This is the first time that we’ve ever done a review of a movie, but for Atlanta folks, Fishbone has a rich history here even though they reign from California. To make it even more timely, Fishbone will be appearing here in Atlanta in a couple of days. My apologies for your regret should you read this late. For those not in the know, you owe it to yourself to get to this show come hell or high water because you won’t see anything like it ever again. Every show from Fishbone has elements of funk, ska, metal, rock, hip-hop and pop. With most bands, you have a general idea of what’s coming, but therein is where Fishbone’s strength lies.  A trait that many say are their true demise.

Every Sunshine: The Story of Fishbone is a movie documentary that reflects on the tumultuous past of the band and how the 3 remaining members have managed to hold it all together for so long (Angelo Moore, John Norwood Fisher, and Dirty Walt Kibby), even though the film doesn’t spend much time focusing on Walt primarily because he took a hiatus from the band from 2003 to 2010.  But the fact that he stuck it out for almost 25 years before even taking a break says volumes.

For those that were even remotely involved in the music scene back in the late 80′s, early 90′s, you knew who Fishbone were and made it a priority to see them in concert at least once to understand how a show should be presented. The energy was beyond anything anyone had ever seen. From insane balcony back flip stage dives to wacky thrashing onstage antics, Fishbone was always ahead of the curve. So it was tough for them to watch their friends like Red Hot Chili Peppers and other bands like Living Color go on to super stardom, while the creators of the sound wallowed in obscurity.

The movie does a great job of capturing the frustration of the band from the beginning of the project in South Central Los Angeles to the present day project. The use of fantastic animation sequences capture the early days and even dabbles in the historical background of segregated L.A. and how the band mates were bussed to white schools, which proved to be the spark of what would become Fishbone.

The film is filled with appearances from Flea from Red Hot Chili Peppers, George Clinton, Questlove, Ice-T, Gwen Stefani from No Doubt and many more who were truly influenced and moved by this amazing band. It’s also narrated by Laurence Fishburne and impeccably animated by some incredibly talented artists.

The documentary does exactly what it’s supposed to do which is to create a historical overview of the band and increase your interest to see them even more. The stark contrasts of their meteoric rise to fame in the 80′s to the end result of playing to audiences of a few hundred can be tough to watch. But at the same time it’s truly admirable to see a band that could have called it quits years ago and is still staying true to their craft.

The film shows some absurdly strange occurrences like Chris Dowd’s almost cult-like meltdown to Kendall Jone’s simply walking away. Both of which lend their insight to the film which really rounds out the documentary and makes it all-encompassing.

My own experiences with Fishbone began back in the 80′s when I was singing in a band called New Reality playing very similar sounding music sans a horn section. We emulated the sound of Prince, but still maintain the energy of bands of the time like Fishbone, Follow For Now and 24-7 Spyz.  The latter two bands being ones that also latched onto Fishbone’s formula. I’ve personally seen Fishbone a few times back in their hey-day. During their tour to support Reality of My Surroundings, I was cash-strapped and couldn’t go. So I took the bus into downtown Atlanta just to sit at the backstage door of the Roxy and listen to the concert. It was one of the most amazing concerts I had ever heard.  I also attended the show when Angelo went through his Dr. Madvibe phase overplaying the theremin during an entire concert at Midtown Music festival in Atlanta during the Chim Chim’s Bad Ass Revenge stage of their career.

Fast forward to present day and the band is still playing venues, still frustrated by their lack of fame and rightfully so.  But this may actually be the perfect moment for them if they could just get marketed correctly.  The movie may help that effort and their new EP Crazy Glue that was just released late last year may actually find some legs if it can get the push it needs by satellite radio and strong online marketing efforts. But if there is anything that can be said about Fishbone, it’s that they are in it until death do us part.

The movie is already available via rental on iTunes, and is set to hit DVD on February 21st, which you can already pre-order via Amazon here.  But we highly suggest that you rent it right now and watch it immediately. This film should be a prerequisite for all local bands to see to understand how true artists master how to perform a show and also to understand the hardships of the road ahead.

For us at Funkatopia, Fishbone deserves a place in the halls of funk fame for expanding the genre so widely and wrapping up true energy into one big ball of exceptionalism. And if you’re in Atlanta, make plans to see them live this Wednesday at the Masquerade in downtown because there comes a time when years will pass and you’ll say to yourself, “Man, I wish I’d have taken that opportunity to see funk/rock/ska/metal perfection on stage.”  Trust us.  You’ll never see anything like it ever in your lifetime.

