Artist

The New Mastersounds

Leeds, United Kingdom • Formed 1999

The New Mastersounds is a music group from Leeds, United Kingdom, active since 1999. Their discography on Gatefold includes 16 records.

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Albums tracked

In collections

1999

Since

Biography

The New Mastersounds are a four-piece funk band based in Leeds, England. The band formed in February 1999. Their first single, One Note Brown, was released on Blow It Hard Records in 2000 and was produced by the critically acclaimed Northern Soul and funk DJ Keb Darge. Since this recording, the band have reached global recognition as a key band in the 'New Funk' scene. In 2006 they had a hit single with 'Your Love is Mine', which features their old friend from Leeds Corinne Bailey Rae on vocals.

The Arc of The New Mastersounds

The pivots — what forced The New Mastersounds to reinvent.

The Keb Darge Blueprint
At the turn of the millennium, the band was basically a vessel for the 'Deep Funk' revival spearheaded by DJ Keb Darge on his Cooker label. The early records like the 2001 debut and Be Yourself were captured with a deliberate, lo-fi grime meant to mimic the sonic imperfections of 1960s 45s. You hear it in the cramped stereo image and Simon Allen’s ultra-dampened drum kit, which prioritized the 'thud' over any ring. This era was about rigid discipline, keeping the pocket tight and the solos short to satisfy the dancefloor purists who hated anything that smelled like 1970s fusion.
The Organ Expansion
When Joe Tatton took over the keys full-time around the 102% sessions, the band's DNA shifted from guitar-heavy psych-funk to a more expansive Hammond B3 soul-jazz sound. This move allowed Roberts to play off a melodic foil rather than just carrying the lead, pushing the group toward the sophisticated structures of the Prestige and Blue Note catalogs. The production started to breathe more, moving away from Darge’s claustrophobic aesthetic toward a fuller, warmer studio sound. It turned them from a revivalist act into a legitimate jazz-funk powerhouse capable of stretching a groove without losing the thread.
The Nashville Tape Sessions
By 2016, the band decided to strip away the slicker polish of their mid-career studio albums by heading to Welcome to 1979 in Nashville to record live to one-inch master tape. There were no overdubs and no digital safety nets, forcing the quartet to rely entirely on the telepathic chemistry they’d built over fifteen years on the road. The result was The Nashville Session, a record that finally captured the explosive, unhinged energy of their live sets that usually got flattened in a standard studio environment. It sparked a creative reset that led to more experimental tracking environments, like their recent high-isolation sessions in Iceland for The Deplar Effect.

Influences

The Meters — The band’s entire foundational rhythm section is a direct study of Zigaboo Modeliste and Leo Nocentelli. You hear it in the interlocking, syncopated 'stop-start' grooves of tracks like 'Nervous' which mirror the skeletal funk of Look-Ka Py Py. Eddie Roberts has explicitly cited Nocentelli’s clean, percussive picking style as his primary North Star.
Grant Green — Roberts essentially treats the guitar like a horn player, a technique he lifted directly from Green’s late-60s Blue Note runs. The linear, single-note soloing on 'The Prowler' is a dead ringer for Green’s work on albums like Alive! or Carryin' On. It’s about the economy of notes and that specific, biting bridge-pickup attack.
The JB's — The New Mastersounds frequently cover 'Pass the Peas' and 'Hot Pants Road' in their live sets, using the James Brown backing band as their template for ensemble discipline. You hear the Fred Wesley influence in how their horn arrangements prioritize rhythmic stabs over melodic flourishes. It's the school of 'every instrument is a drum.'
Lonnie Smith — Joe Tatton’s organ work is heavily indebted to the soulful, grease-laden style Smith perfected in the late 60s. The New Mastersounds even collaborated with Smith on stage multiple times, absorbing his specific way of using the Hammond’s drawbars to create swells of tension. That 'dirty' organ swell is the glue holding their mid-period records together.
The Mar-Keys — The early Stax house band provided the blueprint for the New Mastersounds' lean, no-frills quartet arrangements. Their cover of 'Philly Dog' isn't just a tribute; it’s a masterclass in the Memphis soul style where the bass and drums are locked in a permanent, unshakeable embrace. They prioritize that Stax-era 'thump' over the busier, more polished Motown sound.