Transistor Sound
The So Ons - Tej b/w Short Shrift (Digital)
The So Ons core is comprised of a trio of friends who met in the fertile underground scene of the early 1980s. The sound is sparse, textural music rooted in 70s afro-psych and Ethiopian Jazz, filtered through Southern California soul, that is equal parts driving and dreamy. Produced and recorded entirely at the incomparable Transistor Sound Studio, these first few sides feature collaborations with a wicked horn section made up of former Antibalas trombonist AJ, the crack Extraordinaires (Charles Bradley) horn squad, and Kelly Finnigan on keys.