We’ve even found a Fishbone mix below for you to enjoy. It’s a mix of song clips and then at 1:30 kicks in with true audio nirvana. Enjoy. Oh, and as for the documentary. we give it a rousing 5 out of 5 afros because there simply is no other band that has pushed through for the love of music more than Fishbone has, nor will there most likely ever be again. And this film does a magical job at capturing the full history of the band and will forever be etched into our library of great rock documentaries.

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 little over a year since The Roots last full band release when they hit the market in 2010 with the critically acclaimed and Grammy nominated How I Got Over. Since then they’ve been very busy bees.  The new album from The Roots entitled undun is set to hit the market on December 6th. Long story short, if you have surgery scheduled for that day, reschedule it to go to the store, buy the CD and plan to spend many hours dissecting this true masterpiece of music.

undun boasts 14 tracks, but hard core purists longing for an album that lasts the length of an Illadelph Halflife will be frustrated, but by no means unhappy with new music from one of the greatest bands anywhere (not just in late night) with just under 40 minutes of music.  Five of the 14 tracks clock in under 2 minutes, but they are those short gems that Roots fans have come to appreciate. Not to mention that The Roots have spent years of their career now creating those short “sandwiches” as the house band for Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.

undun is the story of Redford Stephens and it’s a brief story of his life that has also been accompanied by video clips that have been created to help the story along. Let’s take it track by track, which has been done before during early listens on OkayPlayer. But now that we’re upon the final edits of the CD, it’s worth a re-review.

Listen to The Roots undun album here via NPR.
Read along with all of the lyrics here. 

1) Dun

This instrumental/noise track features the sounds of a crying baby with an overdub of a flatline tone which immediately brings you into the story of a child born into a motherless world.   It’s then brought in with a nice chord progression hearkening back to early Roots albums.

2) Sleep

The first track has Redford discovering his mortality right off the bat. The spooky chord progressions draped with a haunting chorus performed by Aaron Livingston “I’ve lost a lot of sleep to dreams / And I do not miss them yet / I wouldn’t wish them on the worst of enemies / Let them burn, go from here / Like when autumn leaves.” This song is a tad hard to explain, but it’s mood filled heavy feel is a perfect introduction to the journey of Redford.

3) Make My (available now on Amazon)

The first track released from the album is Make My and your first hint that this album will continue the recipe that was so successful with their recent albums of poignant rhymes encapsulated between choruses sung by unexpected vocalists that brag tricky melodies that would make most songwriters jealous.  The track finishes with a nice instrumental groove that is worthy of a loop of its own with a fat strolling bass groove. We begin to realize that Redford is an insomniac of sorts as his battles with sleep continue primarily as a result of his life and stress. “Addicted to the green if I don’t ball I get the shakes / I’d give it all for a peace of mind for heaven sakes.”

4) One Time

This song could almost be considered the tip of the hill with the upbeat smash beat from Questlove. This song features Phonte and Dice Raw adding their voices to the drama of the streets explaining their prowess of the game they have to play to survive. It adds a hard street stomp that you could sway to and having Phonte, Dice Raw and Black Thought sharing rhymes on the track means lyrical mastery from front to back.

5) Kool On

This song brings Greg Porn and Truck North to the mike with Black Thought bragging again on their superiority of the game that they’ve been forced to play.  Black Thought is truly pulling his poetic side dropping lyrics like “Not in the lime light or needed for the crime right / No boasts, just bodied, chalked close to the line tight” creating stunning definitive visuals to the listener. All is draped with nice tight guitar riffs and a flowing chorus of the Bob Dylan-esque “Stars are made to shine”

6) The OtherSide

The OtherSide track is a retrospect of Redford’s actions as he realizes where the path is leading to. This song brings the under-appreciated Bilal Oliver to the mix singing a swooning chorus of “We’re all on a journey / Down the hall of memories / Don’t worry about what you ain’t got / leave with a little bit of dignity“.  This song was originally called The Jump on the original recordings, but grew to be Redford’s song of reflection. The album slowly becomes more West Coast feeling that is even more prevalent on the next song..

