Sun Money
(Kwality)
Elmore's mission is saving American music, and Tondrae Kemp should feel right at home in our pages. Calling two great American music cities home (New Orleans and New York), he offers up ten tracks of modern soul that draw sounds and styles from a variety of eclectic sources, including blues and reggae.
Kemp can sing like Sam Cooke, but with Sun Money, he is far from simply offering up the old school. "Can We Pretend" recalls mellower tracks from Stevie Wonder's Songs in the Key of Life, only to be followed up by the smoldering blues of "Happiness."
The standout track on the disc is "The Hotter the Fire," which blends electronic beats, jazzy chord changes, intense lead guitar and a great vocal. It's the kind of tune that makes you shake your head with the beat, and you just can't help it.
Tondrae Kemp has been turning out good music for over ten years, and Sun Money is the kind of disc that should introduce him to a bigger audience. Well worth a listen.
- Jim Ground
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