Led by founding member Alex Chavez and featuring Pete Vale, Daniel Villarreal-Carrillo, Jaime Garza and Nathan Karagianis, the members of Chicago, IL-based Latin music quintet Dos Santos Anti-Beat Orquesta have storied careers in a diversity […]
Tag: funk
Live Concert Photography: Fulaso at Nublu 10/8/16
Live Concert Photography: Janelle Monae with Nate Ruess at SummerStage, Rumsey Playfield 9/29/16
While most Westerners are most likely familiar with Afrobeat, Malian blues and several other genres that have hit European and American shores since the early 1970s, there’s actually a lesser known genre primarily based in the Western African nations of Togo and Benin called vaudou, named after both the culture and rituals that birthed it; in fact, part of vaudou rituals reportedly involve the use of characteristic lines sung to various divinities that differ wildly from everything one may hear in neighboring cultures. Sadly, many of the genre’s key figures including Poly-Rythmo of Cotonou, Dama Damawuzan, or El Rego have had their popularity confined to crate-digging and groove-obsessed Afro-groove and Afro-funk fans.
Lome, Togo-born and Lyon, France– based Peter Solo (lead vocals and guitar) stumbled upon this energetic Afro-funk and found a natural extension between vaudou and the blues, funk and R&B of James Brown, Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett and others. Solo then recruited Vicente Fritis (keys, backing vocals), Ghislain Paillard (sax, percussion and backing vocals), Guillhem Parguel (trombone, percussion, backing vocals), Jeremy Garcia (bass, backing vocals) and Hafid Zouaoui (drums, backing vocals) to complete his band Vaudou Game.
Now, if you’ve been frequenting this site for some time, you’d know that I’m frequently multi-tasking while working on posts and it has lead to the serendipitous discovery of a handful of acts that I’ve written about — including the aforementioned Vaudou Game. Check out “Revolution,” the opening track off the band’s latest effort Kidayu, a single with an infectious and deep groove reminiscent of early 70s James Brown (think of “The Payback”), and Open and Close/Afrodesiac-era Fela Kuti and Pazy and the Black Hippies’ Wa Ho Ha with lyrics sung both in English and one of the local dialects spoken in Togo — while being equally politically charged.
Live Footage: Brownout Presents Brown Sabbath on KEXP
Brownout, a relentlessly touring, Latin funk and rock act side project of Grupo Fantasma has become something of an independent act of its own since the 2014 release of Brownout Presents Brown Sabbath, which featured Latin funk interpretations of beloved Black Sabbath songs such as “Iron Man,” “Planet Caravan,” “N.I.B” and others.
October 28, 2016 will mark the release of Brownout Presents Brown Sabbath’s highly-anticipated follow up, Brownout Presents Brown Sabbath, Vol II through Ubiquity Records. And the second collection will feature the band putting their unique spin on deeper Sabbath catalog cuts including “Fairies Wear Boots,” “Snowblind,” “Supernaught,” and “Sabbath Bloody Sabbath,” featuring Ghostland Observatory’s Aaron Behrens. Just in time for the announcement of their forthcoming sophomore effort, the band (through their publicist) put folks on to this 2014 live segment they did for KEXP, which features the band’s impressive and funky takes on “Iron Man,” “Planet Caravan,” “The Wizard,” and “N.I.B” and members of the band talking about touring life, the response they’ve received from Latin funk fans and Sabbath fans alike and more.
New Video: The Trippy and Cinematic Sounds and Visuals of Gramps The Vamp’s “The Cave of 10,000 Eyes”
Building upon their growing profile, the band’s sophomore effort The Cave of 10,000 Eyes is slated for an October 18, 2016 release and the album’s material draws from Afrobeat, funk, soul, ethio-jazz an other genres for an ominous, moody and dangerous take on 70s funk as you’ll hear on the album’s latest single and title track “The Cave of 10,000 Eyes,” a track that sonically speaking bears a resemblance to The Budos Band and He Miss Road/Expensive Shit-era Fela as the act pairs a deep, funky groove with a sweepingly cinematic feel and a wild, untamed spirit.
Directed by Alaric Rocha, the recently released video for “The Cave of 10,000 Eyes”stars Veronica Roy and fittingly pays homage to 70s Grindhouse cinema, Mad Max, the work of George Romero and Quentin Tarantino.
