Sharon Jones & The DAP Kings: I Learned The Hard Way

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I don’t know where, how and at what point, bands like Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings came up with the means to create songs with such perfect twists, turns, and patterns that touch on your emotions, almost as if they could read into exactly what your heart’s been hurting on. But with I Learned The Hard Way, Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings show that they know what the f^#* soul is all about, PERIOD.

Sharon Jones The Dap Kings 300x268 Sharon Jones & The DAP Kings: I Learned The Hard Way

After listening to Ms. Jones grab the mic and pour out of her heart and soul, pure honesty from deep within without a hint of shameful pride, you’ll know that she’s been in quite a bit of pain – so much so that in one hurtful song, “If You Call,” she suggest that the doctor cut out her heart, but possibly, leave just a little piece, just in case her baby should decide to call her back.

From the opener, “The Game Gets Old,” to the title track, The Dap Kings orchestrate the quintessential soulful landscape of slow-to-mid tempo grooves, filled with rich horns, flutes, strings, and God-given grace to accompany Sharon’s incredible knowing display of how to belt out crying emotions, without ever sounding pathetic, weak, or sorry for herself.

Things are looking up after all, as she takes a stance from too much pain to bear, on tracks such as “Better Things” and “Window Shopping,” where seemingly liberated, she’s got a new strut. With The Dap Kings still jamming hard and encouraging her on, Ms. Jones can’t front any more – she’s a sucker for love. And by admitting it on, “I’ll Still Be True” and “Without A Heart,” we hear the tearful renditions of pain taking over her entire life, and she’s surely in need of an emergency type of rescue by now. Somebody, please help this woman…Lord have mercy, please! The real soul music.

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DJ Pelau

Marlon Regis aka Mr. Marlon aka DJ Pelau (pronounced “Peh-Laow”) is a multi-talented music stylist/writer that has always lived being surrounded by rich music via life’s travels. Whether in his youthful days on the festive, multicultural streets of his birthplace in Trinidad, or his adopted homes of Atlanta, New York City and now currently Los Angeles, the direction of his music through DJing or producing compilations first aims to connect to the people. With an unwillingness to limit himself to one particular genre or social scene, insisting each must possess some type of soul, style or conscious sense of spirit, you can expect a wide ranging onslaught of tracks from afro-house music, nu jazz, to reggae, afro-beat, brokenbeat, soca and even those hovering hybrids/mash-ups finding their way to solid definition. By trying to first understand how to always set that perfect ambiance through music, over the years his humility to adapt and please fused together with his visionary nature to shape listeners progressively with new music, has translated into his colorful, customized music selections or mixtapes finding a constant rotation at well-established stores, restaurants and hotels such as Prada, 7 For All Mankind, Sean John, Guess?, Runway Boutique, Gonpachi, Westin Resorts, W Hotels and many more…

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