StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Back to basics with The New Mastersounds

This week, let's check out some videos of the British funk/jazz quartet The New Mastersounds, who will be performing in St. Louis next Saturday, May 28 at The Bootleg at the Atomic Cowboy.

Known for stripped-down funk in the vein of the Meters, Booker T and the MGs, and St. Louis' own Grant Green, The New Mastersounds - guitarist and bandleader Eddie Roberts, drummer Simon Allen, bassist Pete Shand, and keyboardist Joe Tatton - have played here a couple of times before at the Old Rock House, most recently in October of 2015.

At that time, they were touring in support of their then-new album Made for Pleasure, and now, surprising many observers, they've already released a follow-up, The Nashville Sessions, which came out in April.

Remaking and rearranging songs from their early catalog, this latest album is was recorded live-to-tape in a single session before a small audience at Welcome to 1979 Studios in Nashville, using only the four core members of the band with no guest musicians or singers.

You can get a taste of the music from that recording in the video up above, which documents the performance of "In The Middle" from The Nashville Sessions.

After the jump, you can check out four live performances recorded during the weekend of February 18 & 19 of this year at The Independent in San Francisco, starting with "Give It Up" and continuing with "Afro Metropolis," "This Ain't Work," and "All Wrapped Up."

The final video is a cover of Phish's "Cars Trucks Buses," a song that originally was recorded last year for the website Live For Live Music, and subsequently has found its way into some of The New Mastersounds' recent live sets.

You can see the rest of today's videos after the jump...