The Darcys' glacial take on Aja - all of whom have had some AMR love recently. January's soundscape has been filled with a bunch of killer interesting sounds, 'like what?' you say - like this:

The Stepkids - The Stepkids (Stones Throw)

I recently acquired a turntable for Christmas. I know, I know - it's hard to believe a music blogger and potentially snobby writer like myself didn't already possess a record player, or perhaps stomaching the idea that it's a slippery slope before I'm a cynical thirty-something audiophile. Tangent! The point is that The Stepkids' first self-titled release was one of my first purchases, without having previously owned the album on CD and at risk of sounding like I've already joined the hipster brigade, it sounds amazing on wax.
The way I've been recommending it to friends is 'imagine Unknown Mortal Orchestra if instead of drawing on hip-hop and claustrophobic garage, they dug on classic soul and funk?'
Originally session players to the likes of Alicia Keys, Lauryn Hill and 50 Cent (!), the Connecticut threesome employ their falsetto voices and experience as tight players then cut it with a love for jamming on vintage funk, East Coast jazz and old skool R&B. The results are then seeped through a heavy filter of heady, kaleidoscopic production in what the group label 'psychedelic soul.'
It's a fitting way to describe something like Santos and Ken or the blissed-out La La, where chunky Sly and the Family Stone grooves are peppered by droning organs and lilting harps. Elsewhere, Shadows on Behalf has the swagger of a Pharrell Williams cut, but soon descends into a colourful maelstrom of spaced-out pianos and wonky guitars. Even when they play it relatively straight, such as on the classic laidback soul of Legend In My Own Mind, all Stax horns and phased keyboards across girl-group harmnoies - there's a contemporary focus. 'Neo-retro art-funk anyone? Nah man, just put on The Stepkids.'
Shadows On Behalf by The Stepkids
Legend In My Own Mind by Stones Throw Records