6. MoodymannPicture This
I was quite a late-comer to Moodyman’s music. I didn’t really hear it when it was new to other people. Joe recommended Mahogany Brown to me. When I was in Germany on tour I brought a white label that had the track ‘Pray 4 Love’ on it that’s on the Picture This album. I just fell in love with the sound – the Fender Rhodes and that kind of swung, half-time rhythm that is quite slow to this sort of disco groove, and it keeps going back and forth between those two rhythms, and being quite natural in the way that it does it. It suggests that it’s going to explode into something, and then it just drops down into half-speed. It’s a very teasing record in the same way that ‘Shades Of Jae’ by him was. He really understands the dancefloor, and a record that replicates sexual build-up. It’s a very sensual and playful record. That in itself is a bit like Prince, but it’s all sample-based stuff, and then the vocals as far as I can tell.
Sometimes I’m playing in clubs where the expectation is that you’ll just play very digital and harsh, abrasive music. I don’t really like being known as an electronic artist because I don’t think of myself like that. I like everything, predominantly soul music and music that is soulful, rather than just from the soul genre. Moodymann’s inspiring because of his approach to production, and he’s very inventive.