7) Stomp

This song brings Greg Porn back along with the instantly recognizable Just Blaze. The song boasts very West Coast sounding piano stabs in the vein of Dr. Dre’s album The Chronic 2011 (Still D.R.E. in particular).  In this part of Redford’s journey, he’s exited out of the retrospect and gone back into the “I do this because” mode and has now added a militant stance that will be his demise.

Lighthouse

Dice Raw and Black Thought take over the controls now as the paranoia creeps back in for Redford.  There’s a feeling of helplessness in the lyrics as if even Redford cried for help, there wouldn’t be anyone there to even hear it or care. Hence the chorus lyrics, “And no one’s in the lighthouse / You’re face down in the ocean / And no one’s in the lighthouse / And it seems like you just screamed / It’s no one there to hear the sound / And it may feel like no one’s there / That cares if you drown / Face down in the ocean.” Even though the song is desperate in content, the song is strangely upbeat with nice fuzz-wah keyboards painting the melody over the background just enough to keep things out of focus.

9) I Remember

We’re back in reflection for Redford as he looks at his life and reflects back on people he’s hurt and choices he’s made. The song is a mid-paced song with a beautiful stutter beat chorus. You’re taken on a journey back home from the streets and the thought process that ensues courtesy of Black Thought.

10) Tip The Scale

Dice Raw and Black Thought close out the lyrical content of the album as they rip this song up with great lyrics such as Dice Raw’s closing “Only two ways out, Digging tunnels or digging graves out” which foreshadows Redford’s demise and supported by the accompanying video. The song speaks more to the unfairness of the world which is poetic in light of the Occupy protests. “Some live life just living well / I live life tryna tip the scale my way“.

11) Redford (For Yia-Yia and Pappou)
12) Possibility (2nd Movement)
13) Will To Power (3rd Movement)
14) Finality (4th Movement)

These last 4 tracks go by quickly, but they use the best of that time with a beautiful string section accompaniment. The pieces are loosely based on Sulfjan Stevens instrumental work on his Michigan album. The first song entitled Redford (track 11) was even performed by Sulfjan Stevens on piano, which yet further showcases Questlove’s never ending journey to find the most intriguing musical artists out there. Every album for the past 5 albums have featured just-breaking underground artists and The Roots do a great job at finding those pieces of the puzzle that add even more avant garde to the mix.

As mentioned, the album will be available on December 6th at pretty much all music distributors and of course Amazon which already has a home for it (sans any audio clips). However, if you’d like to hear the album in its entirety, NPR has released a full album preview here.  We also have compiled all of the videos, photos and lyrics for the album on our site here that serves as the perfect partner for the album review.

All in all, we’re giving this album a 5 out of 5 stars.  Many people will scoff at the 5 star rating due to the length of the album, but you have to remember that considering that they work non-stop as Jimmy Fallon‘s house band, DJ weekly events, create multiple albums with other artists such as John Legend (the Grammy award winning Wake Up!), Duffy, Betty Wright, their fans should be very satisfied with this release.  Reschedule that appendectomy or heart surgery and get to the store to pick up this unbelievable new work of art that is one of their most cohesive works to date since the likes of Phrenology.

We give The Roots undun 5 out of 5 afros.

Listen to The Roots undun album here via NPR.
Read along with all of the lyrics here. 

For years, Prince fans have gone nuts that the song Extra Loveable has never seen the light of day. Well, apparently that has changed as Prince has re-recorded the classic song and pushed it out on iTunes Canada which is the only pace people can purchase the new cleaner version.  The new version features Andy Allo.

For Prince purists, here is the classic original song from way back when followed by the new version clip. You can purchase the new version on iTunes Canada.

And here’s the new version;

Prince purists are already going nuts online saying this is nowhere near the funkiness of the original. The song has been in circulation since the 80′s, so it’s no surprise that people are attached to the original. But the fact that he’s bringing out the unreleased funky tunes of the 80′s may be what Prince fans have been asking for for decades. meanwhile, some people who aren’t Prince fanatics are loving the funky direction. But we’re more interested in when we can buy it in the states.

Morris Day and The Time are back, but now they’re called The Original 7ven.  Pushed into using the new group name for whatever legal reasons that existed was a tough decision, but what some may see as a setback, The Original 7ven sees as a fresh start. While we haven’t been made privy to the reasoning, insiders speculate that members of The Time wanted to make the album a full-on Time album without Prince‘s involvement and the end result was Prince refusing to let them use the name. Regardless of the truth, the resulting CD entitled Condensate is exactly what you’d expect without the Purple One’s blessing and that is actually a good thing.

