El Michels Affair is an American

cinematic soul Cinematic soul is a genre of soul music with a "cinematic" style, combining traditional rock / soul arrangements with orchestral instruments. Style Cinematic soul builds on the foundations of soul music. The backing track can include drums, bass ...

group led by musician and producer

Leon Michels Leon Marcus Michels () (born 1982) is an American Record producer, music producer, Music executive, record executive, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist best known as the leader of the eclectic soul project El Michels Affair and co-founder of ...

. Based in New York, the group is noted for its wide-ranging influences, analog production approach, and hip hop collaborations. The group released its first single in August 2002, and its debut album ''Sounding Out the City'' in 2005. After touring behind

Raekwon Corey Woods (born January 12, 1970), better known by his stage name Raekwon ( ), is an American rapper. He rose to prominence as a founding member of the hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clan, which achieved mainstream success following the release of the ...

and other

Wu-Tang Clan Wu-Tang Clan is an American hip hop collective formed in Staten Island, New York City, in 1992. Its members include RZA, GZA, Method Man, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck, U-God, Masta Killa, and, until his death in 2004, O ...

members, the group recorded the popular cover album ''Enter the 37th Chamber'' in 2009. After releasing other tribute albums in the following decade, El Michels Affair returned with the original albums ''Adult Themes'' in 2020 and ''Yeti Season'' in 2021. Since then, the group has released collaborative projects with Freddie Gibbs & Madlib,

Liam Bailey Liam Bailey is an English singer-songwriter from Nottingham. He is noted for his soul, reggae, and blues-influenced vocal style. Career In 2010, he released two solo EPs on Amy Winehouse's Lioness Records. Recorded entirely by Bailey and his ...

, and

Black Thought Tariq Luqmaan Trotter (born October 3, 1973), better known as Black Thought, is an American rapper, singer, actor and the lead Emcee (hip hop), MC of the hip hop group The Roots, which he co-founded with drummer Questlove in Philadelphia. Regar ...

, including 2023's '' Glorious Game''.

History

Michels played with Soul Fire Records house band The Mighty Imperials before forming his own ensemble in 2002.El Michels Affair
at

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

This group released singles for Soul Fire and for Misty, a sublabel of

Daptone Records Daptone Records is a funk and soul independent record label based in Brooklyn, New York. Best known as the home of Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings and Charles Bradley, the label boasts a roster which includes Menahan Street Band, The Budos Ban ...

, as well as a full-length album which was released on the Michels-cofounded label Truth & Soul Records in 2005. Titled ''Sounding Out the City'', the album drew from

library music Production music (also known as stock music or library music) is recorded music that can be licensed to customers for use in film, television, radio and other media. Often, the music is produced and owned by production music libraries. Backgrou ...

and

afrobeat Afrobeat (also known as Afrofunk) is a West African music genre, fusing influences from Nigerian (such as Yoruba) and Ghanaian (such as highlife) music, with American funk, jazz, and soul influences. With a focus on chanted vocals, complex i ...

influences. After performing with

at a concert, the group began working with other members of the

and

covered Cover or covers may refer to: Packaging * Another name for a lid * Cover (philately), generic term for envelope or package * Album cover, the front of the packaging * Book cover or magazine cover ** Book design ** Back cover copy, part of ...

several of their songs for vinyl single releases. By 2009, this had yielded an album's worth of material, which was released in 2009 as ''Enter the 37th Chamber'', the name is a play on the album ''

Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) ''Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)'' is the debut studio album by the American hip-hop collective Wu-Tang Clan, released on November 9, 1993, by Loud Records and RCA Records. The recording sessions took place during late 1992 to early 1993 at Fire ...

''. El Michels Affair followed this with a second album of arrangements of songs by Wu-Tang Clan and from its members' solo releases, titled ''Return to the 37th Chamber''. In 2019, they accompanied Freddie Gibbs and Madlib at their popular NPR Tiny Desk performance and later recorded ''The Diamond Mine Sessions'' with them. El Michels Affair began the 2020s with new original material; they released their album ''Adult Themes'' in 2020 and followed it less than a year later with the Turkish pop and prog-inspired ''Yeti Season'' in March 2021; the album features vocals from

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

language singer Piya Malik and The Shacks.

Personnel

– bandleader and producer, tenor saxophone, flute, keyboards, guitar, bass, percussion, engineering Other contributors include: *

Homer Steinweiss Homer Steinweiss (born March 25, 1982) is an American drummer, songwriter, and producer known as a prominent drummer in the New York soul revival scene. He is a founding member and drummer of groups including Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, Lee ...

– drums *

Nick Movshon Nicholas Anthony Movshon (born March 17, 1982) is an American bass guitarist, drummer and songwriter, best known for his considerable contributions to the New York funk and soul revival. A frequent contributor to the recorded output of Brooklyn- ...

– bass, drums, guitar *

Thomas Brenneck Thomas "Tommy" Brenneck is an American guitarist, record producer, and engineer, best known as the leader of the Menahan Street Band and member of The Budos Band, Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, and El Michels Affair. He is the founder of Dunh ...

– guitar, bass *

Michael Leonhart Michael Leonhart (born April 21, 1974) is an American jazz trumpeter and multi-instrumentalist. Solo career In 1992 Leonhart was honored with the first Grammy Award for outstanding high school musician in the US (he attended Fiorello H. LaGuardi ...

– trumpet, brass * Toby Pazner – keyboards * Aaron Johnson – trombone * Sean Solomon – guitar *

Dave Guy David Anthony Guy (born December 9, 1978) is an American trumpet player. Since 2014, he has played with The Roots, including on ''The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon''. Over his more than two decade career, he has been part of the groups Shar ...

– trumpet *

Marco Benevento Marco Benevento (born July 22, 1977) is an American pianist, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer, who has been a fixture of the New York experimental music rock music, rock and jazz scene since 1999. He is the founder and rec ...

– keyboards

Discography

Studio albums

Tribute & remix albums

EPs

Singles

References

External links

* {{Authority control American funk musical groups American soul musical groups Musical groups from Brooklyn