When I saw The Foreign Exchange in concert earlier this year, I wanted to be able to enjoy the show without having to deal with writing a review. So, I didn’t write one. The fact that I didn’t is not an indictment on the show’s quality. On the contrary, that show might be the best I’ve seen in 2014 (with New Edition and Me’shell Ndegeocello running second and third.) The band was tight, and Phonte Coleman is a frontman in the truest sense of the word: he sang, he preached, he rapped, he cajoled…it was like going to church and going to a show at the same time.
If there isn’t an upcoming FE+ show near you (or you can’t afford a ticket price,) then you should at least check out their performance on NPR’s Tiny Desk series. The stripped-down approach works for the unit, adding a more contemplative, dreamlike vibe to songs that are already plenty contemplative. If you need to take a little Soul Break™ today, you can’t do much better than this.
Also, I want Zo!’s Tamla Records tee shirt.