Getting an advanced copy of the new album was an amazing treat after literally years of waiting.  Like everyone else, we got the samples that were posted on Amazon.com and we’re happy to say that those audio samples don’t do the album any justice.  We are so glad that the initial clips we received from Amazon were not good representations of the true feel of the songs, but a tad bummed that people may gather opinions based on those poorly crafted clips. Bad Amazon! What transpires is 14 tracks of pure funky goodness and a couple filler segue tracks (O7ven Intro & O7ven Press Conference) filled with the tongue in cheek humor you’ve grown to love from the boys (Wrecka Stow style).

The Minneapolis pop influence is evident on this album with the opening track of Strawberry Lake, but that’s the only song where you’ll hear anything that even remotely sounds Prince influenced. The rest dabbles in sounds and influences that have been carried over from the members solo projects. The slow ballad Lifestyle is reminiscent of Pandemonium‘s Donald Trump Black Version, as does the closing track GoHomeToYoMan.  Rocker song Sick calls back to Pandemonium‘s Skillet, complete with Jesse Johnson‘s thumbprint from the rocking opening chords that he perfected with Bare My Naked Soul.  All of that being said, the members brought in their strengths from their hiatus and laid it to bare in a collection of truly great sounding songs that all have commercial potential in some form or fashion.

The funk sensibilities are all over the map with tunes like Role Play that hearken to a minimalist sound not heard since Madame X‘s Just That Type of Girl.  #Trending is the first single off the album that should easily find a home in the Top 40 if it gets marketed correctly. The droning single note keyboard stabs that The Time made famous back in the days of Ice Cream Castles is still a main ingredient in the songs. As are the sporadic riffs from Monte Moir and Terry Lewis that polish off edges in a way that only they can.

The boys are back to their strange quirky songs like If I Was Yo Man which is comfortably suited for a 90′s type medium groove somehow glued together with drum fills.  But that doesn’t keep them from staying current sounding with songs such as Cadillac that are similar to the drum-centrific Drop It Like Its Hot.  One Step is yet another track where they take a chance to try something different with a rockier sound courtesy of Jesse’s amazing solos and Condensate (the meaning of which we’ll let you discover on your own) is a picture perfect song that showcases the funkiness of The Original 7ven that everyone has come to expect. Even though it seems as if it’s outside of their circle of comfort in some parts, they still shine like a freshly waxed limousine no matter what they attempt.

All of this being said, fans of the The Time will be very satisfied with this album even more so than they were with Pandemonium which is saying quite a bit. Even though this album is missing its “Chocolate“, Condensate falls right in line with Pandemonium in the succession of sound for The Time. The individual strength of its members is more evident on this album that it has been in the past and a nod to acknowledge that the sum is not greater than the parts. Condensate makes sure that it goes out of its way to itch the scratch of their fans by giving all of their sounds an excellent presentation and even adding in ingredients to weave in the sound and feel of the solo projects that preceded it.

We’re giving Condensate a 4.5 out of 5 afros, because it’s a great representation of the Minneapolis funk and considering the direction this album could have taken, it really does a phenomenal job at meeting our expectations.  You won’t find a better Minneapolis-Funk album than this and we can only hope that the follow up is not two decades away as this one was.  The Original 7ven have given us an album that was a long time in the making and actually pretty darn close to being worth the wait. It hits the streets October 18th, 2011.

“I want this album to be disruptive”, was the statement from Van Hunt regarding his pending album release What Were You Hoping For? that has now finally hit the shelves and in reality, that’s exactly what it was. Disruptive.

Two years ago, Van Hunt was signed to the world renowned Blue Note Records, but they simply did not share his vision for the risks that he chose to take musically and shelved his Popular Machine album (the link is to an EP of the album), which many consider his groundbreaking work.  WWYHF was musically next in line after Popular Machine, but for fans of Van Hunt that didn’t get to hear the Popular Machine album, this will be drastically removed from his last official major label release of On The Jungle Floor that saw him experiencing some of his most commercial success.  And it’s way removed from his very successful solo album Van Hunt that showcased two hits for him with Down Here In Hell (With You) and the R&B hit Dust that earned him a Grammy nod in 2005.

