{"id":24201,"date":"2022-11-21T05:30:53","date_gmt":"2022-11-21T10:30:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=24201"},"modified":"2025-10-17T09:40:54","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T13:40:54","slug":"album-review-the-new-mastersounds-the-deplar-effect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2022\/11\/21\/album-review-the-new-mastersounds-the-deplar-effect\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Review: The New Mastersounds — The Deplar Effect"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"For more than two decades now, The New Mastersounds have been creating and refining their winning brand of fusion\/funk\/what-have-you. Right out of the gate, the result of their creative endeavors was impressive indeed. Their debut long-player, Keb Darge<\/a> Presents The New Mastersounds<\/i> (re-released on vinyl in 2021 and reviewed here<\/a>) was a solid offering, but with the benefit of hindsight, it didn\u2019t represent a full display of the group\u2019s musical riches. Yet it certainly hinted in that direction.<\/p>\n

Subsequent albums got it right, though, and all are essential. Of particular interest is a 2006 release, Live at La Cova<\/i>; it captures the group onstage. As consistently superb as their studio work is, it\u2019s in front of an audience, in real-time, where the quartet truly shines. For that reason, I named Live at La Cova<\/i> one of 2006\u2019s best releases<\/a>, right alongside albums from Flaming Lips and The Residents.<\/p>\n

In 2011, the group \u2013 which had been primarily instrumental to that point \u2013 released Breaks from the Borde<\/i><\/a>r, an album that featured all four members on vocals. Kudos were due not only for that boundary-pushing approach, but also for the quality of the record itself. For while The New Mastersounds had often backed other vocalists (like Corinne Bailey Rae) and\/or featured guest singers, taking on the vocals themselves was a gutsy move for a group that built its reputation as an instro outfit.<\/p>\n

Therapy<\/i><\/a> from 2014 saw The New Mastersounds sprinkling some trip-hop textures into the mix, with pleasing results. 2015\u2019s Made for Pleasure<\/i><\/a> added brass, another expansion of the band\u2019s musical vision, and another one that made sense. The record also continued on with the guest-vocal approach. In 2016 the band released a limited-edition vinyl-only set, The Nashville Session<\/i><\/a>; it saw The New Mastersounds returning to their instrumental roots; this live-in-the-studio collection is a thrilling, spirited must-hear.<\/p>\n

Seemingly never content to do the same thing twice in a row, for 2019\u2019s Shake It<\/i><\/a> saw the group adding vocalist Lamar Williams Jr. to the group (as opposed to guesting). At the time I considered the album The New Mastersounds\u2019 most effective integration of a singer into its sound.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s no longer the case. With the release of The Deplar Effect<\/i>, The New Mastersounds have once again done the unlikely: they\u2019ve successfully tinkered with their character while staying on a consistent musical path. Indeed, they\u2019re having it both ways here. Williams assertively takes the vocal on six of the album\u2019s 13 tunes. And he fits in so well that first-time listeners might well assume he\u2019s been with the group since Day One.<\/p>\n

The tasteful, tasty and thrilling interplay between Eddie Roberts\u2019 sinewy guitar licks, Joe Tatton\u2019s soulful C3 work and the peerless groove of rhythm section of Pete Shand (bass) and drummer Simon Allen is a highlight of every single track on The Deplar Effect<\/em>. The groove is there, the accessible melodies are at the core, and the blazing simpatico of four musicians at the top of their collective game shines through from start to finish. And when Williams takes the mic, the excitement soars to yet another level; imagine a cross between Seal, Stax and the best Northern Soul you\u2019ve ever experienced.<\/p>\n

True, Williams does sing \u201cEverything I do or say \/ is only gonna get in my way.\u201d But the truth is that everything The New Mastersounds do makes them an even better group, and each successive release achieves the near-impossible: it improves upon what has come before.<\/p>\n

If The Deplar Effect<\/i> \u2013 recorded in Iceland, of all places \u2013 wasn\u2019t already a must-have, it\u2019s even better thanks to the band\u2019s commitment to releasing it as a both a CD and a fantastic vinyl double-LP. As wowed as I\u2019ve been by most everything from this band, The Deplar Effect<\/i> is peak New Mastersounds. It\u2019s no overstatement to call their (I think) 17th<\/sup> album their best yet.<\/p>\n

NOTE:<\/strong> If you\u2019ve read this far, you may also enjoy my interviews with The New Mastersounds from 2010<\/a>, 2016<\/a> and yet a second time in 2016<\/a>, as well as reviews of guitarist\/producer Eddie Roberts\u2019 splendid solo album It\u2019s About Time<\/i><\/a> (2013) and his 2021 supergroup turn with WRD, The Hit<\/i><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For more than two decades now, The New Mastersounds have been creating and refining their winning brand of fusion\/funk\/what-have-you. Right out of the gate, the result of their creative endeavors […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24202,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[31,32,40,42,49,65,69,73],"tags":[1574,2171],"class_list":["post-24201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-funk","category-fusion","category-instrumental","category-jazz","category-new-release","category-review","category-soul","category-vinyl","tag-new-mastersounds","tag-the-new-mastersounds","cat-31-id","cat-32-id","cat-40-id","cat-42-id","cat-49-id","cat-65-id","cat-69-id","cat-73-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24201"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24201\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30170,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24201\/revisions\/30170"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24202"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}