The People's Champs Are American Dreamers

The People’s Champs bring a level of diversity to their music that’s just about unmatched nowadays.  Their latest record American Dreamers is an amalgamation of American pop and world music influences that mesh into a worldly danceable blend that’s as upbeat as anyone names People’s Champ should be.  Led by Alex Asher, he and the group hope to create music that speaks to everyone be it on this continent or another and they’ve done a pretty good job here of doing just that as American Dreamers is a smorgasbord of sounds and grooves.

American Dreamers has a load of grooves spun throughout it and you can spot the African and South American influences as they wash over you.  The melodies on American Dreamers are buoyant and easy on the ears and are not only rooted in pop music but have an underlying rhythm and blues influence that gives the record just a bit of soul and when you throw in the Superpower Horns, that bit of soul is elevated to a higher level.  All this soul and grooviness makes the record feel as though American Dreamers could have been recorded in 1973.  American Dreamers has funk, it has soul and it has a diversity to it that makes it endlessly exciting.  The fourth track on the record, for example, sees all of this coming together in fine fashion; the tune sounds as if it was found crate digging for another Nigeria 1970 compilation.  It’s got a vintage feel with enough modernity to bring it bang up to date.

The People’s Champs are a great group of musicians who have tapped into a unique approach to playing soulful funk or funky world music.  They have influences for everywhere competing for time and attention and the result is a record that grooves globally.  American Dreamers might be dreaming of America but it’s heart is spread around the world.