Van probably believed that he had already catered to the commercial audience as the “man behind the curtain” writing songs for Dionne Ferris (Hopeless), touring with everyone from Mary J. Blige to The Roots, and even a collaboration with John Legend and Joss Stone on the remake of Sly Stone’s Family Affair which earned him a Grammy win in 2006.

But instead of succumbing to the requests of a major label and going the way that most commercial artists strive for, he decided to follow his desire to create something that he had never heard before. To take all of the influences that have embedded themselves into his psyche and mash it together into an inexplicable genre that borders on psychedelia topped off with tons of distortion, effects, excerpts, funk, punk and rock.  But the results may be too far gone for people to wrap their heads around.

Commercially, this album will most likely never see the light of day. Not for the limited distribution of the album via Red Distribution through the Godless Hotspot label, but simply because it’s almost impossible to categorize it.  Even songs that have some semblance of order, seem to go off on various tangents that don’t maintain any continuity. Very simply put, Van was only concerned with pleasing himself and for a musician that’s as it should be.  You can only hope that people share your vision, but it will be far fetched to find someone in tune with the maddening beauty that is What were You Hoping For?.  He even addresses this lyrically by saying, “Give them what they want, and they’ll only want more.”  The problem here being that people might not buy it if it’s not what they want. We’re wondering if he even cares.

WWYHF is a beautiful mess. The opening track of North Hollywood seems as if it’s found an off-kilter beat to settle into and then jettisons off unexpectedly into a hard John Bonham style drum rock bash. The continuity of every song that follows is only threaded together with surprises as if every possible idea that floated in his head was placed onto the album.  The ballad of Falls (Violet) can’t even stay calm long enough before breaking off into a poppy tune. The following song Moving Targets stays relaxed long enough to qualify as the albums one true ballad, but even it feels like the instrumentation wants to break free to sprint towards the finish line.   A Time Machine Is My New Girlfriend is reminiscent of where Van left off with his punk-pop sensibilities that most got a sense of on the On The Jungle Floor album with the song At The End of a Slow Dance that seemed completely out of place where some even wondered if it was the same artist.

But what’s more curious here is that Van has decided to make a lot more controversial statements than he has in the past. Lyrics such as “I asked for a taste of Jesus’ Blood because it tastes just like grape juice.” from Watching You Go Crazy Is Driving Me Insane and even racial undertones such as “It’s the end of ‘white flight’. Can’t afford to live around the people you like.” on the title track What Were You Hoping For? that he says is about the plight of society that complains about where they are while not even considering that it’s a direct result of the decisions we’ve made as a society. What did you expect the outcome to be? What were you hoping for?

All in all, newcomers to Van Hunt will have no idea what to make of this offering, but then again neither do die-hard Van Hunt fans. Some who followed his transition during and after the Blue Note fiasco including buying into his independent release of Use In Case of Emergency that showcased mostly outtakes, saw this coming. At least those fans knew that this album was going to be unfettered madness directly reflective of his musical genius.  In the process however, he abandoned the audience that rewarded him for his R&B masterpieces and then alienated the commercial path that brought him Grammy nominations and awards.  All of which he exchanged for his musical freedom to do what he wanted to.

While there’s freedom in his decision, it shouldn’t be surprising to him when this album struggles to find an audience. There’s a lot of truth to his statement that he was attempting to record an album that he had never heard before, but he should also expect the consequences of that.  From a funk perspective, we can only give it 3 out of 5 stars for the very fact that it’s filled with brilliant songs that are way ahead of their time. Outside of the funk realm, it may very well take 4 out of 5 stars even though it would leave some from the outside scratching their heads.

If you’re a hardcore Van Hunt fan, your frustration level is about to peak. We all want to see him succeed and be noticed by the general public for his musical prowess, but he’s not willing to make any concessions. There is something amazing in that very fact that he isn’t willing to compromise his integrity about his musical direction, wants and desires. The problem is that he makes no apologies and it’s commercial suicide.  Guess we’re all along for the ride…because we ain’t getting out of the car and after you take a listen, you won’t want to get out either. A gorgeous risky journey.

