Menahan Street Band

One of the most celebrated acts on the retro-soul scene, the Menahan Street Band are significantly more eclectic than many of their peers, as likely to be influenced by vintage jazz, world music, and classic film scores as R&B dusties treasured by crate diggers. Founded by producer and guitarist Thomas Brenneck, the instrumental group always sound soulful even when they're not strictly playing R&B, and they've cut a handful of memorable albums as well as backing other artists (most notably Charles Bradley). 2008's Make the Road by Walking, the group's debut, was full of bold a...