Funk
Ick’s Pick: Jesse Johnson’s Verbal Penetration
Dec 3rd
As a Prince-obsessed maniac since the age of Purple Rain, I’ve always been interested in following those he helped spawn back in the day. The Time were obviously the most talented of the bunch, and a sizable contributor to the feel and sound of the band – along with Prince, Morris Day, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis – was guitarist Jesse Johnson.
After the success of Ice Cream Castle (which featured “The Bird” and “Jungle Love”, tunes co-written by Jesse), he left the group for a solo deal with A&M Records. His body of work has always ranked up there as my favorite – his first two albums, Jesse Johnson’s Revue and Shockadelica, are classic Minneapolis synth-funk. Also solid were his other two studio efforts: 1988’s Every Shade of Love and 1996’s Bare My Naked Soul.
Except for a 2000 greatest hits collection, Jesse has been quiet all these years… that is, until Verbal Penetration came along. I know, I know, the album title is pretty cringe-worthy at first glance. But after picking it up earlier this week, I’m here to tell you – this is a fantastic collection of neosoul, retro-funk and R&B. It’s 29 tracks spanning two discs, and clocks in at almost two hours, and you quickly succumb to the verbal penetration ride that Jesse wants to take you on.
At the forefront is Jesse’s prolific guitar work. It’s been 13 years since his last studio album, and this album burns with a funky ferocity that feels like Jesse’s been bottling up this energy all these years, and he’s finally been uncorked. Case in point is the instrumental “Merciful” [mp3] – where a smooth, simmering groove sets the backdrop for a jaw-dropping guitar solo that kicks off 25 seconds into the song, and doesn’t let up until the song finishes at almost 5 minutes.
There are so many highlights, and I’m just a few listens in… Check out “Sheila Rae” [mp3], a dose of warm and sunny pop/funk with synth horns and some catchy female backing vocals (which show up a lot on this album).
“1000 Watts of Funky” is old school – you guess it – funk, paying obvious homage to Sly & the Family Stone.
There’s “Ali vs. Frasier”, where Jesse puts on his Wes Montgomery hat and kills with some jazz guitar.
“Letter From a Soldier (Reprise)” and “Love Letters” mashup classic Curtis Mayfield vibes with smooth neosoul grooves.
Even the strange ones are captivating. There’s “Redemption for the Soul, Enlightenment for the Earhole”, a tale set in the far future where music is banned. It is the “Days of the Deafening Quiet”, after the “Great Last War left the Nurennus Realm in control”. It’s narrated by French-Norwegian artist Jezabella Kipp-Messmer, and her accent will confuse, possibly annoy, and probably mesmerize you. What’s truly mesmerizing is the funky sounds backing up the story.
Verbal Penetration is a welcome surprise from a familiar old friend. It sizes up well against Prince’s post-2000 output, and even far exceeds it at points. Jesse’s hiatus hasn’t diminished his talent and potency in any way whatsoever. If you have a little purple in you, do yourself a favor and pick it up.
Buy: Verbal Penetration
Visit: JesseJohnson.com
Ick’s Pick: En’ A-Free-Ka
Oct 18th
Unpredictable.
Otherworldy.
Fuunnky.
Indescribable.
The new album from Shafiq Husayn is blowing my mind. En’ A-Free-Ka is an hour long journey through strange sounds, funky Parliament-arian grooves, futuristic hip-hop soundscapes.
Seriously, when I listen to this album, it feels like I’m listening to sounds I shouldn’t be hearing for another 20 years. It feels ahead of its time.
Thanks to SiriusXM’s Subsoniq radio show on Backspin for the Shafiq interview and spins.
I had to include these two – favorites right out of the gate…
- The U.N. Plan (mp3)
- Major Heavy feat. Sonny Coates and Count Bass D (mp3)
BUY: En’a-Free-Ka
Visit: Shafiq’s Enafreeka.com
A Quick Nod to Rick James
Oct 6th
I’d just like to know… how in the holy hell is it possible that we live in a world without Rick James?? Yeah yeah, we all know Rick was certainly no angel. I mean, no upstanding citizen would hold someone hostage as a sex slave for six days and torture her with a crack pipe. But it’s crazy nonetheless to think that he’s been gone for more than five years.
I’m still working on getting my Rick James digital collection filled out – several of his vinyl albums sit tucked away in a shelf next to where I sit now – but I have managed to get his 1981 classic, Street Songs (featuring his biggest hit, “Superfreak”), which is my favorite album, along with Cold Blooded.
