Soul & Roll

"Soul & Roll" does exactly what its title suggests: it rolls, with genuine rhythmic momentum and a soulfulness that Rad Museum earns through arrangement intelligence rather than vocal display. The production is among his most groove-forward work — a bass line that establishes itself early and maintains authority throughout, drum programming with real pocket, guitar and keyboard elements adding color within the rhythm rather than competing with it. This is the Rad Museum who clearly spent time with Stevie Wonder records and Shalamar alongside the contemporary influences, someone who understands that funk is a philosophy as much as a genre. His vocal rides the groove with evident pleasure, performance matching the music's confidence. There's a joy here that his more introspective tracks approach obliquely but this one states directly — the pleasure of music itself as subject matter, the experience of a groove that makes you want to move being its own complete argument. Best heard through speakers rather than earphones, at a volume that fills the room.