We have to be fair about this release when it comes to putting it up against the Funk-o-Meter because we reached out to fo/mo/deep to request their CD for review based on a review done by ReverbNation that gave it high funk marks. Any time that we hear someone label something as highly funky, we have to check it out ourselves and give it the good old fashioned Funk litmus test.

The CD entitled Eclecticism is instrumental with exception to the track entitled Expansions. However, there really is little need for vocals on this album since the instrumentation should be the primary focus here.  There are no fast moving parts or sleepy grooves here since all of the tracks are presented in a mid-tempo fashion that could probably be sewn together to create a tapestry of similar BPM’s. Every song is designed to be enjoyed and retrospected in a perfect middle ground.  From unusual busy bass lines and snappy drums to the bleeding horns throughout, there’s nothing underwhelming in the delivery and every note seems to have purpose.  Lest we forget the quirky song titles such as Kiggundu’s Bazaar and Mitch Betta Have My Bunny that beg for you to listen just to see what could warrant such a labeling.

The main misinterpretation with pigeonholing fo/mo/deep into the funk corner, as with most bands of this caliber, is that the music comes across as much more freeform funk when heard live than what gets captured on recordings. This is the same anomaly that has plagued bands like Tower Of Power, Deep Banana Blackout, and Robert Randolph for years.  See them live and you’re convinced that they’re the funkiest band you’ve ever seen. Buy the CD and you’re listening to what seems like loose fitting jazz standards. But fo/mo/deep manages to keep their funk edge on the recordings which is a feat in itself that hasn’t been accurately accomplished since Headhunters.  Although, fo/mo/deep thought enough about this possibility to have graced the CD with two live closing tracks including Giant FONKY Steps and the aforementioned Mitch Better Have My Bunny.

To fo/mo/deep‘s credit, this album is very clean and is well crafted jazz musicianship at its best. The Ohio collective has a very eclectic group of musicians (hence the album name), but all are very well established in the Ohio jazz community and their brotherhood is evident on this recording. There isn’t a weak link in this group. All of the full blown members break out their talents on their respective instruments such as mixing up bass styles (fretted, stand up, 6 strings), horns (tenor, alto & flute), pianos (electric, grand and organ), drums and percussion (drums, African & Indian percussion loops & standard percussion).

The bass riffs are fast and tight, the drums are clean and in the pocket, the horns take advantage of every possible melody opportunity they can within arrangements, the keys are tickled and woven throughout, and the percussion is placed with the perfect spatial conservatism to not be over-the-top or annoying. All in all, a very relaxing album that creates soft infusions of jazz and funk melded very well for background driving music, work music, or just plain headphone nirvana.

While we would love to give it a perfect 5 out of 5, it doesn’t meet the full blown funk effect, so we’re giving it a 4 out of 5. Not because it doesn’t deserve a perfect score for its production prowess and excellent musicianship, but because we have to judge under the guise of who we are here as Funkatopians. If we weren’t behind this wall, it would definitely take home the prize of a perfect score.

If you’re looking for a full blown bass heavy funk fix, this isn’t it.  But if your love of funk is more on the fence with acid jazz, this would well be worth a purchase.  Listen to some tracks and get it here!

 - as reviewed by Mr. Christopher

Frank Ocean is a very rare breed, but not as much as one might think.  Frank is a member of Odd Future (aka Wolf Gang aka OFWGKTA aka Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All).  If you heard the two separately, you wouldn’t even put the them together or even possibly imagine that Frank Ocean was a product of the over the top antics of Odd Future. Frank has written songs for Brandy, Justin Bieber, and is working with Beyonce, appears on the Kanye West / Jay Z Throne album and will obviously appear on Odd Future team mate Tyler, The Creator’s Goblin album, which is a very dark and violent rap album and a world and a football field away from this offering from Mr. Ocean.  All before the age of 25.

Frank’s release of his solo album nostalgia, Ultra was distributed by OkayPlayer for free some time back and is extremely reminiscent of early Bilal releases.  The overall spacey grooves that fill the album are layered with incredibly smooth vocals, very occasional slight auto-tuning, and nary a dance tune among the mix. The closest upbeat material on the collection are the songs entitled Songs For Women and lovecrimes.  The standout track that has an opportunity to get some major radio play would be American Wedding that unapologetically uses The Eagles Hotel California as its base melody throughout the entire song complete with the entire guitar solo as he swoons about marriage and divorce.

