The dynamic instrumental cinematic funk/soul duo, Hot Mustard, is proud to announce the release of their debut album, Mother Sauce, on Eddie Roberts' (The New Mastersounds) Color Red label. Drawing influence from mid/late 1960s and early 1970s funk and soul, the building blocks of first-generation boom-bap hip-hop, multimedia artist and guitarist/ producer Jack Powell and bassist Nick Carusos successfully work their own distinctive flavors into classic recipes with Mother Sauce. Simply put, Hot Mustard is as retro as it is radical, and the end result is nothing short of intensely addictive.
Track by track, the debut album offers an unpretentious, yet decadent menu of sonic flavors, effortlessly weaving chopped dry-aged drum arrangements with buttery bass lines, twang infused funk guitar licks and 70’s synth-inspired string nostalgia, all while retaining the time-honored, refined sense of taste that made labels like Stax and Atlantic Records household names. Fueling the record throughout is Big Brass Beats, the all brass horn section out of Brooklyn, NY, featuring horn parts written and arranged by Grammy-nominated trumpeter Jordan McLean (Antibalas) with Dave “Smoota” Smith (TV On The Radio) holding down the trombone.
“The collaboration with Jordan and Dave ended up being an essential part of the album. When two different worlds collide, sometimes it can be messy, but other times it works in unique and interesting ways. With this record, it felt like we had created something strange and special, while keeping it fun and refreshing,” explains Powell.
On August 20th, Hot Mustard’s second single, “Window Seat,” will drop on all streaming platforms. Accompanying the single is the animated video, a delightfully odd tale created by Jack Powell who goes under the artist moniker of Opus Thimble. HM’s unique musical vision becomes consummate with the addition of Powell’s Monty Pythonesque visual animations. “The video, to me, is basically ‘a day in the life of a creative introvert’. It’s one of the days in which you get the win, so to speak. I try not to indulge much of what the video means to me personally because I think that it’s important to give the viewer an opportunity to apply it to their own life in the way they feel it.” says Powell.
Accomplishing timelessness in any art medium is always the gold standard, and with Window Seat, both sonically and visually, Hot Mustard has accomplished this and more.
