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G&D – The Lighthouse album review

G&D are the husband and wife Duo of Georgia Anne Muldrow and Dudley Perkins (aka Declaime). Their new full-length The Lighthouse is a robust album blending funk, soul, and hip hop. Following up on their 2010 Mello Music Group release SomeOthaShip, Georgia and Dudley turned to their own imprint, SomeOthaShip Connect to put out The Lighthouse. The product is a much more personal effort, and the two decided to produce the entire album themselves, whereas SomeOthaShip featured a different hip hop producer for nearly every track. As a DIY effort, this album is even funkier and more message-forward than their first full length release. The album is sonically dense with a smoky haze backdrop, resinous bass and jittery, paranoid funk riffs. What really impressed me about the album is the wide variety of influences on display. There’s Parliament-esque “Power” and “Muthadear,” a heartfelt tribute to motherhood, with a melody so instinctive and sentimental, it reminds of classic Motown. Georgia and Dudley share the spotlight pretty equally, and Georgia stuns with the poise of her delivery in her only rapped verse on “Fam Bam.” Her singing voice is velvety smooth and low, and compliments Dudley’s declaratory rapping style.

The fusion of so many styles is held together with various musical interludes that thump the eardrums and bend the mind with brooding samples and top-notch DJ cuts. Even so, the album does collapse a little under the sheer weight of its own scope. Not so much unfocused as ambitious, its easy to get kind of bogged down by it. Listening to The Lighthouse can get kind of claustrophobic, like being crammed into a tiny, dark closet with Georgia and Dudley as they blow intoxicating hash smoke into your nostrils and school you solemnly on their musical taste and spiritual discoveries. Feel free to take a breather from this daunting album if things get too heavy for you.

All in all this is a highly intelligent album from two artists who are committed to a particular sound, despite the melting pot of influences that conspire to bring that sound to life. That sense of commitment, and of purpose has yielded a fully-rendered vision of spiritual funk and soul melding with hip hop. I will definitely look for G&D to continue to forge their very own path through music in future releases, but I’ll come prepared next time I get invited to hotbox with Georgia and Dudley, and make sure I’m ready for a lesson or two.

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Press Releases

Husband and Wife Duo G&D aka Georgia Anne Muldrow & Dudley Perkins To Release New Album The Lighthouse on May 21, 2013

The Lighthouse to be Released via Their Own SomeOthaShip Connect Record Label; Album Artwork By Acclaimed Painter Tokio Aoyama

On May 21, 2013, singer, songwriter, and producer Georgia Anne Muldrow and her husband, rapper, poet, and producer Dudley Perkins aka Declaime, will release their new album The Lighthouse via their record label, SomeOthaShip Connect. Often noted for her unorthodox, indefinable, sample-free original production, Georgia has built a repertoire as one of the leading new producers. Georgia’s powerful vocals and instrumentation combined with Dudley’s metaphoric and poetic cadence, makes for a metaphysical reference-filled sonic landscape that transcends time and space. To accompany the announcement, Georgia and Dudley are unveiling the album tracklisting and artwork, which was commissioned by Japanese visual artist Tokio Aoyama.

The Lighthouse serves not only as the second full-length from G&D, but also as the first collaborative album from the pair since 2009. After a series of solo releases from both, including Georgia’s collaborative album with Madlib, Seeds, and Dudley’s Self Study, produced by Georgia, the pair are uniting under the alias of G&D to uplift and raise the vibration of our collective consciousness through music. Together, the two represent a rare space in the music industry not only as a hugely spiritual and vegan husband and wife duo, but also as a father and mother, and co-owners of their own independent label.

Each of those elements influence the music heard throughout The Lighthouse, an album that expertly pulls together elements of funk, soul, psychedelic jazz, and hip-hop, while drawing on personal experiences to tackle issues of parenthood, social responsibility, war, and more.

For the album artwork, G&D enlisted Japanese visual artist Tokio Aoyama who did a full-scale canvas painting of the unique image, which features artistic depictions of G&D alongside elements of life and music that serve as influences throughout the album. The Lighthouse continues a long-running string of collaborations between Georgia & Dudley and Tokio, with G&D first tapping Tokio in 2007, and working with him for a number of projects since then. Says Dudley, “We go way back with Tokio and he listens very carefully to our music so we let him run with whatever concept he wanted; we trust him. He even came from Japan to our home to meet with us. There’s a lot going on in the artwork and everything speaks true to how we live, who we are. This art speaks to how we’re here to disrupt the industry and society with our music.”

The Lighthouse Tracklist

1. Intro
2. Lighthouse feat. LMNO & Shana Muldrow
3. Soulclap
4. Fam Bam
5. Electric
6. Power
7. Stand
8. No More War
9. Timeline
10. A Funk Supreme Vs. The Chemtrail Agenda
11. Popstopper
12. What
13. Dance
14. Emo Funk
15. Muthadear
16. The Word
17. Majesty