The New Gold Standard
Three years in the business might seem like a too-brief span for a retrospective, but since 2003, Washington D.C.-based quartet the Fort Knox Five founded their own record label (called Fort Knox Recordings), remixed the likes of Tito Puente, Louis Armstrong, And Tower of Power, and collaborated with hip hop's elder statesman Africa Bambaataa—not to mention all the bodies they've got moving on the dance floor at their popular club nights. Due out 6 June 2006, their debut release,The New Gold Standard, collects singles and unreleased tracks into a continuous soundscape that melds live instrumentation and electronics, including tight breakbeats, sitar, 60s-era funk and soul, African drumming, and dub. A few of the vocalists feel out of place at times, but overall The New Gold Standard is an album that's as equally fit for cooking a meal to share with friends as it is for the spontaneous dance party afterwards. Pick it up for $13.50 through Amazon.
