About a year ago, Duff McDonald—a writer for the New Yorker, Fortune, Vanity Fair, et al—began kicking Numero’s tires for a piece about how in an industry in record decline, we were beating the odds and succeeding. Earlier this week, the article hit newsstands and mailboxes, nestled in-between NASDAQ indexed corporations in Bloomberg Business Week. You can read the full text here, or check the spot on info graphic below for our “recipe” for success:
About the photo. The whip-smart Daniel Shea was sent over to our office to shoot to the madness. He went well over his three hour budget, but we hardly noticed as we were too busy recreating the cover to Minor Threat’s “Salad Days” 7″:
Filed under: Brotherman, Home Schooled, Numero Press, Press Archives, Soul Messages from Dimona
When Ken Shipley called me last Spring and asked, “What are you doing right now?”, I told him the truth. I was in my hometown of Winston-Salem, NC, and I was on my way to purchase Krispy Kreme donuts, alone. It was 1 pm on what is popularly considered “a work day.” Little did I know he was about to offer me a job at the Numero Group, the only drawback to which has been the relative scarcity of Krispy Kreme donuts. I’ve managed to adapt.
Having written about so many Numero releases during my time at Wax Poetics, I was surprised to learn upon my arrival in Chicago that these same titles, those that I had spilt so much honest ink over, were just okay sellers. And while Kid Soul seems a consistent draw, Soul Messages from Dimona and Brotherman seem to have plateaued somewhere in the fiftieth percentile. Soul Messages chronicles the origins of my absolute favorite international vegan soul food franchise, and Brotherman is a thoughtful collection of sophisticated scratch tracks for a Blaxploitation flick unrealized. What else needs to be said? So while I look forward to researching, developing, and catapulting many new Numero titles into the marketplace, I felt compelled to post a few of these articles—to reintroduce myself to all of the label’s fantastic supporters, and reintroduce these fantastic records to folks who may have passed them over in the past. They’re very good records. But don’t take my word for it [cue Reading Rainbow sound bite]!
The Numero crew is headed to Los Angeles; we figure since we’ll be out there for the Grammy’s anyhow we might as well make a party out of it.
Follow them from the back streets of Chicago to the slick neon lights of the big time (our 2010 Syl Johnson Complete Mythology box set is up for historical album and liner notes.)
The Numero founders will be heading into town early to present a screening of Stony Island over at Cinefamily. Director Andrew Davis and co-star Susanna Hoffs (of the Bangles) will host a Q&A and Numero DJs will spin tracks before and after the screening. Limited tickets may still be available, but they’ll definitely go fast.
And for his part of the Grammy’s run up, Syl is playing a sold out show at the Echo, backed by the Breakestra on Saturday February 11th.
Our main man Syl Johnson is busier than ever and the press are trying to keep up. Check out this great piece on Syl in the Los Angeles Times as well as the in depth podcast about Syl and his musical legacy over at Soul Sides.
This is more of a personal exercise, as any one reading this spot has likely already bought Boddie Recording Co. That said, the unprint media seems to like our most recent opus, and since we like to brag, we will.
“There is a certain optimism and spirit of hard work in these recordings that makes them an exciting body of work to listen to all at once.”
“This sort of dedication to source materials is something of a Numero standard, but in this particular case it still has the power to astound. Echoing the ethos of Boddie’s original venture, this thing is a labor of love and it shows in every aspect.”
“The only problem with all of this outpouring of archival largesse from The Numero Group is that they keep setting the bar higher and higher.”
“This package is as memorable for the unbridled works of genius it brings to light as for the sheer oddities, eccentricities and impressive flops.”
If you were not in the greater Durham area or near your computer on Friday evening, here’s a link to download the set we did on WXDU:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/ibbv45
Nate and Dave were great hosts, and more or less gave us complete run of the station, including bending the playlist a little bit to include our March theme song. Find it in the play list below:
http://www.wxdu.org/plmanager/world/printplaylist.php?show_id=20711
Filed under: Eccentric Soul Revue, Numero Press, Subscription, Syl Johnson, Uncategorized | Tags: Boddie, durham, horizon, NPR, press, revue, WFMU
As the Numero van traverses east into the Carolinas today before stopping for an eventful night at Horizon Records in Greenville S.C., we have been holding down the fort over here shipping out the last of the 2011 Vinyl Subscriptions and pre-orders. 2012 Subscriptions are now available at our web store and will remain up for the next few months while the 2011.5 Part 2 Vinyl Subscription will be up until the end of the day tomorrow. In preparation of Numero’s march into Durham there has been a tidal-wave of pro-numero propaganda that has swept through the Triangle, check it out below.
Independent Weekly Cover Feature
Duke Performances Syl Interview
Also if you’re not convinced to buy the Boddie box set make sure to check out today’s NPR Morning Edition with Tony Cox at 1:30 EST today with Louise Boddie and Numero Archivist Dante Carfagna, who are going be chatting about the history and music of the Boddie Recording Company. Don’t Sleep.
Speaking about public radio, check out this clip from two nights ago on WFMU’s The Best Show with Tom Scharpling where he gets an unexpected caller. Note – this is not some kid with a Syl Johnson Soundboard, it’s the man himself. Listen below.
Filed under: Boddie, Methodology, Numero Press | Tags: Cleveland, Eccentric Soul, Penny North
We got a super hit this week in the Chicago Reader, via Miles Raymer, on our Boddie Recording Company: Cleveland Ohio set. It’s about time Penny North made the cover of a music mag.
Filed under: Newsworthy, Numero Press, Syl Johnson, Twinight | Tags: Fresh Air, NPR, Syl Johnson
Once again, ex-pat homie and NPR correspondent Ed Ward does us a solid and shed’s some light on the man himself, Syl Johnson, for NPR’s Fresh Air today. Clocking in at a little over 8 1/2 minutes, Ward traces Johnson’s musical career from his beginnings in Mississippi and Chicago to his recent success becoming one of hip-hop’s most sampled artists.Take a breather here.
Filed under: Methodology, Numero Press | Tags: Andy Noble, Kings Go Forth, Recording Tap
It is officially a slow news week, but there was a small thrill in hearing a song from our Milwaukee friends’ in Kings Go Forth on NPR this morning. Greg Kot and Dero discussed how their excellent debut has been sadly overlooked and urged listeners to give their recordings and stage show some much needed love. We couldn’t agree more. There was also a nod to Andy Noble’s soul collecting and an off-the-cuff name-drop that we appreciated:
He’s kind of in that same pocket as the Numero Group in Chicago, digging up these obscure 45s from the ’60s and ’70s and highlighting the quality of that music.
Although I don’t think the Sound Opinions folks were aware, the often overlooked Numero release Don’t Stop: Recording Tap was done with Andy Noble’s help.
Filed under: Lists, Numero Press, Pisces, Playlists | Tags: Linda Bruner, Mojo, Noel Gallagher, Oasis, Pisces, Psych, Rockford
