It Ain't Retro. Daptone Records and the 21st Century Soul Revolution - Jessica Lipsky.

“All Sharon Jones ever wanted was recognition—not only for herself but for the whole Daptone family and the soul scene. We proved that soul never died, and It Ain’t Retro is a solid chronicle of our collective effort.”

(Binky Griptite).

With a collective of soul-obsessed producers and musicians, Daptone, the Brooklyn-based independent label launched the careers of artists such as Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings and Charles Bradley, while providing sonic support for the likes of Amy Winehouse. Daptone’s records pay homage but never lip service to the original artists, proving that soul is still culturally relevant, and just as exciting as ever.

This definitive tale of Daptone Records’ soulful revolution chronicles the label’s history, players, and sounds, while dissecting the related scene’s cultural underpinnings, which continue to reverberate in pop music. The book also contains rare and unseen images of Daptone artists past and present, including Sharon Jones, Charles Bradley, Lee Fields, Antibalas, The Sugarman 3, The Budos Band, and more.

Jessica Lipsky is a journalist and DJ from Brooklyn by way of the San Francisco Bay. She first encountered sweet soul music as a child by obsessively tuning her radio dial and has since extensively covered soul, funk, reggae, and alternative Latin music. Her work on the intersection of culture, music, and politics has appeared in the New York Times, NPR, Billboard, The Recording Academy, Columbia Journalism Review, Vice, Newsweek, Wax Poetics, and LA Weekly. In her free time, she likes to boogaloo down Broadway (paperback, new), 275 pages, colour images).