From a funk quotient, there’s not any hard funk here and not by any stretch of the imagination. The primary reason we even offered to review it even though it’s non-funk related is because it’s got great grooves and it’s free. Yep. You can get it from here; https://s3.amazonaws.com/Mixtape_Zips/nostalgia_ultra.zip . If you find the link broken, you can simply Google “frank ocean nostalgia ultra download” and find a wealth of backup locations.

This is a great love song collection that rivals any slow jam artist out there with tastes of that off-kilter Bilal bizarrity at sporadic points all broken up with the sound of a cassette tape player being stopped and started.  The main reason being that the collection was presented as a “mix tape”.

This is a really good collection of songs and shouldn’t be seen as anything other than a great sex mix.  From an album perspective and what it’s worth, we’d give it a 4 out of 5 for what it intentionally accomplishes and that’s what you should focus on if you could care less whether or not it’s funky. But from a Funkatopian perspective, we’re forced to give it a 2.5 out of 5 because of the lack of any funk even though it has some nice grooves on it which may actually appeal to some funksters.  Why did we review this again?

Leave no doubt that Lee Fields has been involved in the R&B, Soul & Funk music world for more years than most can count. Lee has seen things that would kill most folks having released multiple singles back in the 70′s on various independent labels. The funk and acid-jazz movement overseas brought out the DJ’s crate digging ways that revived the genre that Lee was an integral part of decades ago.  Lee used that as his calling to come back out in the 90′s and start recording once again to bring new material to the public eye starting the revival with 1995′s Coming To Tear the Roof Down and currently ending up at his new release Treacherous.

One look at Lee and you would immediately be disarmed into pigeonholing him as a “soul man” and you’d be only partially right. Lee’s voice is reminiscent of the raspy soul vocals that ruled the radio in the 60′s with The Stylistics and The Delfonics that was heavily popularized by the Motown sound. Lee’s new Treacherous album is backed by studio musicians that have performed on albums from as eclectic as The Dap Kings, Amy Winehouse, and even TV On The Radio.  The result of which is an album that gives everyone a taste of something they like.

Treacherous treads quite a bit on various styles of dance music and a good bit of which verges on techno. The opening track We’re Here To Turn It Out is a straight out dance track and one of the most techno of the albums offerings.  The album makes an unusual jump afterwards into a slow grooving bump and grind ballad titled I’ve Been Hurt with swooning keyboard strings and pads that would be appropriately placed in a candle-lit room with a couple glasses of wine and lingerie.  That is then followed by a slightly more upbeat mid-tempo ballad I Want To Get With You that’s reminiscent of a classic Billy Ocean ballad feel.

The next song on the album called Living For The Gusto is an unusual beast with a slight techno feel that brings the dance grooves back into the fray. It unusually uses the verse keyboard melody from the Duran Duran song Save a Prayer over its chorus while still maintaining the upbeat dance pace.  That song is immediately followed by Manhunt that continues the techno feel of the first track to insure that people don’t think Lee is a one trick pony in the techno dance realm of music.

Treacherous then jumps the track and moves to a reggae tinged song titled He Doesn’t Care About You which has the vocal styling of The Temptations and eloquently captures that 60′s soul sound that speaks to rumors designed to destroy relationships.  As does the following track, the saxophone fueled At The End Of The Day that serves as the perfect follow-up.

The stand-out song of the album is the foot tapping, butt-wiggling Dance Like You’re Naked.  The song has shout outs and chants in the groove of James Brown along with horn stabs that would make Maceo proud. It couldn’t have been more JB sounding if James had penned it himself. If this song was floating unattached to this album, people would immediately claim it as a lost JB song straight down to the clean guitar riffs reminiscent of The Payback.

The album is then closed out with yet another 60′s soul feeling song called I Want You So Bad, but with an added Caribbean taste and then finished up with an instrumental version of the opening We’re Here To Turn It Out.

For fans of 60′s soul, Lee’s primary influences come through here.  Fans of Lee’s previous work won’t be disappointed. The biggest challenge for the album are the varying audio levels due to mixed production assistants on the various tracks.  There are other notable issues with the CD, but none that affect the quality of the collection. Overall, it’s a great CD, but with exception to a couple of tracks, it won’t itch the funk scratch.  But if you love the sound of 60′s soul and a nice dance mix, you shouldn’t hesitate since Lee Field‘s vocals really shine on this album.

