Made For Pleasure

Recorded in New Orleans, The New Mastersounds high-step through the humidity and heat leaving no soul or funk touchstone unturned. Both the title track and “High & Wide” are drenched in The-Meters-meet-Lee-Dorsey Big Easy funk, while tracks like “Enough Is Enough,” “Joy” and “Just Gotta Run” are firmly rooted in classic soul sister rhythm and blues tradition; think Tina Turner, Ann Peebles, Betty LaVette. Super-charged by Eddie Robert’s stinging guitar leads, “Cigar Time” and “Sitting On My Knees” take a decidedly souljazz turn, diving headlong into Grant Green grit and groove. Capping off Made For Pleasure and further validating its title is a dubbed out reinvention of Iggy Azalea’s smash hit “Fancy” that cleverly turns the pop artist’s ode to materialism into a 21st century stoner anthem with the repurposed refrain, “I’m so irie.”