This is the funk item, so get down. :-) Lets talk about James Brown, Funkadelic, Sly & the Family Stone, the Neville Brothers, etc. Also feel free to discuss modern spinoffs of funk like acid jazz, techno, hip-hop, etc.36 responses total.
Smell my Finger!
See 'Remember the Fabulous 80's?' item for a little comment of mine about techno. I also happen to think funk is the biggest influence of disco dancing and what they call 'club music' (same thing, really). Not all of us can ballroom dance, tho I can a little bit. By the same hand, I think disco helped funk a little bit-- black music, I think, started making a strong presence in mainstream music again since 50's R&B (and more obviously so, without white guys doing covers of their songs).
i think your right Jon. R&B did have a great influence but unluckily some white guys were just making the money off of them. Also, the Disco of the 70's was originated from the R&B as well. Its very intereting.
A lot of disco/club stuff is so stiff (drum machine-y) that it is almost anti-funk, though. I can remeber doing sound for Buddy Guy once in a Detroit club where the audience wouldn't dance until the band break, when the DJ came on.
That's true..musicians have been able to acheive super-tight drum riffs with synthesizers and drum machines. And with techno, it is possible to create music faster than music can humanly be played-- speeds reach up to 350 bps (which you can't track on a metronome). I always perceived funk to be much looser than that-- it swings in a sort of intoxicated way, you know? I should have made a distinction between early disco and club music-- the genre definitely changed when synthesizers got involved. Early disco was definitely funkier-- and indeed, funk had a stronger presence. And yes, Jen, there always seems to be some white guys ripping off black music. At least now black musicians are taking the same opportunity-- heard the remake of Chicago's "After All" yet? Actually, it's a nod and compliment to the musician Peter Cetera-- they overdubbed some of his singing of the chorus onto the track.
Er, actually, the song is "Hard To Say I'm Sorry." Can't remember who did the cover.
I had the opportunity to hear a collection of acid jazz at Camelot the other day. It was nice; it brought back some memories of listening to Spirogyra and Tribal Tech for the first time, except, thank goodness, this music is a little bit more for real and not as Muzak-ready. Mind you, it's not like I don't like Spirogyra-- you just can't actively listen to them and they do make great background music. So, Matt, is there any acid jazz acts you would recommend (and/or individual musicians)? I will likely buy this CD-- it's a 'best of' and probably will be a good sample. Count Basic was one of the musicians listed.
Try TAB TWO No Flagman Ahead The're German(i Think). Trumpet & Bass. Danceable or just pop your fingers.
Anyone heard any recent popular funk tunes? All I can think of is "Just A Touch Of Love" and "I Could Never Be A Woman" (which has some heavy synthpop elements and isn't quite pure funk). I can't think of much funk material that's more recent than the 70's..
I think acid jazz is closest thingwe have to funk in the 90s. I saw Groove Collective at the Blind Pig Wed and it reminded me of seeing Funkadelic a couple of years ago. I danced for 3 hours and the music was improvised and complex ala Miles Davis/Coltrane to boot(sy) collins.
I wouldn't even think of "I could never be a woman" as funk, although now that you mention it I can hear the connection...
i highly suggest these groups.."Bela Fleck and the Fleckstones, The Aquarium Resque Unit, and Madesque Martin and Wood." All are wonderfull but MM&W is my favorite..anyone though i'm sure will satisfy your hunger for funk.
james brown is my hero..DO THA SPANK!
from the ;80's hummm well the best Metal bands came from that era
VERY true! IU went and saw Machina and the Monsters of Rock the other night-they got all decked out in eighties gear, they did, like, a pat benatar cover, and Led Zepplin story hour. . .it rocked :):)
I had a chance to hear Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, but I missed it :(
as a neutral observer (non-Fleck fan who went to a concert last fall at EMU) I'd say they put on a pretty decent show. their style of music doesn't thrill me that much, unfortunately, though I did like the (hmmm.. how to describe? sound collage?) Futureman performed as his solo piece. Does he have any solo albums? How are they?
