D'Angelo
Voodoo (Virgin/Cheeba Sound)
Joe Enright--drummer, mixer and producer with jazz-soul trio Sugar Bomb--told us about his love for a D'Angelo gem...
Joe Enright: Asking for a favorite album is an impossible question to answer, but what helps me to narrow it down is to consider what has been a favorite for the longest time. An album that, through all the changes of life and taste, continues to sink deeper and deeper into my heart.
For me, that would be D’Angelo’s Voodoo, an album that has heavily impacted every aspect of the way I make music, from my playing to my mixing, the way I tune the drums, the way I write, the way I conceptualize what music is and what it means, spiritually, to make music.
This album absolutely cooks, harder than most, because in each song, the groove and movement are there and stay there. Despite being chill, it’s also intense. The intensity comes from the loop, the perpetuation of the vibe. A huge takeaway from this album is the reminder that you can groove and let it be. As a result, the incredible and luscious vocals, with deep and moving lyrics, have this very intense but quite relaxed thing to sit on and tell their story.
Questlove’s drumming is deeply ingrained in the way I play, and I believe listening to this album for years was essential in the development of my pocket. I started listening to this album when I was 19, and I don’t think I really had “pocket” until I was maybe 22. The choices I make — how I touch the cymbals, how I tune the snare, how I like my kick to be short with a nice punch, plenty of midrange “knock” and character — all come from here.
As for the mix, my god. First of all, I love a low-end heavy, moderately dynamic mix. Second, I love a dry mix — everything being so close and intimate. I’m standing right in front of the drums and the bass, a Wurlitzer to my left and a guitar amp to my right. People snapping their fingers right in my ears. Twenty D’Angelos singing to me, haha!
Thirdly, I’m obsessed with distortion, and I love to mix things in a pretty blown-out fashion. However, this album showcases the subtler side of that taste for distortion. Everything is nice and “warm,” you hear and feel it. But when things get a little loud for a sec, and the hihats crunch under the weight of the kick, or the ensemble of vocals builds and pushes against the ceiling of the mix and the whole thing, just for a second, crunches under that weight, oh my, it’s my favorite thing. Just like when Aretha Franklin or Elvin Jones pushes the intensity, and the gear distorting adds even more to that intensity with a beautiful vintage crunch. In a way, this album reminds me of the joys of a more subtle heat in a mix, and those moments when you really hear it are what it’s all about. It’s an “It’s about the space in between the crunches” kind of thing.
I still listen to this album often, and I imagine it will be a lifetime favorite, as well as something I can always come back to when I am seeking more connection with my playing, mixing, or both.
Sugar Bomb's Sweet + Explosive album is out now.
Photo by Camilla Calnan