Over the course of this site’s six year history, you’ve likely come across a number of posts on Brooklyn/Pittsburgh dance pop/experimental pop/funk act Superhuman Happiness. With the release of their long-awaited 2014 full-length debut Hands, the act led by co-founders Stuart Bogie (vocals, saxophones, synths) and Eric Biondo (vocals, trump, synths, percussion) emerged on the national scene for a sound that draws from Talking Heads, Antibalas (which, both founding members and several members of their rotating cast of collaborators have been members of), Fela Kuti, synth pop, dance music, New Wave, and others, and for an ebullient and mischievous live show that incorporates elements of jazz-like improvisation, surrealist comedy, performance art and infectious joy. Interestingly, since the release of Hands, the act has gone through a major lineup reshuffling that included the recruitment of Andrea Diaz (lead vocals, keyboards, percussion) along with the aforementioned rotating cast of collaborators featuring friends, former bandmates and other musicians from across the Northeast in completely reformatted project that has gone through a major (and decided) change in sonic direction as the material on Hands‘ follow up Escape Velocity incorporated an increasing use of synths and electronics while retaining many of the elements that first caught my attention, as well as that of the blogosphere — deep groove-filled material that’s whimsical, mischievous, joyous while continuing to thematically focus on profound topics. In the case of Escape Velocity, several songs focused on the fidelity and accuracy of one’s memories against nostalgia.
From what I understand, the members of Superhuman Happiness are currently working on yet another full-length effort but in the meantime, they’ve released their latest single “Powermasters,” which consists of boom-bap drum programming, fluttering and twinkling electronics, warm blasts of horn and a driving, dance floor-friendly hook – – and in some way, it sounds a bit like a subtle yet bumping modernization of their “GMYL”/”Hounds” 7 inch. Completing the single is a hauntingly gorgeous, atmospheric and mournful coda that begins with looping synths, subtly syncopated drumming and ends with a gorgeous string arrangement.
The band is in the middle of a tour with Arc Iris that includes an October 6, 2016 stop at Rough Trade. Check out the rest of the tour dates below.
Superhuman Happiness / Arc Iris — 2016 Tour Dates
October 6 – Brooklyn, NY – Rough Trade
October 12 – Portland, ME – Empire
October 13 – Cambridge MA – Lizard Lounge
October 14 – Providence, RI – Columbus Theatre
October 15 – Burlington, VT – Signal Kitchen
Last year was a rather productive and prolific year for critically applauded bassist and vocalist, Stephen “Thundercat” Bruner, as he made guest appearances on two of the the year’s most critically and commercially successful albums — Kendrick Lamar‘s Grammy Award-winning album, To Pimp A Butterfly and Brainfeeder Records labelmate, Kamasi Washington’s The Epic. Bruner also released what was arguably one of the best albums of 2015 The Beyond/Where the Giants Roam, which further cemented his reputation as a dexterous and playful bassist and songwriter, with material that sonically channeled Stevie Wonder’s incredible 70s output — or in other words it possessed a retro-futuristic leaning that made it all sound as though it came from straight from a rusty spaceship that’s traveled several hundred lightyears across the universe. In fact, if you had been frequenting this site over the past year, you might remember that I wrote about the wobbling and propulsive bass and arpeggio synth-led single “Them Changes” and its incredibly symbolic and surreal video, which emphasized the devastating heartache at the core of the song.
“Bus In These Streets” is the first bit of new music from Thundercat since the release of The Beyond/Where the Giants Roam and the single, which is a comedic and playful ode to both our reliance and dependence on technology — and the track has Thundercat pairing his dexterous and sinuous bass lines and his ethereal crooning with Louis Cole (keys, drums and programming) playing shimmering and twinkling keys, propulsive drumming and drum programming and Flying Lotus contributing more programming and editing in a song that evokes a dreamy, distracted self-absorption as the song’s narrator spends their time staring at their smartphone, not noticing the world pass him by — or the inherent danger he might be walking into as he stupidly stares into his phone. Certainly, it’s one of Thundercat’s most playful yet cinematic songs he’s released to date, and every time I’ve heard it, I’ve thought about how it would be perfect in a It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World-like comic ensemble film.
You can catch Thundercat as he’s playing several tour dates including a set at this year’s Afropunk Festival. Check out the tour dates below.
TOUR DATES
Aug 27 Brooklyn, NY – Afropunk Fest
Sep 10 London, UK – OnBlackheath Festival
Sep 15 Oakland, CA – Brainfeeder at Fox Theatre*
Sep 16 Oakland, CA – Brainfeeder at Fox Theatre (sold out)*
Sep 17 Los Angeles, CA – Brainfeeder at Hollywood Bowl*
*with Flying Lotus, Funkadelic featuring George Clinton, Shabazz Palaces & The Gaslamp Killer
As I’ve mentioned a number of times throughout the history of this site, I’m often multitasking while working on blog posts and as a result I frequently wind up serendipitously discovering new things to write about for the site; in this case, I stumbled across a young, up-and-coming DJ and producer, DJ Mestizo‘s contemporary funk, disco and boogie mixtape Unfadable MF (Modern Funk) and make no mistake, the mixtape is a collection of funk that would make The Whispers, George Clinton, Dam-Funk and others extremely proud.
