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About urban soul

Two singers, the classical rock quartet, alto sax and a wide use of analog synthetizers are the source of Urban Soul's live sound. The two voices are involved together to create complex harmonies; the quartet's job, together with the alto sax, is to funk the house; a non-trivial set of cuts and loops, sometimes coupled with live percussion, completes a wide spectrum of sounds which faces every day the challenge to mix harmonic research with physical movement, dance with melodies.

The band was formed in 2000, and the main task of the early periods was to blend the diverse experiences and musical backgrounds of the members in a straight and close funky style.

In summer 2001, the Urban Soul release their first self-produced CD and bring their songs on outstanding Rome stages (Il Locale, Classico Village, Big Mama, Bush, Sonica, Jailbreak, Circolo degli Artisti), and in prestigious locations all over Italy (Napoli Strit Festival, Portacomarock, Spazio Giovani 2003, Arezzo Wave Lazio 2002 and 2003, SpaghettiMusic 2002).

After recording their second mini-CD, Fun2k in summer 2002, starting from early 2003 the Urban Soul toured the new songs among pretty all the top musical scenes in Rome and underground festivals around the country. The programmatic title of the album, synthesizing the mixture of funk and new millennium dance sonorities, has been for a while the label under which the band got widely known in the Italian underground circuit. Various tracks included in the CD have been played on cool radios in Rome like Radio Centro Suono (Black Music Station), Radio Citta' Aperta, and for two year sin a row Urban Soul had songs played in the number one public radio in Italy, Radio 1 Rai.

Urban Soul were selected to represent Italian Contemporary Music at XI Biennial of Young Artists of Europe and the Mediterranean (www.bjcem.org), set in Athens, Greece, june 6th-15th, 2003. During the gig of june 11th, more than 1500 people gathered together, grooving and dancing with the band's sound, and, as many of the participants and organizers said, the gig was one of the most exciting moments of the entire festival.

During 2004, the interaction with musicians and djs of the Roman clubbing scene resulted in the co-production of the dance song Sweet Love with Francesco Gazzara, leader of the worldwide known acid-jazz band Gazzara. The song features in the compilation "Slowly Cafe", mixed by Jacopo Corazza. Right after, Urban Soul started writing the songs for a new big album project, and decide to quit every live activity until the CD is issued. It is at this moment that some of the band members leave the band, that remains formed of only 3 of the original 7 elements.

Starting June 2005, the band enters in studio for the first recording sessions of the new album, UNO, to be released by the independent label Millennium Music. At the end of the summer, non-musical reasons bring two thirds of the band to work and live in New York, thus slowing down the post-production process of the album.

Nonetheless, after 2 years of hard work, the CD has been released June, 24th 2007.

The new album has been presented to the public during a spectacular live set at Villa Lais, Rome, featuring the band playing with a full brass section, after more than 3 years of absence from the stage. A few weeks later, the band plays again with a more traditional line-up at Big Bang, 07/07, always in Rome. A new italian tour is currently being set up for late december 07/january 08.

Keep in touch for news and live sets, check us out on on our website www.urbansoul.it, or on MySpace: www.myspace.com/urbansoulband. urbanSoul - Keep Groovin'