A tip o’ the hat to you, Rick, wherever you may be. Any fan of the funk worth his salt owes a debt of gratitude to you… I hope the J is being passed your way.
Hear: Ghetto Life [mp3] | Below the Funk (Pass the J) [mp3]
The Time live in KC
Oct 4th
In the year nineteen eighty-three, Prince’s Triple Threat Tour did hit the road. Vanity 6 opened the evening, with The Time as their backing band behind a curtain. Next up, before Prince took the stage, Morris Day and the boys got their 45 minutes in the spotlight, and they took every advantage, trying their hardest to upstage their boss.
I was a wee 12 year old during this tour, so I didn’t get to witness the competition firsthand. But from all accounts, it made for an amazing tour – Prince touring behind 1999, and the Time, with two solid (Prince-produced) records under their belt, there to try and show him up night after night.
Here’s The Time’s set from a recently unearthed soundboard recording from March 19th, 1983, at the Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City.
The Time
Kansas City, MO
March 19, 1983
1. Intro
2. Get It Up
3. 777-9311
4. Girl
5. Wild & Loose
6. Gigolos Get Lonely Too
7. Cool
8. The Walk
9. Outro
It’s Live, It’s Purple: Musicology in Phoenix
Aug 18th
A couple times a year, I slip into my Prince-only phase – three, four, five weeks of obsessive listening. To spur it on this time around, it was the Spin issue commemorating the 25th Anniversary of Purple Rain. The movie and album pulled me into Prince’s purple universe in the latter half of 1984, and I haven’t left since.
What I could use right now is some live Prince – something I haven’t experienced since April 2002, when he was touring behind The Rainbow Children album with his ‘One Night Alone’ shows…
Unfortunately, I missed the Musicology tour. I was moving from Denver back to Phoenix that Spring of ‘04. He stopped in Denver a few weeks after I left, and he played Phoenix a week or two before I got there. Great luck.
I’m still assuming that Prince would want to tour behind his latest albums, Lotusflow3r and MPLSound, but we’re still waiting. Over the last few weeks, he’s played the Montreux Jazz Festival and a fancy-pants show in Monaco. But let’s hope he gets back stateside for some normal gigs for everyman and everywoman. You know, the fans who’ve supported him for decades?
I missed a good show in Phoenix that Spring of ‘04. Hear for yourself…
Musicology Tour
Glendale Arena | Phoenix, AZ
March 31st, 2004
Part 1
1. Intro
2. Musicology
3. Let’s Go Crazy
4. I Would Die 4 U
5. When Doves Cry
6. 1999 – Intro Baby I’m A Star
7. Shhh
8. D.M.S.R Incl. The Way You Move
9. A Love Bizarre – The Glamorous Life – I Feel 4 U
10. Controversy
11. Interlude
12. God
13. The Beautiful Ones
14. Nothing Compares 2 U
15. Insatiable
Part 2
1. Sign ‘O’ The Times
2. The Question Of U – The One – Fallin
3. Let’s Work
4. U Got The Look
5. Hot Pants
6. Soulman
7. Kiss
8. Take Me With U
9. Outro
10. Purple Rain
Bonus Tracks:
San Antonio, TX | SBC Center | June 9th, 2004
11. D.M.S.R.
12. A Love Bizarre
13. I Feel For You
14. Controversy
Amazon Links:
Prince & Lenny – American Woman
Aug 16th
If you do a little digging, it is possible to track down some quality Prince video action online. This comes from the Pay-Per-View concert (Rave Un2 the Year 2000) that Prince broadcast on New Year’s Eve 1999. It was a few months after Prince had released the disappointing Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic. The album was released on Arista, and was conceived by Clive Davis as a comeback/collaboration album, similar to what Supernatural had done for Carlos Santana a couple years earlier. It featured artists like Chuck D., Gwen Stefani, and Sheryl Crow, and well, it didn’t turn out to be the smash hit they were looking for.
As for Lenny, he had just contributed his version of the Guess Who classic “American Woman” to the Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me soundtrack.
And here, the two sashay to the stage in dramatic fashion, and do proceed to rock the house.
Funk Explosion: Dumpstaphunk at the Rhythm Room
Aug 12th
It was about 30 seconds into Dumpstaphunk’s set last night that I realized how starved I was for the Funk. No joke. I literally felt it wash over me like an ocean wave, seep into me, cleanse me, f-u-n-k me. That opening instrumental tune – the rapid fire bass lines of Tony Hall, while he stood over Ivan Neville on the Hammond B3, staring eye to eye – completely locked in from square one. While the chicken scratch guitar of Ivan’s son Ian, and the sounds of the funky drummer, Raymond Weber, piled on in the background. A symphony of funk right from the get-go.
