New Album - Riker Up - Charly Records - Adventures in AI Land

We were asked to give views on this so here is my reply.

I buy all the Soul compilations and many new contemporary or older Soul songs and albums. I will not be buying this personally though of course others will.

I gave my thoughts extensively on AI 'Soul Music' generally in the earlier thread on it, so no need to repeat it. While I might be intrigued by the method and output, I cannot see myself choosing to play the music, so no need to buy it. There is already a lot of Soul music that goes unbought so I'd buy more of that before this release (and I do spend a fair amount each month already).

Where the origins of the music are made clear from the off, I don't doubt the sincerity of those making it to try and create Soul-like music. Beyond the initial intrigue, that's all is is for me Soul-sounding but not Soul Music - which is only my personal choice. Even if it sounds right, it's not a path I am inclined to follow.

I don't want to be second-guessing music I listen to and like the human connection, stories about the artist etc. In particular, I definitely want a living, human vocalist emoting and hopefully some musicians. I also want a song that's written not derived from other songs by a machine. That's only my personal interpretation of what Soul Music is to me though.

A lot of people in the original thread didn't seem worried and the younger/next generation may not at all. It may open some really interesting areas, but like video creations of dead actors, that's where with my origins, that I intuitively feel it's not for me.

Where the origns are not made clear and the music is released for purchase on such as Bandcamp, implying the music is unknown vintage artists (as is happening by other labels and then the music withdrawn when questioned) - that feels more dubious.

I also feel that if songs have been fed in to create the music, this should be stated so the songwriting royalities are attributed in the right way.

A lot of the AI Soul-like music will float by through Youtube, streaming, Soul Radio and struggle to 'land'. It might get some plays, but I don't see how it roots itself without people involved or to front it. The role of the DJ is important here to make it clear.

Perhaps my feelings around it are similar to how the pure pop came into Northern Soul, the right beat and superficial production, but no actual Soul. I don't end up ever playing those pop songs even if I did earlier in my life, unless someone asks.

I've nothing against those exploring it and I probably would if younger, but I cannot keep up with the human productions as it is!

Edited November 2Nov 2 by Thinksmart

Bandwagon...jump on comes to mind. Don't give a F--k if it makes a quick buck!

Soulless, synthetic and lacking any depth and connection to life. ....sits alongside Chat GPT in terms of the neatly packaged (lack of) depth of socio-cultural expression we seem to be faced with: devoid of rough edges, supermarket ready, disposable, amorphous, blandness.

simulacrum /sĭm′′yə-lā′krəm, -lăk′rəm/ noun

1. That which is formed in the likeness of any object; an image.

2. A shadowy or unreal likeness of anything; a phantom; a vague, unreal representation.

3. A formal sign; a sign which represents a thing by resembling it, but does not indicate it, or stand for the actual presence of the thing.

On 22/10/2025 at 12:43, Mike said:

Thanks for the views/takes

Anyone a fan?

A fair few questions do spring to my mind, which given the promotion ('Northern Soul Reborn') of the album and/or the process think deserve to be asked.

One which I would say was a major one, is why don't they use real world artists for the vocals ?

Has that been mentioned in any of the promotion that we have been seeing?

You out there @Dayo ?

Not according to the interview with Andy Rix:

DAY- Yeah, so obviously, the song has always come first—I’ve got worked that out on guitar… lyrics can take me an age… chords, melody. As for the prompting and programming, you’ve really got an infinity of choices. Where do you start? Production style, vocal arrangement, tempo and key, the phrasing and the changes—but it’s a dark and unpredictable art. The software is a beast, and it doesn’t always behave. Plus, it’s got no taste. It’s full of data, but it’s never been on a date—you know?

DAY - As for the vocals, yeah, it still blows my mind that they come straight from the software. It’s amazing how lifelike and expressive they can be—spooky, really. All those subtle nuances— the mouth noises, the breaths, those little swoops up into the right note. I get tingles all the time—it’s so cool.

RIX - So, does it work like a library? I mean, can you just order in someone who sounds like David Ruffin, Levi Stubbs, Valerie Simpson, or even Bessie Smith? Or is it a bit potluck?

DAY - Well, the software will give you endless options and yeah, you can clone just about any voice, but I won’t. If something sounds close to an established artist, I move on. It’s about respect—plus, what’s the point anyway? I only want to do something original.

It's difficult to comment on something so disconnected from the reasons I love Northern Soul.

Auto-tuned, lifeless, loveless, spiritless, cynically profit driven attempt to totally disconnect the scene and the music it was built upon from its roots.

Only my humble opinion of course.

I have written about this in my book which is out soon. We held up the printing to add an update about this AI product. I unpick Andy Rix interview with Colin Day (the programmer).

