Those Amy Winehouse grooves resonating the world over? That’s the Dap-Kings laying down most of them, in the pocket and in the service of the new-school soul dropout’s reverence to the old school. It’s a perfect match, though the brokered union ultimately feels like just that: a crack group of players tapped to give a buzz artist some credibility. No shame in that game, but I’ll take the Dap-Kings in their main gig—backing up 50-something NYC soul vet Sharon Jones—any day. It’s not just that 100 Days, 100 Nights sounds like it was tracked by Tom Dowd in Muscle Shoals circa 1968. There’s much more to this band and album than the throwback aesthetic. This is a retro soul act with songs that are more than just horn-and-rhythm-section showcases. Some feature sly major-to-minor transitions and guitar solos where you know Binky Griptite is playing them with a pained look on his kisser; others find Jones in a more vulnerable state and are girl-group-esque in their arrangements and background vocals. Any soul revisionists can take it to the stage and lay it down. It’s the ones who take it to the stage with great tunes who’ll stick. [www.worlds-fair.net]
—Patrick Berkery
