Compilations of old soul material are often an iffy affair, tending toward repackaged, tired hits on the one hand and scratchy, obscure, sub-par attic finds on the other. It is tougher than it should be to find collections that balance unreleased or rare tracks with the thoughtfully glossy production that helped defined the musical era of the late ’60s and early ’70s. Thankfully, Sample My Funky Groove: Volume One does just that, bringing together heavyweights like funk progenitor Lee Dorsey and bluesman Johnny Adams (of 1969’s “Reconsider Me” fame) alongside relatively unknown but equally talented vocalists like Ironing Board Sam and Ted Taylor.

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As a genre, Christmas music is about as sacred a genre as they come, not due to any religious or spiritual connotations but rather because of the soft spot in most people’s hearts for classics sung by crooners with names like Bing and Nat and Burl. They don’t make names like that anymore, but then again they don’t record songs like those anymore, either. Classic holiday songs live outside the perverted influence of the zeitgeist, instead tapping into an aura of timeless nostalgia. Perhaps those vocalists from the 1940s and ’50s didn’t realize the degree to which their songs would become lionized as part of the American experience–indeed, how could they have known?–but the fact remains that their works have been etched indelibly on the consciousness of generations raised in a country that, for better or worse, fully indulges in the holiday spirit.

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Tribute albums are almost always ill-advised. Every musician feels passionate about the artists who served as their inspiration but the art of the cover song remains an elusive, enigmatic venture for all but the most daring and insightful of interpreters. The sheer preponderance of bad cover versions (and bad cover records) serves as a solemn reminder of the pitfalls associated with taking on the work of artists more successful than oneself, yet this stinking heap of attempted homage never seems to act as a deterrent.

There are two main ways to go wrong when paying tribute to someone else’s recordings, both of which happen to be anitpodal strains of the same thought. The first path to failure is playing things too close to the vest, attempting to stage a note-by-note recreation of the original performance. Efforts such as these feel bland, uninspired, and most critically, they pale in comparison to the glory of the more renowned version. However, the road to tribute hell is also paved with musicians who seek to stage majestic reinterpretations of the artist’s original vision. In their effort to render the song in an entirely new light, cover artists often miss seizing upon the essence of what made the song so nuanced and appealing the first time around.

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Even if you don’t remember Arrested Development, chances are you remember at least a song or two from their 1992 release, 3 Years, 5 Months & 2 Days in the Life Of… Its bohemian hip-hop flare and positivity paved the way for hit radio singles in “Tennessee,” “Mr. Wendal,” and “People Everyday,” whose success tagged the collective as standard bearers for a more uplifting offshoot of the genre that followed in the footsteps of contemporaries like De La Soul and A Tribe Called Quest. While the sound hearkened back to hip-hop’s nascent nascent spirit of playfulness and optimism, Arrested Development’s lyrics were decidedly intellectual. They dealt with race relations and the identity of modern black America at a time when the more fashionable (to say nothing of lucrative) option was to expound the newly sanctified gangsta approach.

In the years since In the Life of, few acts have successfully followed in the footsteps of Arrested Development’s homespun sound. Some acts, such as Nappy Roots, have embraced the group’s modest southern pride, but most rappers who felt aligned with the sentiment behind their music found their calling in the underground hip-hop scene where being clever and idiosyncratic was ballyhooed over being socially conscious. Now, over twelve years after their last domestic release of new material, Arrested Development has returned to the game without skipping a beat with the release of Since the Last Time.

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Swedish indie-pop duo Club 8 may have run out of surprises a few records back, but few groups can match Johan Angergård and Karolina Komstedt when it comes to consistently producing thoroughly beautiful, immaculately crafted albums. The Boy Who Couldn’t Stop Dreaming, their sixth album in just shy of a decade, follows the pair’s familiar footsteps through twelve tracks of gentle, melancholy guitars and Komstedt’s stunningly recherché vocals. If not much has changed since 2003’s Strangely Beautiful, no one is the worse for it; to squander such a reliably magnificent approach for the sake of experimentation would be a sin.

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We’ve got two new soulful releases on tap for you this week–the latest from New York’s Budos Band and the legendary Temptations.

The Budos Band - The Budos Band II

On their sophomore effort, the Budos Band’s music rolls by like the score to the credits of a long-forgotten Blaxploitation flick. Hardened, Shaft-worthy, cinematic funk explodes forth from this Staten Island group, their music a well-sealed time capsule or the soundtrack to lost scenes of kung-fu bedlam. It’s the sort of music Quentin Tarantino dreams about at night, a music supervisor’s wet dream: original compositions that feel utterly familiar, command an exceptional vibrancy, and set things off with blasts of blustering bombast.

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Jens Lekman doesn’t want you to love his music so much as he wants you to fall in love with him.

For most songwriters, this would be an outright disaster or at the very least a dealbreaker… but somehow, against all odds, Lekman is always able to muster the earnestness required to pull it off. The truth is that loving his music–and there is a lot to love–and loving Lekman is one and the same.

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This week we’ve got a double dose of new releases for you:

Simple Kid - 2

Ciaran McFeely pitches his tent on some lofty summits under the alias of Simple Kid, and on 2 (his follow-up to 2004’s 1), the panoramas are well worth taking in. His piercing blue eyes and boyish good looks are just the beginning of his similarities to kindred spirit Beck; like that protean mastermind, Simple Kid shares an intuitive dexterity for pulling in bits of disparate influences, seasoning his compositions like a chef reaching for all the right spices. From the glammed up banjo gamboling of “Lil’ King Kong” to the hard-charged disheveled fuzz of “Mommy N Daddy” and the Blur meets T. Rex showdown of “The Twentysomething,” 2 is filled with surprises and nimbly straddles the chasm of controlled chaos and proves that McFeely may be one of the most imaginative, competent songwriters making music under the radar today.

Simple Kid’s 2 is available on Yep Roc Records. You can stream a free three song EP on their site.

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Never Forget: A Journey of Revelations is, for better and worse, the musical equivalent of a Spike Lee joint, filled with the same moments of poignancy and the same pitfalls of self-righteousness. Princeton professor and African-American studies luminary Dr. Cornel West has assembled an impressive and wide-reaching array of musicians including Talib Kweli, Prince, KRS One, Andre 3000, and Gerald Levert in what ultimately amounts to an allstar poetry slam. Musically, the prevailing style throughout is a deftly mixed brand of old and new-school hip-hop that is flawlessly produced and leans toward the laid-back and conversational. However, this is far from being a traditional hip-hop record: West’s collaboration with Prince, “Dear Mr. Man,” and the closing “What A Matter of” are slinky contemporary R&B jams, and West’s “911″ is an almost jazzy reflection with airy percussion and a pair of complimentary acoustic guitars.

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Why Earlimart is not an indie powerhouse is beyond me. For years, the Los Angeles based outfit has been releasing exceptional records, touring the country, and racking up critical acclaim on a level few acts can match. Their last studio effort, 2004’s Treble & Tremble, appeared poised to thrust the band beyond the insular scenester threshold of popularity that acts like Death Cab for Cutie and The Arcade Fire have eclipsed in recent years. For some reason, however, critical mass has gone unattained, but if Earlimart’s new fifth album Mentor Tormentor is any indication, the band is utterly unphased, content to continue producing the sort of music that should have made them famous long ago.

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