We get inundated with a lot of CD’s that people try to write off as funk, when at best, it’s R&B with a little bass. But there is no confusion when it comes to the 12 piece Canadian band known as Five Alarm Funk. The band is primarily instrumental with occasional flavoring from an over the top almost Muppet-like ranting of a Dr. Hook type frontman who doubles as the band’s drummer.

Their last album entitled Anything Is Possible hit our inbox a couple months ago, even though it’s been available to the public since July of 2010. Anything Is Possible is horn-fueled frenzy with quite a bit of Latin influence that weaves itself into pretty much every song on the album. The album opens with a children’s choir abruptly interrupted with a wailing “Anything is Possible” and then proceeds into a breakneck speed with a song called Zenith Escalator.

There are several songs that offer an Egyptian type of feel including Titan and Brother Egypt, but for the most part, the album is filled with tricky changes, funky minor chords, and the massive horn army blending together to create some of the funkiest riffs since Pass The Peas.

The only thing missing from the mix is the presence of keyboards, but with as much going on as Five Alarm Funk brings to the table, it’s hard to complain when you’re grooving and bobbing your head along track after track. There’s no mistaking that this is truly a funk filled album with elements of jazz, afro-pop, latin, and a sprinkle of New Orleans stabs and sway.  It’s unusual that these guys originate out of Vancouver of all places.

While we’d love to talk about each and every member of the band and the excellence they all bring to the table, that would be way more text than you would have patience to read since there are a dozen members. We’ll just say that these are some of the best funk-fused musicians on the planet. For anyone looking to enjoy a full-blown funk band with a massive horn section and high flowing energy, you need to look no further than Five Alarm Funk.

We give Five Alarm Funk’s album Anything Is Possible a whopping 5 out 5 afros. Get it here right now.

It’s been a sad week for music as Mr. Jimmy Castor passed away and now Mrs. Etta James at the tender young age of 73 in Riverside, California from complications from leukemia at Riverside Community Hospital. She had been undergoing treatment for a variety of conditions, but primarily leukemia and dementia.

Etta James biggest hit was the infamous At Last originally recorded by The Glenn Miller Orchestra, but she was renowned from all walks of music being inducted into both The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and The Blues Hall of Fame.  Even in the 70′s and 80′s she was an opening act for The Rolling Stones.

Until the 70′s, she was signed to Chess Records which was the home of Muddy Waters, Chuck Berry, and many others where she encountered a string of hits. Not only the aforementioned At Last, but also Trust In Me and All I Could Do Was Cry.  Her career was very tumultuous due to heavy drug use that started out with heroin in the 60′s and then once she kicked that habit, moved to cocaine in the 70′s.

She recently saw a re-interest in her music due to Beyonce recreating her classic At Last and additionally sang it for President Obama at his inauguration in Washington. Beyonce even played the part of Etta James in the movie Cadillac Records and while Etta James praised Beyonce for it at the time, she later mentioned that she “couldn’t stand Beyonce“.  While she insisted that she was kidding, a huge part of it was jealousy over not being able to sing her own song for the first black President.

Her story is a hard road, but her impact on the music industry will be felt for many generations to come. Mrs. Etta James will sorely be missed. Our prayers to her friends and family.

De La Soul ruled the airwaves back in the late 80′s and 90′s when they broke out with the song Me, Myself and I back in 1989 off of their debut album 3 Feet High and Rising. Regardless of whether you think they’ve dropped off of the grid, the truth is that they haven’t. They’ve consistently released albums every 2-4 years up until 2004′s The Grind Date.

Now, after a 7+ year hiatus and many production credits, there’s a concept album on the near horizon under the name First Serve.  The songs (and the rest of the album) will be dedicated to the sound of disco, funk and soul, which is immediately why it grabbed our attention.

Take a look at one of the concept videos released for Mrs. Whitter and then enjoy Pushin’ Aside, Pushin’ Along below. We can’t wait for this album to drop. Anyone else hyped about this?

Morris Day and The Time aka The Original 7ven and now aka The Original 6ix have finally broke their silence on the departure of Jesse Johnson. Long story short, the band was apparently blindsided by Jesse Johnson’s announcement to leave the band, but they’ve decided to continue playing as a band and will simply replace Jesse. Here is their official statement posted on their website;

ORIGINAL 7VEN STATEMENT REGARDING
JESSE JOHNSON

FROM:
MORRIS DAY
JIMMY JAM
TERRY LEWIS
JELLYBEAN JOHNSON
MONTE MOIR
JEROME BENTON

Before we address the topic on most everyone’s mind, please let us do two things.

First of all let us begin by wishing everyone a Happy New Year! Although our good wishes may be a bit tardy in coming they are nonetheless sincere.

Second let us thank everyone for their overwhelming support of our Original 7ven project.

This project never would have happened without your continued encouragement and blessings.

Now to address the rumors regarding Jesse’s departure from the band.

On the morning of December 15th we were awakened to the news that Jesse had issued a message on his Facebook page which said the following:

“Hello Babies, I don’t really think I’ll be performing with the Original 7 (or The Time if your nasty) any more! We simple don’t see eye to eye on anything. Love the guys, but I feel in my heart it’s “Time” to walk away while we’re all still friends. May Peace be you.

PeaceLove,

Jesse Johnson Bey”

We were all surprised to read Jesse’s Facebook that morning because the 7 of us had spent nearly 3 hours on a conference call the afternoon before, and his desire to leave was not part of the discussion at that time.

