Saturday, July 31, 2010

The Soulful Funk of Tristan Clopet

There is a lot of blue-eyed soul in Tristan Clopet.  


Blue-eyed soul wrapped around an infectious, hardcore funk. 

Toronto-born, Miami-based Clopet and his band, the Juice, often get compared to Red Hot Chili Peppers, circa 1991, and justifiably so.  On his latest EP, Purple, Clopet spits out his lyrical rap over that wonderfully nasty rock/funk groove that the Peppers did so well.

But there is more going on here than emulation. Clopet's soaring vocals and searing guitar sets him apart. 

His voice is not as gritty as Anthony Keidis of the aforementioned Peppers. It contains the soulfulness that Steve Winwood and Robert Palmer perfected.  Listening to the EP, one will also be briefly reminded of Faith No MoreArrested Development, John Legend and even U2 The funk/rock blaster, Superficiality Is A Sin, has joyfully kept with me for the past month. 

And the man can play guitar.  Just like ringing a bell. 

Clopet, who is currently in the studio working on new material, is selling his EP online with the internet-friendly "pay your own price" policy.  It is also available at iTunes and Amazon. Give a working musician so love and treat yourself to some badass funk.

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