United Disco Organisation - Send The Rain
ATA proudly presents it's first foray into the world of disco with "United Disco Organisation's"Send The Rain/Funky Thing.Over 2 sprawling tracks theytake a musical journey back to the dawn of early disco in New York in the mid-1970s, avoiding the common tropes of more mainstream fare. United Disco Organisation lay a solidly familiar 4-to-the-floor foundation with the rhythm section allowing flute, vibes and vocals to drift over the top offering a reminder of the music's Jazz roots,just as they did back in the day before disco became a production line and mass-marketed music genre that often lost it's individuality.
United Disco Organisationis a collaboration between ATA Records co-founder and multi-instrumentalistNeil Innesand fellow multi-instrumentalistChris Dawkins(Nightmares On Wax, Jimi Tenor, David Holmes), longtime friends and well known faces on the Leeds music scene for over two decades. The project is an ongoing exploration into early disco, that period from 1974-1976 when soul and funk plus a touch of jazz were transforming into a new sound and beat that would very quickly conquer dancefloors across the world. And still does today.
"Send The Rain" has a Hamilton Bohannon meets Disco Dub Band rhythmic vibe with eerie soundtrack style strings, disco soul claps, Herbie Mann-esque flute over the top and chanted vocals. "Funky Thing" is inspired by the legend of jazz-funk/discojazz Roy Ayers, vocally and lyrically but especially instrumentally with the funky vibes solo.
Neil and Chris wrote both tunes and also play bass, guitars, mellotron and keys on all tracks. They have gathered some fine musicians from the ATA Records house band on these releases who play with other label artists includingThe Sorcerers,Abstract OrchestraandWork Money Death. They include Sam Hobbs (drums "Send The Rain"), Joost Hendrickx (drums "Funky Thing"), Richard Ormrod (vibes), Pete Williams (congas - ATA Records co-owner) and Tony Burkill (flute). Vocals are handled by Chris and singer Akin Amusan.
Scheduled to be played on 27th November by Craig Charles on his flagship BBC6 Music show, these 2 tracks have already garnered a great deal of interest including from DJ/Producer Smoove of Smoove & Turrell.
Funky Thing was playlisted on Jazzfm 2 weeks running and moved from c-list to b-list.