On that call we were in fact making plans for the future. And while not everyone was in total agreement on all points, we felt like everyone was committed to this project for the long haul.

Out of respect to Jesse, and because of the holidays we decided it best to take a moment to catch our breath before making any decisions about our future.

While we know that this “silence” was frustrating to everyone who cared (mostly our fans), we believed a few weeks wasn’t too much to ask after 30 years of making music together. While we don’t have all the answers, we have come to the following conclusions:

1. We respectfully accept Jesse’s announcement to not perform with the Original 7ven. His desire to walk away “while we’re still all friends” is admirable, and we support and wish Jesse nothing but the best in all his future endeavors.

2. Jesse will not be “replaced” because there is no way to replace a family member, but we will begin the search to fill the now empty guitar spot in the band. Stay tuned.

3. While we’re not prepared to disclose any detailed plans at this time, please know that “the remaining 6ix” remain committed to this project for the long run and we look forward to seeing each and every one of you on the road this year!

In the meantime we thank YOU our fans for your continued belief, patience, support, and love.

Best,

Mo, Jam, T, Bean, Monte & Rome

The funk world has lost another classic as funkmaster Jimmy Castor passed away in Las Vegas from unknown causes at the young age of 64.

Jimmy was very successful even as a doo wop singer where he had replaced Frankie Lymon in The Teenagers back in the 60′s before he decided to pick up a saxophone.

His most successful hit was Troglodyte (Cave Man) which was certified gold. His second hit came from the same album which was the title track called It’s Just Begun. His most controversial (for the time) was Bertha Butt Boogie from Butt Of Course which featured a comic strip of a half naked cavewoman in search of the Cave Man of her dreams.

His music has been sampled by a laundry list of hip hop artists including Kanye West’s We Don’t Care from The College Dropout album and N.W.A. even used his samples twice on Gangsta Gangsta and The Dayz of Wayback. The samples primrily consisted of the saxophone line from It’s Just Begun and the intro to Troglodyte where he says, “What we’re gonna do right here is go back…”

The Public Enemy posts are finally up! The show on 1/13/2012 was an amazing show for fans of the legendary band. Enjoy these exclusive Funkatopia pics.

If you were anywhere else other than The Atrium in Atlanta, GA on January 13th, you missed a heck of a show as hip hop extraordinaires Arrested Development opened a show for the legendary Public Enemy. And if you’re a fan of Arrested Development, have we got a gift for you!

Funkatopia’s own Mr. Christopher attended the show and got an exclusive interview with Speech as he discussed the future of AD, upcoming music, the pending tour, family and much more.  We then married it with dozens of photos from the show. So without further ado, enjoy the Funkatopia exclusive interview with Speech from Arrested Development.

The marketing folks must have been out to lunch for the Stone Mountain based club called The Atrium. Tonight at their hip little club, both Arrested Development and Public Enemy will be performing. The show starts at 8pm this evening with Arrested Development and then continues with a performance from Public Enemy. There’s not much you can say about the quality of this show for entertainment value, so it’s highly suggested that you get to it while tickets are still available and you can bet that you will probably never be this close to these bands ever again.

The Atrium website talks about the event indicating that tickets will be from $45-$75, but no purchasing options existed and a link to an EventBrite site on that page is also “out of order” due to a bad link job. The actual tickets to get into the show can be found right here. While their marketing leaves much to be desired, that may be your saving grace for getting into this show!

George Clinton is a busy man as of late. On top of partnering with ATLien Aleon Craft to create the free mixtape Mothership, The Decatur Connection, the funk prophet is also being honored by Berklee College of Music in Boston on February 16th with an honorary doctorate degree on February 16.  According to a press release issued by Berklee, the honor is being bestowed “in recognition for the funk icon’s enduring musical and cultural contributions.”

On top of receiving the degree, George Clinton will also be performing a concert to cover his many years in the funk industry from Parliament to Funkadelic (In Boston? Buy tickets here). In attendance at the concert will also be his long time horn section players Greg Thomas and Bennie Cowan.

In addition, he will also teach a four-day residency at the prestigious music college including visiting classes, interacting with students and even rehearsing with the Berklee P-Funk Ensemble.  This is the same ensemble that he made a surprise appearance as a teacher with last year along with the late Gary Shider for an MTV special.

Hopefully, the Berklee College of Music doesn’t have a curfew because George’s concerts are typically 3+ hours. In the words of Prince, “Bring your foot powder because it’s gonna be funky“.  In that area? Check out more details here.

The mixtape phenomenon is among us and fans of R&B, hip-hop and rap are enjoying more legal free music than they could even listen to in their lifetimes. Artists such as Lil Wayne, Drake, and hundreds more create full length “mixtape” albums and release them for free on various mixtape websites such as datPiff and LiveMixtapes to promote a frenzy in between retail release albums.

The Godfather of funk, George Clinton now joins the mixtape family and was the #1 brother to start the sampling era as his music has arguably been lifted and re-purposed more than any other artist in history. Now he joins forces with Atlanta’s own ATLien Aleon Craft on a project called Mothership, The Decatur Connection.

The result is a funky raucous adventure and you can check it out right now for free. That includes listening to it, downloading it, burning it, and sharing it. Got to love mixtapes.

Download Mothership, The Decatur Connection right now.