Colemine Records boss, Terry Cole, releases debut indie soul LP: A Tiger’s Tale
Last month we were passed a preview of a new album from one of my favorite labels: Colemine Records. Colemine has been consistently putting out great music around the indie soul genre for years now, including producing albums for artists like Okonski, The Iron Sides, Parlor Greens, and Say She She (among many others). Basiclly, if you see the Colemine Record logo, you know it’s going to be good.
This time it was a bit special though. This time it was a new record from the label boss and curator himself, Terry Cole. This month, he is set to release his debut LP entitled: A Tiger’s Tale under his artist moniker, Leroi Conroy. His music walks the line between soul music and golden age hip-hop beats. It seems to take inspiration from 60s and 70s police drama scores and expertly blends them to a style of percussion that would feel at home with the Wu-Tang Clan or Jurassic 5. In fact, since Cole started releasing music, his music has been sampled by some of the greats (including Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Macklemore, Phantogram, and more).
The concept behind A Tiger’s Tale is a hypothetical soundtrack to an alternate telling of Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book. The narrative here being man’s quest to tame and bend nature to his will…and nature’s response. The album is a mix of triumphant instrumental scores alongside absolutely grim, dark, and at times dissonant moody tracks. The underlying element of hip-hop’s sample culture is obvious throughout and there’s no doubt many of these tracks will be flipped in the years to come.
The second single on the album is perhaps the darkest cut. It’s called “Path Of Man,” and it features a minor riff that repeats throughout the opening on piano, guitar, vibraphone, and bass. Eventually the drums fall in driving the dark point home with haunting choral background vocals. A flute melody courtesy of Michael Sarason (Say She She) offers some light in the darkness, but it’s not to last. Sounds like a mashup of early David Axelrod with a slightly more sinister lean a la Budos Band.
Stream “Path Of Man” below, and if you like what you hear, head over to Colemine Records to get your copy on vinyl.
Leroi Conroy – Path Of Man
