Mad Love for "From the Storm to the Sun"
by
AnthonyRodriguez
“From the Storm to the Sun…provides an aesthetically pleasing sound, while simultaneously disquieting the audience’s complacency regarding social issues.” – BlackGrooves.org (2010)
“Soulganic…creates funky soulful grooves with a lot of rhythm. From the Storm to the Sun is driven by accompanying Latin percussion that gives their songs such a rich and vibrant texture.” – Next Music Blog (2010)
“Heavy percussion and latin grooves would be the best way to describe Soulganic. Icognito meets Carlos Santana. Imagine that! So you can tell by that description that this is an album worthy of adding to your collection. This album fully displays true musicianship. Each song exhibits it’s own level of ‘funktastic’.” – Music Addikts (2010)
“Soulganic has a flow, smooth groove and energy that any music enthusiast will enjoy.” – Urban Mainstream Magazine (2010)
“Soulganic … sound[s] like some of the best soul and jazz-funk bands of the 70’s and 80’s. One will be reminded of everyone from Tower Of Power, Maxayn, New Birth, Nikka Costa, Living Colour, Maktub, and Jamiroquai to Jaguar Wright. They enjoy mixing up a lot of different sounds, influences, and textures. This album sounds like one of those post-nightclub albums that you could chill out to, but find too irresistible to not react. What makes this real and organic? To me, it sounds like music from genuine musicians who love playing and jamming with each other, it’s the inner smile that helps encourage the outer smile, which is interpreted as a band who are having fun. I get that by listening to From The Storm To The Sun because it doesn’t sound like a band who are trying to meet a quota. It’s organic music from the soul, that’s as real as it can be.” – Okayplayer.com (2010)
“From the Storm to the Sun…is a very serious affair. The album’s themes include drug addiction, infidelity, the savage injustice of the blood-diamond trade, class antagonism and absentee fathers and the soundscape they’ve created matches the harshness, the bleakness and the reality of the subject matter. The music on the album has a live and (obviously) organic feel about it and the crashing congas and insistent guitar phrasing might remind you of Curtis Mayfield’s early solo recordings though in places the feel is a whole lot rockier and more aggressive than anything the Gentle Genius ever created. Best example of that sound is the loose ‘Run’ and wild ‘Melt Away’ though at the other extreme ‘Remedios The Beauty’ is a sweet and gentle guitar-led instrumental that owes something to ‘Cavatina’! In between ‘Temporary Thrill’ and ‘How Does It Feel’ are both pleasing, gentle builders with memorable hooks while ‘Make You Beautiful’ is an effective, pleading ballad. ‘Carry On’ is a moodier ballad altogether and vocalist Anthony Rodriguez’s falsetto makes the most of the melody. Neither ballad could be described as “romantic” in the sweet, sentimental way that most modern music makers perceive a ballad… but that’s the secret and attraction of this album. There’s nothing here that formularised or clichéd. Sure, it won’t be to everyone’s taste but those who like to be seriously challenged could do worse than investigate.” – Bill Buckley, Soul and Jazz and Funk (UK, 2010)
“On its sophomore album the soul funk outfit [Soulganic] tackles heavy lyrical topics while adhering to the qualities that made it a local favorite—fluid playing; classic Latin, rock, and R&B influences (Buddy Miles, Santana); and Anthony Rodriguez’s searing falsetto.” - Charlotte Magazine (2010)
“The quartet … [is] more than competent and recalls the likes of Orgone or more to the point Soulive. From the Storm to the Sun…is very good.” – SoulInterviews.com (2010)
