As the Turkey-fare winds down and the boxes of Christmas decor make their way from the basement, a transition is needed. Ringing in the holiday season in subtlety requires a look no further than America’s finest composer and most innovative maestro of steel string.
Ural Thomas :: First Place Winner
The Louisiana-born, Portland-based soul singer Ural Thomas comes across like the pastor of a titillating, subterranean sermon on “First Place Winner,” a dimly-lit slice of lo-fi bedroom funk culled from Mississippi Records’ forthcoming Nat-Ural, which compiles ten 8-track home recordings made between the late 80s and early 90s. Over frosty synths and clapping drum machines, his voice is distant, faded, and downright spectral.