Saturday, September 19, 2009

Some New Motown Soul Sounds

I just watched a video clip from Music Fest NW (MFNW) -- another big Portland festival which I’m too lame (or old) to actually do. The huge list of performers and venues is just too damned overwhelming, especially when combined with the prospect of big crowds. Anyway, at the end of said clip was a snippet of Mayer Hawthorne, a geeky-looking, young white guy from Ann Arbor, MI. I liked the tiny bit I saw on the video so headed over the YouTube to see what I could find.

Mayer Hawthorne reportedly started out as a hip-hop aficionado and DJ before developing a neo-soul sound straight out of Motown. He writes and performs songs that sound like they’re right out of the 1960’s. I like it. Here's a fun video of his song, "Maybe So, Maybe No."



And here is the official video for "Just Ain’t Gonna Work Out."



Also, the founder of Mayer Hawthorne's label, Stones Throw Records, goes by the moniker "Peanut Butter Wolf." You gotta like that.

3 comments:

Stephen said...

I love this old style Motown stuff... thanks for bringing this to me. I felt too damn old & overwhelmed for the festival also. Oh, the kids & their crazy music!

What is with skinny little white people who sound like world weary black folk? Duffy? Joss Stone? Jamie Lidell?

Nice to see a post on here.

MightyToyCannon said...

The crazy music indeed! Here's the Oregonian's review of Mayer Hawthorne's performance at Jimmy Mak's. Sounds like fun.

Mead said...

All right, I realize you're busy and a lot's going on this season and it's hard to post with any regularity. But have you stopped for one minute to give a thought to how this dilatory posting impacts ... ME?? Please toss a bone to he-who- must-be-entertained.