LimeWire Music Blog

In the early 2000s, a scrappy little label out of Brooklyn, NY began to emerge as a powerful new voice, becoming the locus point of a vibrant scene encompassing funk, soul, Afrobeat, and more. As the end of the decade approaches, the label has seen fit to celebrate its history with Daptone Gold, a collection that spotlights some of the stars of the Daptone galaxy. Sharon Jones is obviously the most high-profile artist on the Daptone roster, and she figures prominently here, represented by no less than seven tracks of super-powered ’60s-style soul, but that doesn’t mean she’s the be-all and end-all of either Daptone or this compilation. Daptone Gold is stacked to overflowing with head-turning talent, from the Big Mama Thornton-meets-Swan Silvertones gospel-soul sound of Naomi Shelton & The Gospel Queens to the churning Afrobeat of New York City institution Antibalas, and the hot-stepping mix of Fatback Band and Fela Kuti that is The Budos Band. And somehow, whatever the disparate influences on these artists may be, taken as a whole they bear a sound that’s uniquely New York.