Here is an extract:

Perfectly crafted, with intuitive lyrics and gorgeous melodies, Riker have taken Fantasy Soul to a whole new level…” — Kev Roberts, DJ, promoter, and author of the bestselling book The Northern Soul Top 500.
(Charly, 2025)

I don’t really have to make an extended critique here, because, for anyone who collects 45’s, dances to Northern Soul music from the 60’s-80’s, is on the scene and recognises soulless AI generated music when they hear it, the interview with the creator Colin Day, tells it all. These extracts are taken from an interview conducted by Andy Rix (2025) where they discuss this tailormade disaster. So, I will let Day articulate his soulful process of generating music for this new fantasy world, a landscape that these purveyors of Northern Soul products see as the future of Northern Soul music. My comments run throughout:

DAY - "Well, by the time the eighties roll around, my career was kinda tugging me away, and I had a lot less time. Wigan had closed and it felt like the last days of something.”

Well, of course, he stopped when Wigan closed. Only someone who did that would dare to make this disconnected excuse for soul music. When we carried on underground, collecting music non-stop, dancing non-stop, traveling hundreds of miles, keeping the scene alive via a small, dedicated community of souls, throughout the 80s, 90s, 2000s, he gave up! Last days? For him, yes, he’s one of those individuals who thinks a Wigan-centric lens defines the scene. It doesn’t of course, and it is only applied by those who gave up, or never travelled beyond the Casino at that time. It is an ignorant assumption that the scene didn’t carry on without their part-time commitment, or post Wigan Casino. It is a myopic attitude and assumes that we didn’t carry on dancing to newly discovered old 45’s throughout the decades that followed.

DAY - "As for the vocals, yeah, it still blows my mind that they come straight from the software. It’s amazing how lifelike and expressive they can be—spooky, really. All those subtle nuances— the mouth noises, the breaths, those little swoops up into the right note. I get tingles all the time—it’s so cool."

It blows my mind that anyone who says they respect the incredible original artists would be narcissistic enough to believe this is acceptable. Spooky, but not with Sue (if you get it you get it!). I never thought I would read the words “the vocals(...) come straight from the software”!
It makes me sad to see how quickly these corporate, profit-seeking, Northern Soul hijackers, sell their soul to AI. But it’s not surprising if you look at their track records (or is it algorithms!). Celebutantes (soulebutantes),World Championships, Top 500s: commodities, commodities, commodities. It all reflects a certain attitude to the music and the scene itself. In my opinion, it is a total disconnection from the source, the soul source, and a deliberate attempt to coral it all into neatly packaged PayPal-ready, shopping baskets.

With this cynical attempt to replace the original artists with auto-tuned, computer-generated, passionless, simulacrum, they have totally exposed themselves as a collective of mercenary soul snatchers. I mean, if Mr Roberts thinks this is gorgeous and intuitive, need I say more? He exposes his soul right there in that statement. It will probably be in the next update of the Top 500!
Number 1 - Hal 9000 and The Halitosis Band – Stinky Get Funky. It certainly leaves a bad smell in the air.

 To me, it doesn’t sound right. I can tell the difference, it’s a visceral reaction, it’s ingrained in my soul from decades of listening to the original artists on the original vinyl. Those beautiful 45’s with their flaws and crackles and the variety of circumstances that they were recorded and produced under. I love the lo-fi, slightly out of tune Tijuana brass that accompanies the slightly off-key voice of a very young Bernetia Miller. The story behind her making the 45 is just as incredible. I love the raw, soulful voice of a young Darrow Fletcher, who, despite his phenomenal talent, had to eventually give up his dreams of stardom. It’s my respect and love for the artists, those incredible musicians who often went through trials and tribulations to make the music that changed my life, that pushes me to speak out about this Northern Soul heist. As a fifteen-year-old, they rescued me from a place I was struggling with, and they never stopped doing that throughout my life. Hence, I find this computer-generated crap, made by capitalistic marketeers, totally insulting to the Northern Soul scene I know, and to the artists that gave the soul of their ‘living’ beings to making it.

©paulsadot 2025

Edited October 30Oct 30 by Paul-s
additional info

I completely agree. There's plenty of excellent soul music being produced by real, highly talented musicians and singers. I saw The 7:45's at Band on the Wall last night and I'd take a single one of their tracks rather than the whole of the bland, soulless Riker output.

I agree as well, it is nothing to do with the music I have loved and collected all of my adult life. It has no soul, no back story, no pedigree or provenance and certainly no feel. Just a guy in a room with some nifty software that has effectively misappropriated and copied the work of musicians and singers. Leave it for the divs to prance around to.

Edited October 30Oct 30 by Steve G

It is absolute tripe, total and utter waste of time - I just can't figure out how anybody into Soul would buy them...

13 hours ago, Benji said:

And they even have the atrocity to come up with a new term "Fantasy Soul".

Yes. They are just about making and moving product. End of.
They want to create a market place that they have total control over. NO musicians involved, no historical or cultural connections to weigh them down.

It's total co-optation of a dance and music scene that has survived decades of these grifting promotors (of shite) trying to own it.

Thats why they stick together and collaborate. One gives a positive 'fantasy' review, the other gets an AD slot on the website, one is invited to teach others how to dance (like a div), one gets paid to do an Instagram or TikTok promo of an album and so on.
It's vacuous, influencer (dimfluencer) culture. It has no room for soul, or history or spirit or life. Its only about profit and soul sucking.

They are the new manifestation of bootlegger's. Cynical, soulless, tacky, cheap and desperate.