About East of Underground

Behind every great unearthed treasure there's always a good story, and this debut release from the newly established Wax Poetics label is no exception. In fact, the story is rather more intriguing than most and even more so once you've listened to the record in its entirety. To listen to the album sans-story what you hear is some absolutely prime quality US funk music, low down, dirty and immaculately performed - yeah they're covers of stone-cold classics (from Curtis Mayfield, Tito Puente, George Clinton and more) but the way they are executed simply needs to be heard to be believed. Then you read that it was recorded back in 1971 by US army servicemen stationed in Germany? You really couldn't make this up, the cd itself has actually been pressed from a single copy of the original LP which was acquired from the US military and I'm sure I'm not the only one who's surprised by this. It's just not the sort of thing you expect to hear, and let me tell you it's well worth hearing, and hearing loud at that. Crate diggers, break archaeologists, rare groove collectors and simply any of you hunting for something a little different should check this record without delay, it's one of the most unexpected gems you'll hear this year.