I noticed no one mentioned hip-hop. Rap in general is incorporating quite a bit of old funk standards, although it is not always in the most original way. Coolio is one such artist (bad example, I know) who did some collaborations with the funk group Lakeside, on some of their old hits. "Mo Money, Mo Problems," by The Notorious B.I.G., borrows heavily from a song (or could it be a sample?) that I believe is called "I'm Coming Out." The word "out" sounds a little clipped, I suppose because the artists didn't want its political connotations-- a euphemism.
I *did* mention Hi-Hop at the beggining of this item if you go back and read it. There is a lot of fine funk influenced Hip-Hop out there such as Digable Planets, Queen Latifa, Arrested Development, the Acid Jazzy Groove Collective, etc.
I know, good sir-- my point was no one *else* mentioned it. Digable Planets-- hmmm...I seem to remember them.
Hip-Hop absolutely has plenty of funk. There is, in addition to Digable Planetsand Groove Collective, Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, Brand New Heavies, Guru, Beck, Beastie Boys (check out _Car Wash_ on _Paul's Boutique_), the Roots, Qwest The Madd Ladd, the Jungle Brothers, etc.
Hm. Wouldn't have thought of Beck as funk, but I guess it applies to him about as well as any label would...
re #21 Very true thanks for the list!
Is this item dead ?
Nothing is ever really dead in this conference, funnie, but sometimes items take naps for a few months. Feel free to put in any thoughts you have on this item, and your text will pop up to be read by subsequent visitors to the conference.
(like me, for instance. I'd forgotten this one even existed)
It's really too bad very little has occured in funk since Parliment and the Funkadelic.
Jon, I beg to differ. Over the years, I guess I've expanded my definitions of funk to include all kinds of stuff. I've heard, in the last 5-10 years, music that I would consider serious funk, by such artists as Digable Planets, Jamaroquoi, Tribe Called Quest, Beastie Boys (you can't **tell** me that _Car Wash_ off of their Paul's Boutique album is not one of the funkiest pieces of funk you've ever heard!!), De La Soul, Rebirth Jazz Band (see the live music review item), the Brand New Heavies, and the countless serious hardcore funk bands around the country (and world) we've not heard of (yet). But I agree with you in the sense that I wish that there was even more out there.
Agreed. But man, that time was a far out place in history.
George Clinton is just plain far out, anyway. And I'm not even talking about his music. I saw him and Parliment/Funkadelic last fall, and he did the entire show wearing *only* ski goggles and a white bedsheet spray painted with grafitti. I say 'only', because at times he would spin around, and you could tell he had nothing on underneath. Trippy.
Yeah-- I think someone mentioned that here-- not sure.
Anyone see James Brown on "The List" last night on VH1? The topic that night was on the top love songs of all time.. he plugged his own song "Try Me" as his #1 choice, although he seemed a bit reluctant to do so. (btw, "Wind Beneath My Wings" as sung by Bette Midler was his #2.) It was pretty funny-- both the audience and the other celebrities seemed pretty swayed by his choices. When they had to make cuts, they started with him, and he decided to take his own song off "to give the kids a chance," as he put it. Everyone was so shocked that they demanded it be put back up. Incidentally, "Wind Beneath My Wings" was voted #3 overall by everyone, and "Try Me" was #1. James Brown was soon prompted to perform the song a capella at the end of the show. Funk may be dead, but it would appear the Godfather of Soul is still revered.
Oh, by the way, it appears that George Clinton is still very active on the music scene-- he did one of those rock 'n rap tunes with Lil' Kim and some others-- was it "Biv Naked" or something? He's in the video, of course.
He actively did, or he was sampled in?
("Get Naked" by Methods Of Mayhem. Tommy Lee's current project; single
features George Clinton, Fred Durst of Limp Bizkit, Lil' Kim, &
Mixmaster Mike [best known for his work on the Beastie Boys' _Hello
Nasty_ album; also a member of the Invisibl Skratch Piklz].)
thanks, carson-- I knew someone would have the info, and I need to remember you're an authority on the topic =)
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