{"id":1076,"date":"2019-08-27T08:05:16","date_gmt":"2019-08-27T12:05:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vinyldialogues.com\/VinylDialoguesBlog\/?p=1076"},"modified":"2019-10-30T20:09:27","modified_gmt":"2019-10-31T00:09:27","slug":"mutlus-new-album-good-trouble-a-thought-provoking-smooth-groove","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vinyldialogues.com\/VinylDialoguesBlog\/mutlus-new-album-good-trouble-a-thought-provoking-smooth-groove\/","title":{"rendered":"Mutlu’s new album ‘Good Trouble’ a thought-provoking smooth groove"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Philadelphia<\/a>

Philadelphia singer-songwriter Mutlu tackles some thought-provoking topics in his new album “Good Trouble.”<\/p><\/div>\n

Mutlu is getting into a little good trouble.<\/p>\n

The Philadelphia singer-songwriter \u2014 who has written, recorded and opened for the likes of Philly icons Daryl Hall and John Oates as well as Amos Lee \u2014 can lay claim with his silk-like vocals to being part of the next generation of The Sound of Philadelphia (TSOP).<\/p>\n

But his latest album is a little different. Titled \u201cGood Trouble,\u201d it\u2019s got an edge. And that\u2019s exactly how he wanted it. The title of the album was inspired by a term used by Georgia Congressman and civil right icon John Lewis, who uses it in the context of facing confrontation and pushback for his views. <\/span><\/p>\n

Sure, its got the usual smooth groove and natural storytelling that has come to define Mutlu\u2019s music. But \u201cGood Trouble\u201d takes it to a different level, tackling thought-provoking topics like societal change, inequality, depression and hardship. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMy previous records were a more subtle stream of consciousness, where I maybe had a bit of commentary. But it was more veiled and poetic,\u201d said Mutlu in a recent interview. \u201cThis is the first time that I\u2019ve purposely been overtly political on a few songs. It\u2019s one thing to go rant online, but I\u2019m still a musician at the end of the day. How can I channel that into the next record?\u201d<\/p>\n

The result is that \u201cGood Trouble\u201d ends up being a cross-section of the personal and political, and features a trilogy of songs that tackle the difficulties that many people face in their everyday life.<\/p>\n

They include the first three tracks of the album: \u201cLifeline,\u201d which represents the more hopeful side of things; \u201cNot Escapable,\u201d that describes the exhaustion, frustration, anger and hopelessness that can overwhelm some people; and \u201c95 to 5,\u201d which addresses the wealth gap that seems to be getting worse.<\/p>\n

\""Good<\/a>

“Good Trouble” is available now. Go to www.mutlusounds.com for details.<\/p><\/div>\n

Also different this time is the way Mutlu approached the making of \u201cGood Trouble.\u201d Once again teaming up with co-producer and co-writer on some of the songs Darius Amendolia, the two decided to to take some time with the preproduction aspects and development of the album\u2019s arc.<\/p>\n

\u201cBefore we even started recording, I felt like I knew we were doing what we wanted to do because we had such a road map of the songs,\u201d said Mutlu. \u201cWith some of my previous EPs, we sort of hadn\u2019t done as much pre-production. This time, it was just a matter of going into the studio and executing it. I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever literally thought of the arc of an album song by song from start to finish. I don\u2019t think I was ever as deliberate in mapping out the arc beforehand. And once I stepped back and listened to what we had, I said yeah, this is the kind of thing I wanted to express.\u201d<\/p>\n

The album isn\u2019t without it\u2019s Philly soul vibe. The song \u201cNothing in This Whole Wide World,\u201d is a collaboration with John Oates and channels what was being done by Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff  <\/span>at Philadelphia International Records in the infancy of TSOP in the 1970s, when artists like The O\u2019Jays, The Stylistics, The Three Degree and Harold Melvin and The Blue Notes were establishing that Philly sound.<\/p>\n

Oates co-produced track with Hall & Oates guitarist Shane Theriot and it includes H&O band members Brian Dunne on drums and Klyde Jones on bass.<\/p>\n

\u201cWorking with Daryl and John over the years has been a dream come true,\u201d said Mutlu. \u201cGetting to be on Daryl\u2019s show (\u201cLive From Daryl\u2019s House\u201d) and getting to sing with John at his shows and on tour with Hall & Oates, there were a number of times when John and I would talk about writing something together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even though \u201cNothing in This Whole Wide World\u201d was recorded and released a couple of years ago, it fit into the arc of the \u201cGood Trouble\u201d album. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThat song wasn\u2019t written with the other songs (for the \u201cGood Trouble\u201d album), but it was also deliberate,\u201d said Mutlu. \u201cWe were channeling this Spinners thing, that hybrid of grit and smoothness. We sat down and in a couple of hours, that song just came together. It was so much fun sitting with John and a couple of guitars. It was effortless.\u201d<\/p>\n

Admittedly, Mutlu takes seriously his role as the next generation of TSOP.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do feel that\u2019s a responsibility, to push that sound, that vibe, that emotion \u2014 and everything that goes into that,\u201d he said. \u201cI do worry sometimes, do the younger people really know this music? Do they know about The Stylistics, The Three Degrees, The O\u2019Jays, the list goes on and on. Do they really know that catalog? I think it\u2019s important to keep the visibility of that sound and that music out there. It\u2019s a huge part of American pop music history.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Mutlu is currently on tour in support of \u201cGood Trouble.\u201d He already made stops in Knoxville, TN; Durham, NC; Decatur, GA; and New York City. The tour continues stops at the Club Passim in Cambridge, MA, on Aug. 29; The Soundry in Columbia, MD, Aug. 30; Daryl\u2019s House in Pawlings, NY, Sept. 8; World Cafe Live in Philadelphia Sept. 13; and Paradiso in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Sept. 29. And on Sept. 26, he\u2019ll open for Hall & Oates at the Verizon Arena in Little Rock, AR. For more information go to www.mutlusounds.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reaction has been great,\u201d said Mutlu. \u201cThat\u2019s the most rewarding part, to put the music out and then go and play and get the feedback from the people and see that they\u2019re connecting with the music.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mutlu is getting into a little good trouble. The Philadelphia singer-songwriter \u2014 who has written, recorded and opened for the likes of Philly icons Daryl Hall and John Oates as well as Amos Lee \u2014 can lay claim with his silk-like vocals to being part of the next generation of The Sound of Philadelphia (TSOP). […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":104,"featured_media":1164,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1076","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tvdbook"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vinyldialogues.com\/VinylDialoguesBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1076"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vinyldialogues.com\/VinylDialoguesBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vinyldialogues.com\/VinylDialoguesBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vinyldialogues.com\/VinylDialoguesBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/104"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vinyldialogues.com\/VinylDialoguesBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1076"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/vinyldialogues.com\/VinylDialoguesBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1076\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1165,"href":"https:\/\/vinyldialogues.com\/VinylDialoguesBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1076\/revisions\/1165"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vinyldialogues.com\/VinylDialoguesBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vinyldialogues.com\/VinylDialoguesBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vinyldialogues.com\/VinylDialoguesBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vinyldialogues.com\/VinylDialoguesBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}