Listen to sample tracks and purchase it from Amazon here; Lee Fields – Treacherous. You can also catch Lee performing across the globe by visiting his Tour Page on his website at http://www.leefieldsmusic.com.

Little Dragon is a band on the move. Their 2009 critically acclaimed album Machine Dreams brought a lot of attention back to the genre of pop electronica and Little Dragon was quick to lead that charge. Lead singer Yukimi Nagano had brought a beautiful voice to lay over the bleeps and blips that allowed the genre to breathe new life once again.  Not since Ndea Davenport laid her vocals over the acid jazz tracks of the Brand New Heavies has a vocalist single handedly recreated a sound that many considered D.O.A..

The union snagged the attention of many artists starting with Damon Albarn (from Gorillaz and Blur) who approached them to collaborate with the Gorillaz on their Plastic Beach album which resulted in two of the albums most acclaimed songs (Empire Ants and To Binge).  That notoriety then resulted in David Sitek (of TV On The Radio) asking Yukimi to lend her vocals to the If You Return track on his solo album Maximum Balloon.  And now you’ll hear Yukimi on Raphael Saadiq’s track entitled Just Don’t and also Outkasts’ Big Boi on his next album since he decided to produce one of their songs on his next album at the nudging of Andre 3000 who had also been smitten by her siren song.

As for Little Dragon’s new album Ritual Union, to put it bluntly, it’s simple and gorgeous at the same time.  From a Funkatopian perspective, the level of funk you’ll experience is akin to the slimmed down electronic nirvana of what we loved about the formula of Prince’s Kiss and When Doves Cry.  An influence that Esquire wasted an entire review analyzing instead of focusing on the true brilliance of Little Dragon.

The band describes themselves as what it would sound like if Erykah Badu was fronting the Psychedelic Furs. And while that’s not far from the truth, a better description would be Erykah Badu fronting Radiohead. The electronic beeps and blips, single note keyboard stabs and riffs are all melded together in an inarguably trippy fashion that make it difficult to turn away.  Yumiki effortlessly intertwines her vocals among the electronic genius of her band that has an incredible ear for creating music masterpieces out of tones and sounds that most artists would simply dismiss. An artform that most thought went away with the legend that was Dilla where you take a sound that most would ignore and turn it into something truly magical.

From the opening title track Ritual Union and through 11 tracks of the album, you experience songs that seem to revel in the space more than the notes and melodies themselves. Where most bands would fill the emptiness with effects and solos, Little Dragon embraces the voids and polishes their edges. The result is one of the most mentally satisfying albums we’ve heard in quite some time.  There are pop gems that could easily find a radio home if marketed correctly, such as tunes like Ritual Union and Shuffle A Dream.

Little Dragon’s pop sensitivities are completely in play here and they relish in it with complete abandon even when they’re taking occasional strolls through psychedelia with songs such as Crystalfilm and the amazing ambiance of When I Go Out.  Even when you’re certain that a song such as Little Man doesn’t have the ingredients to create something cohesive, they’re quick to prove you wrong.

Of all the tracks that you must hear off of the new album, the title track Ritual Union and When I Go Out are among the masterpieces that can be found on this collection of true electronic beauty.   Although there are no weak songs present on this album and it’s easily one of the best minimalist productions we’ve heard in quite some time.  If there were any complaints, they only stem from the hard truth of seeing them perform live first on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon since the full band performance is much fuller and satisfying as evident by their multiple sold out performances.  The Roots drummer Questlove was the latest bitten by the band which resulted in an national audience being sideswiped by an amazing band they had never heard of, but now have no choice but to listen and obey.  As with most electronic bands, the album is notably absent of live instrumentation such as drums, guitar and bass.  It’s held together with vocals, keyboards, drum machines and some amazing production values, but satisfying nonetheless.

Needless to say, the album which hit the streets July 25th is a must have for people who like new music in general. For Funkatopians, this isn’t a funk album along the lines of Parliament or Slave, but that same incredible feeling filler that we enjoyed when Peter Gabriel’s Security or Thomas Dolby’s Age of Wireless hit the streets back in the day.  It deep dives into the realm of electronica and is force to be reckoned with. We give it 4 out of 5 afros.  Get it here.  Get it now.

 - As reviewed by Mr. Christopher