Album Press Release [via Audible Treats]:

(March 30, 2009 - Brooklyn, NY) New York-based vin­tage soul instru­men­tal group, El Michels Affair are proud to announce the release of their highly antic­i­pated upcom­ing stu­dio LP, Enter The 37th Chamber. The album, full of adap­ta­tions of clas­sic Wu-Tang Clan songs, will be avail­able April 21st via Truth & Soul / Fat Beats Records.

At the core of a move­ment that includes Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, Amy Winehouse, Mark Ronson, and The Budos Band, El Michels Affair are among the lead­ers of a retro-soul and funk move­ment caus­ing a stir both in the streets and on the charts. Led by saxophonist/organist Leon Michels and producer/engineer Jeff Silverman, El Michels Affair com­prises a col­lec­tion of other musi­cians from The Dap-Kings, the Budos Band, and Antibalas. Although shar­ing sim­i­lar­i­ties with these groups, the El Michels' sound is its own - ver­sa­tile enough to span gen­res includ­ing soul, funk, hip-hop, and punk rock. Always hard at work in the stu­dio, El Michels Affair looks for­ward to step­ping back into the spot­light to dis­play that ver­sa­til­ity on their new album, Enter The 37th Chamber.

For Enter The 37th Chamber, a name that pays homage to the title of the Wu-Tang Clan's his­toric debut album, Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), El Michels Affair, took the time to inter­pret fif­teen of some of the most leg­endary and well-known Wu-Tang Clan songs, includ­ing "Can It All Be So Simple," "Protect Ya Neck," "Cherchez La Ghost," and "Incarcerated Scarfaces." Also included on the album are the El Michel's inter­po­la­tions of Wu-Tang Clan anthems "C.R.E.A.M." and "Bring Da Ruckus," two songs fans will undoubt­edly remem­ber from their pre­vi­ous release as 7" sin­gles through the Truth & Soul label. Similar to the sounds found on those two records, on Enter The 37th Chamber El Michels Affair are able to bring their own astute musi­cian­ship, artis­tic touch, and soul vibe to each instru­men­tal, breath­ing new life into already clas­sic songs. It was that musi­cian­ship and ver­sa­tile sound that led to El Michels Affair join­ing the Fat Beats fam­ily, and now, two years later, the album is finally ready for the masses.

Sounding Out The City on Truth & Soul, a label co-founded by Silverman and Michels. Since the album's 2005 release, the El Michels sound has been promi­nent, even when the group's name has not. A suc­cess­ful tour with Wu-Tang Clan mem­ber Raekwon led to the record­ing of two widely suc­cess­ful 7" instru­men­tal sin­gles for "C.R.E.A.M." and "Bring Da Ruckus." Later, in 2007, Wu-Tang Clan mem­ber, Ghostface Killah sam­pled a track from Sounding Out The City, and most famously, in 2007, a horn part writ­ten and per­formed by Leon Michels was lifted and used for Jay-Z's "Roc Boys," the lead sin­gle from his wildly suc­cess­ful American Gangster album. Elsewhere, the Truth & Soul duo was enlisted by Amy Winehouse to remix her hit, "Love Is A Losing Game," has played on ses­sions pro­duced by Mark Ronson, Just Blaze, and Iggy Pop, and were hired by British singing sen­sa­tion Adele to bring the patented Truth & Soul sound to her Grammy-award win­ning album, 19. 2009 plans to be a big year for El Michels Affair, as they pre­pare the release of Enter The 37th Chamber, avail­able April 21 via Fat Beats Records.

Personally, I can't wait for this album to drop. After hear­ing  what's avail­able from them, after the jump, hope­fully you'll know why and feel the same way. Read the rest of this entry »