Comprised of founding member and frontman Jon Wirtz (keys), Eric Imbrosciano (drums), Taylor Scott (guitar) and Todd Edmunds (bass), both of whom have worked with Otis Taylor, Gabriel Mervine (trumpet) and The Motet‘s Matt Pitts (tenor sax), the Denver, CO-based psychedelic funk sextet Space Orphan can trace their origins to early 2015 the act’s founding member had been hitting creative roadblocks with various solo projects when he was reminded of what made him excited about music and creating music — deep funky grooves. After writing a few compositions, he rushed into the studio with the aforementioned group of collaborators and dear friends to finish the songs and record them before Wirtz could overanalyze them.
As a result of the Denver-based sextet’s growing profile, they’ve opened for the likes of legendary bassist George Porter, Jr. and Jans Ingber’s Funk Fellowship — and adding to that, the band will be releasing their full-length debut Shut Up About The Sun is slated for September 30, 2016 release. “Free Swag,” the album’s first single is a strutting and swaggering bit of futuristic funk that owes a sonic debt to Mothership Connection-era Parliament, Expensive Shit/He Miss Road-era Fela and contemporary acts such as Lettuce and Soulive as the song possesses a trippy yet funky groove — but with a drum ‘n’ bass-leaning bridge. It’s the beloved old school funk sound but with a modern take.
Gary, IN-born, New York-based (by way of a lengthy stint in Nashville, TN), emcee, singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer Harold Simmons II, best known as FYUTCH can trace the origins of his musical and performance career to when he first starting to gain attention as a young public speaker, who had given speakers at a number of public events — including Mayor Scott L. King’s campaign banquet and on the steps of Congress. When Simmons (alto sax and lead vocals) was 17, he formed Legendary Biscuits and Gravy along with several friends Eric Sexton (keyboard), Brandon Holt (drums), Wesley Winfrey (tenor sax) and Brady Surface (bass), and the quintet quickly came to regional acclaim — they were nominated for Southern Entertainment Awards Best Indy R&B Artist of the Year in 2007 and over the next two years, the band performed at the Next Big Nashville Festival on bills that included several nationally recognized bands including The Pink Spiders, Sam and Ruby, as well as opening for Kanye West, GZA and Nappy Roots.
In 2009, under the moniker of Future the Artist, Simmons released his self-produced, solo debut The Sci Fly EP which was nominated for a Nashville Music Award for Best Urban Recording of the Year. He followed that up by the Overnight Mixtape series in which he recorded and released six mixtapes, recording each mixtape during an overnight studio session and releasing it for a free download the next day — and the mixtapes caught the attention of Nashville Scene, who wrote that the emcee, singer/songwriter and producer was dominating the local, indie scene; in fact that fourth mixtape of the series features collaborations with Bun B and GLC. And with the attention he was receiving, Simmons opened for the likes of Wale, Pharrell, Little Brother and Afroman.
After graduating from Belmont University, Simmons along with fellow Nashville-based artist Chancellor Warhol recorded “Bonus Lvl/Fly Away,” which appeared the HBO Canada series Less Than Kind and E!’s Khloe and Lamar, adding to a growing national profile, followed by an appearance at 2012’s SXSW.
By late 2012, Simmons changed his name to FYUTCH (pronounced Fuetch) after discovering that there was another artist by the name of Future, who was starting to receive national attention. Since then he has had a number of releases — the Mr. Flaptop, which was executive produced by DJ Rob “Sir” Lazenby and featured guest spots from Mike Stud, Futuristic, Mello Rello, Whitney Coleman and production by G-Pop, Wick-it the Instigator and The FANS; a psychedelic hip-hop concept EP Peace, Love and FYUTCH which was produced by G-Pop and featured deeply obscure samples and world music percussion.
Simmons’ latest single “Funked Up,” produced by Solar Shield is a Dam-Funk inspired jam that pairs twisting, turning and shimmering synths, a sinuous bass line, a propulsive motorik groove and Simmons rhyming a hilarious tell off to a lover, who has fucked with his head and heart and yet still is attracted to — and throughout the song, the song’s narrator expresses frustration, bemusement and lust simultaneously in an incredibly slick, dance-floor friendly song.