Funk

  • Here’s another monument to joy, Marcos Valle’s “Previsao do Tempo”, released in 1973 at the height of military dictatorship’s grip on power it contained some of the most relaxed and groovy music ever to come out of Brazil. Marco Valle, in my eyes, will always seem like the mutant spawn of Stevie Wonder, Brian Wilson,…

  • Track of the Day: On Monday the US Soccer men’s national team descended into São Paulo kicking off their final week of World Cup preparation before next Monday’s super important opening match against Ghana. I can only imagine what the sensation of arriving into the largest city in Brazil could entail. Its such a fixture…

  • My pick for the day is Switch’s “I Call Your Name” from Switch II released in 1979, is really a small ode to the forgotten R&B wunderkinds: the DeBarges. The DeBarges hailed from Detroit, they were mixed race pastor’s kids learning to sing and play through the church. Berry Gordy signed them up near the…

  • Track of the Day: I’m going to indulge just a bit on this Ned Doheny kick. Chaka Khan’s “What Cha’ Gonna Do For Me” written by Ned is a barn burner. Originally slated to be released on one of his own records, he decided to hand it over to Scotland’s funkiest band the Average White…

  • Track of the Day: I didn’t get to this track during my party track rundown, but that’s ok, this great b-side is in its own way kind of special. From Tulsa, Oklahoma’s greatest band, the Gap Band, comes this wonderfully blooming ballad. Released on The Gap Band IV album, a great album itself full of hits like “Outstanding”,…

  • The Memorial Day weekend is almost over. This is a great track to ease out of it. Who knew that a bunch of British funksters, who probably never traveled to the South, could capture the feel of a southern breeze. Freeez’s “Southern Freeez” is the perfect middle point between West Coast R&B and early British…

  • This party track I absolutely love. Rick James’s “Ghetto Life” hits you both in the booty and noodle. The booty can’t resist Rick’s ultra nasty syncopating groove. Then the mind, especially for someone like me raised in the ghetto, gets moved by Rick’s surprisingly honest and absolutely enlightening verses. Rick for all his negative aspects…

  • Heatwave’s “The Groove Line” released in 1978 on the Central Heating album is just one mighty piece of rhythm. Its one of the best odes to just giving yourself up to the dance. Rod Temperton, from the decidedly unfunky English town of Cleethorpes, conceived and produced this groove a year before he was recruited by…

  • The party tracks continue. Roger Troutman, talk box/vocoder and guitar player extraordinaire, posits one serious statement for any partier: how much bounce is in your ounce? I have good reason to believe that the more you play Zapp’s “More Bounce to the Ounce” the more bounce you get to your ounce. In terms of party…

  • My favorite party tracks are the ones that still sound good three rooms down. You know what I’m talking about? When you hear walls rattle with rhythm and the closer you get to the source the more killer the rhythm sounds. This song by Bobbi Humphrey “Fun House” off the 1974 album of the same…

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