We’re going to put our chips on the table and say we’ve been listening to the beginnings of Martin Luther’s best album to date. We’re only three songs deep into previewing his soon-to-come EP Electrick Rockingchair, and at this premature point we had to write down our thoughts before we hurt ourselves.

Unfamiliar with Martin Luther? Don’t be. His style of smoothly blended evolution runs like the musical equivalent of ‘blues people.’ Reaching simultaneously backward and forward in time, he grasps strands of rock, blues, funk, and sultry soul and braids them together into a shining thread. Risking hyperbole we could say it’s a shining thread of hope for the future of contemporary black music, but we won’t go there. We could borrow a mood from his revolutionary-tinged ‘rebel soul music’ self-description, and say his music is an act of stakes-claiming amid a disheartening terrain of pop-hop and vapid neo-soul, but we probably don’t even have to. Because with any collection of songs that contain a lyric like ‘turn off the radio, come and join the crusade,’ that much is probably clear.

Instead, we’ll just mention that the man plays the guitar like he’s driving a Cadillac. He can work a live band, and even better, work WITH a live band. He’s a ladies man without falling into the trap of being a “lady-man” – a flaming hetero-sexual, even; with enough grit and stubble to satisfy the scruff-lovers, and enough smoothness and style to intrigue the divas. The lyrics to ‘breathtaker’ have had women swooning for years and if you cleaned up after one of his grind-the-house-down live shows you would be mopping up puddles.

He rides a tune from high falsetto to gutteral groans, writes his own songs, reps hard for his San Francisco hometown but is equally appreciated in New York, Atlanta, Los Angeles. Fiercely independent and currently working on his second self-produced & independently released album, he’s also graced global stages on tour with the Roots. His songs are love songs: about women, about his hometown, about black people. They carry messages: about violence, gentrification, domestic abuse. Many of them are anthem-like. Once you know them, they call out at you to sing or shout along. He boasts a lyrical and stylistic edge often lacking in the ill-fitting ‘neo soul’ marketing genre he is often clumped into.

One word for rebel soul music? “Necessary.” Listen to it loud.

Soon you’ll be able to hear samples of his upcoming EP here, or at his website, www.rebelsoulmusic.com. For now, we’ve let our resident irreverent, Mike Believe, ask him a question or two. Read on…

~j & p bennu

mike believe asks, martin luther answers:

what is your fondest memory?
Letting some of the older neighborhood kids in our garage when I was a kid who was sent to empty the trash and come right back up stairs. I heard voices outside so, curiously I investigated only to find some of my older brother and sister’s friends making noise. They kind of rushed in and brought the party with them. By this time my mother came downstairs to see what all the fuss was about and I hid in fear of an immediate whippin’ but instead, she came in with drinks and crackers and surprised the life out of me. That night, at least for 30 minutes, we all had a ball in my house during clean up time!

what was the last book you read?
my own, “a year in the life of a day” besides that, Tupac Resurrection.

who do you miss artistically?
kurt kobain, tupac, donny hathaway, sam cooke, jean michel basquiat

guilty pleasure that might surprise your fan base?
internet porn, hagen das strwberry cheese cake by the pint, white girls

who would you love to work with dead or alive. & why?
prince. he is the one.

favorite slow jam
my own, “my daily bread”

describe a perfect day
running into a hotel room to visit an anxiously awaiting young woman who likes to listen to bob marley and discuss fashion while we recline into a steaming hot bath filled with silence and candlelight….a light meal, a gentle breeze with the sounds of the city 100 storys beneath our closest concern.

who’s your favorite god?
I am

describe in a word who you were as a child?
the same crazy, too cool for his own good, good son of Opal and Harold who reluctantly went to church to curse and write nasty things in the hymnals, who performed well in school but had to work on his pimp game, who was talented in athletics but never focused enough to really shine there, who dared himself too close to death at least 10 times a day who always knew he had it in him but…oh you said one word, umm………..anointed

What’s the craziest thing that has ever happened to you on stage?
being in BK at a festival and being pushed back to being one of the last acts to perform and while the weather threatend the entire day with raining, a thundering burst exploded the moment we kicked into song one of my set and the crowd goes bananas with me giving you rock and soul on stage and mother nature pouring out gallons of her support. We all almost died…electro shock therapy

what is your favorite sound?
the theme song to espn sportscenter

at what time in a relationship is it ok to fart around your partner?
immediately, love me or leave me alone

what are u listening to?
coldplay, outkast, radiohead, zion I, bob marley, Sade, dennis brown, fela, ludacris, youngbloodz and E40 and SKUNKANANSIE!! the white stripes, JET, Steel Pulse

Have you ever been in a fight?
yes

What artist do you think is amazing that doesn’t get enough shine or recognition?
Pharoah Monch, Pigeon John, Sanford Biggers, Shawn Peters, Dead Prez, Martin Luther

If your art/music is not your “cash cow” what is?
life is

What was the first song you ever wrote?
i rewrote Swing Low Sweet Chariot in sunday school as a child. You’re My Inspiration is one of the earliest songs I completed, something teen years ago…it was about my father.

WRITE 2 REALLY GREAT QUESTIONS THAT I DIDN’T ASK AND ANSWER THEM:

what are your favorite comicbook characters?
Wolverine, Spiderman, Daredevil, Silver Surfer and Dr. Strange

What was or is your favorite pastime…..
riding bmx bikes and skateboarding.

if you could tell every person that has ever doubted you one thing right now what would it be?
thank you

/end.03.04