more from
Albina Music Trust
We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Slickaphonic

by Slickaphonic

/
  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $8 USD  or more

     

  • Limited Edition 12" Vinyl
    Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    Includes unlimited streaming of Slickaphonic via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

    Sold Out

1.
Doin' It 04:30
2.
Bubba 02:36
3.
4.
5.
6.

about

Next up from Albina Music Trust is a previously unreleased reel-to-reel session by Slickaphonic, a nine-piece powerhouse in Portland’s lost funk scene. Recorded in 1975 at Recording Associates by engineer Bob Stoutenberg (The Wipers, Baba Yaga, Mel Brown), this carefully restored collection places the listener in the thick of a watertight disco-funk session done the Albina way.

These songs unfold like a dream. The record ignites with Andre Billingsley's custom break to “Doin’ It,” a neighborhood classic written by Pleasure guitarist Doug Lewis. From there, the blistering instrumental “Bubba” unfolds with symphonic horn arrangements setting the scene. But it’s bassist Randy Smith and Jimmy Washington’s locked-in percussion that takes you higher.

Throughout the record, this band drops the tempo and mood with ease. Milton Davis' dynamic vocal burns tracks into flames then swiftly pivots into a ballad zone, sending things out to all the ladies in the house. “Back Into My Life Again,” with its chicken scratch guitar and pithy horns, expands and contracts with Davis' vocal enmeshed in the point-counterpoint of dueling guitarists Lewis and Kit Garoutte.

"I Shot Him Down" is the group's take on a canonical Bob Marley cut and features a spoken word intro from Davis. Set to a brilliant pseudo-country waltz, Davis narrates the listener through a Green Book-themed sojourn with Southern Gothic underpinnings. In great detail, he describes a road trip and fateful interactions with law enforcement, tragically no different for Black Americans in 1975 as it is today. There are cover songs on this record but the listening experience is...well, different.

Carefully mastered by Gus Elg (Nu Shooz, Funky Drive Band, First Touch), this diamond in the rough has been rescued from a North Portland basement and returned to the conversation in which Albina's legacy music belongs. And with current members of Slickaphonic still active in the city's club circuit, this record takes the listener back, to a simpler time where the origin of these musicians, their stories, and the underrepresented Albina musical culture can once again be discovered.

credits

released January 29, 2021

All songs performed by Slickaphonic.
Recorded by Bob Stoutenburg at Recording Associates, 1975.

Slickaphonic musicians featured on this recording are:

Andre Billingsley - Drums
Milton Davis - Vocals
Kit Garoutte - Lead Guitar
Doug Lewis - Rhythm Guitar
Donnie Miller - Tenor Saxophone
Ronnie Miller - Trombone
Randy Smith - Bass Guitar
Tom Tucker - Trumpet
Jimmy Washington - Percussion

Executive Production by Bobby Smith
for World Arts Foundation.
Reel-To-Reel Audio Transfer by Dave Fulton.
Mastering by Gus Elg.
Design by Brian Mumford and Eric W Mast.
Band logo by Kit Garoutte
Project support by Jared White.
Special thanks to Sam Slater.

This record was made possible with support
from the Oregon Community Foundation.

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Slickaphonic Portland, Oregon

Soul + Jazz-Funk Band from Portland.

1974-1976

contact / help

Contact Slickaphonic

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this album or account

If you like Slickaphonic, you may also like: