*Download ‘Wooden Boy (Part 3)’ for free above*

 

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It’s soul music, baby, but not as we know it. The backbeat and the handclaps are still there and the horns still sound. The bass bumps, the organ screams and the guitars still twang, but the singer has left the room. Everything is shades of blue. This is soul music for the after hours. For the solitary dancers and the lonely hearts. The soundtrack to solitary headlights on a midnight highway. What to call it? Who cares! Can you dance to it? Just try not to. No one’s telling you to throw your hands up in the air, but no one would be surprised if you did. It’s dark here, so you can do your own thing.

Wooden Boy  was recorded by The Cactus Channel — a ten-piece band from Melbourne, Australia — all born in the 90s and raised on the internet. Yet somehow, this astonishing follow up to last year’s rave-reviewed debut, Haptics, sounds like it could have been recorded in the 1970s, or possibly in the distant future. A timeless, placeless cinematic odyssey, Wooden Boy could have been an alternate soundtrack to Ghost Dog — if Lalo Schifrin and the Meters were collaborating on the RZA’s score. Or maybe Wooden Boy was what happened when Lars Von Trier got invited to direct an episode of Soul Train. What any of it may actually mean is left to the listener’s imagination.

Funk aficionados will hear shades of New York on this record, echoes of El Michel’s taking on Wu Tang, the influence of Budos and Menehan et al. But this is the Generation Z version; both more tempestuous and more introverted. Recorded analog in the digital era, presented faceless in the celebrity era, inexplicably ambiguous in the soundbite era, is this the album the world needs right now? Undoubtedly yes. In a world where the NSA can read the text message that dumped you, what does a person need more than sad soul music from the future? Wooden Boy, baby, Wooden Boy.

PRAISE FOR ‘WOODEN BOY’ (2013 album)

“The new album might be called Wooden Boy, but there is nothing wooden about these guys. Totally hypnotic, unique and wonderful.”
CRAIG CHARLES, The Craig Charles Funk And Soul Show, BBC 6 Music

“The Cactus Channel understand everything about the state of being funky, but add to it the snappiness of the youth on this second album. We’re playing them on repeat on Paris DJs’ speakers… again!!”
PARIS DJS

“surf twang, well-oiled rhythmic breaks, ominous soundtrack-style cues and finally a reprisal of the lingering drag that kicks off the song.”
MESS + NOISE 

 

PRAISE FOR ‘HAPTICS’ (debut 2012 album):

“Hot-to-trot… an embryonic version of the Meters or the Dap Kings”
THE AUSTRALIAN (four stars)

“Tightly raw soul, rambling deep-funk jams and organ-driven party mash-ups”
THE AGE

“Infectiously funky sounds… a horn-fuelled, butt-shaking affair”
TRIPLE J HOME & HOSED

“Old-fashioned, gritty soul music – by a bunch of white teenagers from Melbourne”
THE MONTHLY

Album Of The Week
RTR PERTH, PBS-FM, SYN-FM, 2SER + EASTSIDE RADIO, RTR PERTH

13 thoughts on “Wooden Boy LP/CD”

  5. Tristan says:

    Hi Sjoerd,

    I’m sorry about the trouble you’re having – there seems to a be a problem with the email that emailunlock is sending out. I hope it will be rectified soon. ps. we picked emailunlock over bandcamp since we love the big artwork player with the signup box beneath it. If the problem persists I’ll change it over.

  6. Tristan says:

    Hi Sjoerd,

    The email should be working again now – they must have had a temporary network glitch somewhere. Sorry about the hassle!

  9. Pingback: The Cactus Channel release 'Wooden Boy' » What Sound Melbourne

  10. Paul says:

    I know the vinyl comes with free download but I am having issues with trying to dowload. How can i get it going?

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