Maxi Jazz & The E-Type Boys - Simple..Not Easy (2016)

What do you do if you’ve spent the last twenty years touring the globe, forging a fearsome live reputation with electronic wizards and festival favourites, Faithless? If you’re Maxi Jazz, it’s simple; form a guitar band. Frontman, Buddhist rapper Maxi Jazz was one third of one of the most successful electronic acts in the world. To date, Faithless have sold over 15 million records worldwide, toured the globe and been dubbed responsible for the creation of a whole new sonic landscape for Dance Music; the first to mix dance, hip-hop, blues, folk and classical music – a dramatic bed for the thoughtful lyricist. In 2013, on a hiatus from Faithless and with no plan or agenda, Maxi got back into the studio and armed with nothing but a guitar and his notebook began to write. Influenced by everything from Todd Rundgren to Sly Stone, from James Brown to JJ Cale, from Jimi Hendrix to Parliament as well, of course as the ‘Golden Age’ of Reggae, a new sound emerged. Back to his roots, the sound incorporated melodic funk and blues mixed with reggae beats, dub baselines, Jamaican melodies, and smooth insightful, penetrating lyrics from one of the most iconic wordsmiths of our generation. Lyrically poetic and playful the music distinguishes more than ever his great love of the human spirit.