Gina’s Top Songs of the Year: Number 8

8.
“Curbs” – Jake & Abe

It was during this year’s North Sea Jazz Festival when I witnessed a musician who seemed to really excel as a drummer, percussionist, and vocalist for Meshell Nedegeocello. Meshell was Artist in Residence this year and showed three very different sides of her: her latest album dedicated to James Baldwin, a re-interpretation of her very first album “Plantation Lullabies”, and a tribute to Gary Bartz and Eugene McDaniels. In all three of her performances, especially the Bartz/McDaniels show, it was Abe Rounds who fascinated me the most with his unmatched, immaculate, consummate musicianship. And it shows once again how important and wholesome it is to support live music and musicians. His work would have probably escaped me if I hadn’t seen those shows. A few months after Meshell Ndegeocello’s Baldwin tribute LP, where Abe is featured prominently, he released his album with fellow Meshell bandmate Jake Sherman called “Finally!”. Finally, because it was so many years in the making. And it is actually one of our top albums of the year, full of surprises, with a totally unique and uncanny sound, deprived of any categorization. “Curbs”, the first single, has this clearly alluring, out-of-this-world sound and I find it especially rewarding to know how it came about via their Instagram account, see the quote below. Jake & Abe were opening act for Meshell’s European tour in November, with just only one headline show at the Rockit Festival in Groningen, which I’m more than happy to have witnessed. Turns out that this particular show was the best live gig I saw this year.

“This song started as a rough idea Abe came up with long before meeting Jake. The demo had a disco vibe, featuring a bass line, drum groove, and some spacey Wurlitzer and electric guitar chords. The file was called “Kirbs”. Abe sent it to Jake, who wrote the chorus melody and chords at his parents’ house during COVID and sent it back via voice memo. From there, we wrote the lyrics together and edited the structure through emails and texts.

“Curbs” was recorded at Stella Mozgawa’s studio in Joshua Tree. Abe nailed both the drum and bass takes in one go, with Jake watching in awe. Then Abe made salads.

That night Jake laid down the lead vocals. Many of the quirky sounds came from running a Rhodes piano through the filter of a Korg MS-20. The tom fills were played live on a keyboard, MIDI’d to an Alesis HR-16, an ‘80s drum machine. 

@concrete.sound nailed the mix right away, but we were undecided on the vocal vibe. We experimented with different options, including running it through a Leslie cabinet and reamping through other unique gear. Eventually, we found the sweet spot: a double-tracked lead vocal layered with vocoder.”