Charles Bradley Shines at SXSW

from emusic.com:
If you were looking for a way to sum up this turmoil sonically, you wouldn’t have to look much further than Charles Bradley’s scream. A piercing, passionate instrument, he unleashed it often during the course of his riveting Friday night set — one of the week’s best by a good distance. Bradley’s songs paint a picture of a violent world — his best is a slowly-simmering number called “The World is Going Up in Flames,” and on Friday, he seemed to be jarring blissed-out festival-goers back to reality by sheer force of will. Backed by the brilliant Menahan Street Band, Bradley turned in a potent, fiery performance, one that crested with a reinvention of Neil Young’s “Heart of Gold” as a bit of smoky, searching soul…. full article here.