Following the 2009 release of
Enter the 37th Chamber,
El Michels Affair's first
Wu-centric album, the calendar of bandleader
Leon Michels remained filled. A small fraction of
Michels' activity included continued work with
Menahan Street Band and
the Expressions, whole-album productions for
Aloe Blacc and
Chicano Batman, and session gigs with
Dr. John and
Lana Del Rey. Additionally, he co-founded a second label,
Big Crown (the first was
Truth & Soul), home to
Lady Wray's
Queen Alone (another one of his productions), and this sequel to
EMA's 2009 LP, inevitably titled
Return to the 37th Chamber. Including all four sides of singles released in 2016 and early 2017, it goes a little deeper and farther out than
Enter the 37th Chamber.
Michels,
Nick Movshon, and
Thomas Brenneck perform the majority of the music, supported with a familiar extended cast of associates on one or two cuts each, while
Wray,
Lee Fields, and
the Shacks'
Shannon Wise add occasional cross-generational vocals to the predominantly instrumental set. As with the earlier volume, the inspiration here is
the RZA, specifically the rugged yet elegant material that formed the foundation of
Wu-Tang Clan's 1993 debut and the first wave of solo albums that followed it, including those from
Ol' Dirty Bastard,
Raekwon, and
GZA. The late-'60s/early-'70s soul that
RZA sampled -- the
Hi and
Stax labels were frequent sources -- is still in
Michels and company's wheelhouse, and they're as inspired as ever by the soul and reggae session crews of Memphis, Detroit, and Kingston. Even when
EMA's efforts don't match the beauty of the source material or the brawn of
RZA's beats, the level of commitment and imagination is undeniable. Deepest of all is the hard-hitting "Shaolin Brew," based on the track
RZA cooked up for
Wu-Tang's mid-'90s malt liquor ad (as seen on television and heard in the background of the intro to
Raekwon's "Spot Rusherz," but never released properly). ~ Andy Kellman
