JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound Rouse Yourself

Soul music is a substantive reflection of Chicago's vibrant cultural influence and is as inherently Chicagoan as our draconian ketchup practices. JC Brooks & the Uptown Sound exemplify what previous Chicago soul musicians like Sam Cooke, the Five Stairsteps, The Dells, and countless others have projected -- a sense of community encapsulated and illustrated through emotional profundity that yearns for expression and admiration.

JC Brooks & the Uptown Sound are set to release Howl on May 21, 2013 on Bloodshot Records, their follow up to their breakthrough sophomore LP Want More (2011) that put the band on the indie map. Howl gives the listener the sense that the band has not only matured with their song writing, but have understood how to take ownership of a sound that is singularly theirs while uniquely Chicago.

The first of two immediate singles off the new record, "Rouse Yourself," can be perfectly summed up by the description on Bloodshot Records site; it "is soul music by children of the post-punk era." Nevertheless, it is a beautiful song with a crisp inertia and bravado reminiscent of Garland Green. However, it still has that thumping Fugazi like tone that makes you want to shake, shake, shake.