Gritty Hammond organ grooves and soulful mod-rock energy. This is the sound of 90s London acid jazz with a heavy psychedelic lean and a vintage analog heart.
Mother Earth sounds like a high-speed chase through 1960s Soho filmed in the early 90s. It is a thick, percolating brew of Hammond B3 organ, syncopated funk drumming, and Matt Deighton's soulful, slightly folk-tinged vocals. The music carries a distinct 'mod' sensibility, bridging the gap between the jazz-dance floor and the gritty reality of British rock and roll.
What sets them apart from their acid jazz contemporaries is their willingness to get heavy and psychedelic. While others in the scene leaned into polished disco or hip-hop production, Mother Earth maintained a raw, analog edge that felt like a lost session from 1968. There is a muscularity to their rhythm section that gives the music a driving, urgent quality, even during their more contemplative moments.
Start with the album 'The People Tree' to hear the band at their peak of creative fusion. It captures the perfect balance of their club-friendly grooves and their deeper, more experimental songwriting. It is the ideal soundtrack for anyone who wants their jazz with a side of grit and their funk with a psychedelic soul.
Mother Earth were an English acid jazz outfit based in London. The band members were Matt Deighton on guitar and vocals, Bryn Barklam on Hammond organ, Chris White on drums and Neil Corcoran on bass. Shauna Green was the lead singer on the first album. Prior to their debut live performance, where they played alongside another debutant band Jamiroquai, they started out as a studio project in 1991 with Paul Weller (on "Almost Grown"), James Taylor of the James Taylor Quartet and Simon Bartholomew from the Brand New Heavies as contributors. They released three studio albums and one live album. After they disbanded in 1996, two retrospective albums were released in 2001 and 2004.
Shares mod, organ, hand played, funk (signature)
Shares syncopated breakbeat drumming, organ, funk, soul (detail)
Shares funk, soul, psychedelic rock, soulful (subgenre)
Shares organ, funk, nu jazz, soul (signature)
Shares organ, hand played, funk, nu jazz (instrumentation)
Shares organ, hand played, funk, nu jazz (instrumentation)
Cassette uses generative AI to enrich its catalog. How we use AI →