El Michels Affair & Black Thought Glorious Game (Instrumentals) Blood Smoke Vinyl Edition

Blood Smoke Vinyl.The Instrumental version of the underground classic El Michels Affair & BlackThought collaborative album Glorious GameWhen Leon Michels and El Michels Affair released their rst record, SoundingOut The City, in 2005, it was hard to guess what was next for Michels andhis then-introduced, now-patented "cinematic soul" sound. Now, four EMAstudio albums and scores of tribute and remix projects later_all whileproducing for some of the biggest names in the industry_Michels hastrademarked his sound, with each project taking audiences somewhere newand pushing the boundaries of what he is known for. The man is a river, not alake and this time he takes his golden touch into the realm of hip-hop layingdown a musical bed for one of the greatest to ever rhyme into a microphone:Black Thought of The Roots crew.Releasing on Big Crown Records, the LP is called Glorious Game and it is aremarkable debut partnership in more ways than one. Michels provides hisbottom-heavy, soul-tinged production for Black Thought who gives us some ofthe more personal and transparent verses we've ever heard from him. Michelsand Black Thought have been in each other's orbit for a while now. The tworst met in the 2000s when Thought was rst getting familiar with thecontemporary soul scene. "Out of that whole world, Menahan Street Bandwas probably my favorite," recalling the funk and soul group Michels was afounding member of back in 2007. Fast forward a few years and musiciansfrom that collective_Dave Guy on trumpet and Ian Hendrickson-Smith on sax_are now full time players with The Roots. This connection eventually ledLeon and Thought to doing a few fundraising events around NYC and Phillytogether. "Before long, Black Thought was coming around the studio andwould jam with us from time to time," Michels explains. "Then, fast forward to2020 and COVID lockdowns, he just hit me up out of the blue, wanting me tosend him stuff to write to. We both were looking to stay busy."Bei...