I’m trying to think of the last time I was so funked up. It may have been in the late 90’s in Las Vegas, when Prince took over Club Utopia for one of his aftershows – a funk n’ soul laden jam session that lasted well into the morning hours.
It was a similar feeling last night – watching (and feeling) a talented group of musicians jam and have fun – taking the crowd along with them on a funk-tastic voyage. It was refreshing to pack into the Rhythm Room – a small box shaped club in Phoenix (and my favorite venue in town) – with a diverse group of like minded people. Young, old, black, white – you name it. All there to feel the funk.
From originals like “Meanwhile”, “Put It In The Dumpsta”, and their ode to flatulence on the road, “Gas Man” – to a tight n’ killer viersion of James Brown’s “Super Bad” and the show finale, Sly’s “Thank You Falettinme Be Mice Elf” – the boys of Dumpstaphunk did not let up. They packed it all into a 90 minute plus set. The old saying goes, “Leave ‘em wanting more”, and they certainly did that. I wasn’t ready to go.
As I lingered around afterwards, still in a daze from the experience, chatting it up with my Twitter buds @kfoxaz and @johnnyuno, there was Ivan Neville standing right next to us. It was cool to tell Ivan how I was a fan of his and his old man (Aaron $!@ Neville!!). I tell you, I never walk out of that Rhythm Room disappointed. Last night – for the first time in too long – the funk – the Dumpstaphunk – came to the hot Arizona desert. In August. And man, did they quench my thirst.
Dumpstaphunk’s Official Site | MySpace
Be sure to check their tour dates. If you’re on the West Coast, they’ll be coming your way in the next week or two.
Here’s a recent show from Archive.org – Dumpstaphunk at the All Good Music Festival in West Virginia last month. It includes that hella-funky opening jam.
Hey, by the way, ever seen such a cool, tricked out Bug? Saw this in the parking lot last night.
Review: Alan Wilkis, “Pink and Purple”
Jun 15th
Brooklyn-based electrofunk wizard Alan Wilkis recently gave me an early peek at his latest release Pink and Purple. For those of you not familiar with Alan, let me bring you up to speed the self-described “musician, multi-instrumentalist, producer, and general musical mover-and-shaker” first came to my attention last year with his self-released debut Babies Dream Big (Review). Earlier this year he dropped a brilliant remix of Pheonix’s hit “1901″ which only served to build the anticipation for his new material which has been in constant rotation since it landed in my inbox.
The six tunes that make up the Pink and Purple are clearly derived from the synth-laden funk rock of the early 80’s but it’s never derivative. There is something immediate and familiar about the tunes and where where his previous release Babies Dream Big may have lacked focus, Pink and Purple is concentrated and intense. The auto-tuned double entendre’s flow with the lead track “Snuggle Up to Nail Down” and erupt with 4 bars of pure shred bliss. The juxtaposition of the electronic and analog meshes perfectly. “N.I.C.E.” could bring a tear to George Clinton’s eye it’s so funky and “Gotta Get You Back” makes me long for the days of my youth and is an rollerskating rink classic and is an early contender for the track that I will wear a spot on the hard drive with. The closer “Time Machine” builds to an completely unexpected epic guitar driven finale that absolutely begs for a continuation.
With all the great (and not-so-great) music coming out of Brooklyn these days it’s hard to know what’s worth the precious listening time, but if you still own a Swatch, love Hyper-Color, Rubik’s Cube and Brat Pack movies look no further because it’s Mr. Wilkis’ world and he’s here to make you dance.
Alan Wilkis – “Gotta Get You Back” (from Pink and Purple)
Buy Pink and Purple: Official Site | iTunes
Links: Official Site | on Last.fm | on MySpace | on Twitter
New Nino Moschella: Boom Shadow
May 24th
Slipping just under my radar last week was the new release from California funk-soulmeister Nino Moschella. His debut a couple years back, The Fix
The album is Boom Shadow, and even with all the comparisons and retro feel, you’ve still never heard anything like it. Moschella’s arrangements and production work on this album is a huge progression from The Fix. The horns, the synths, the innovative rhythms and vibes…
Just take a listen to this pair of tunes – tracks 5 and 6 on the album – and tell me this isn’t completely off the charts. Much like I said with his first album, if you long for the days when Prince used to drop crazy, innovative work on us, then you will really dig Boom Shadow.
Hear: Looking At Your Face (mp3)
Hear: Continue to Call (mp3)
Buy Boom Shadow on Amazon
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Side note: If you’re on iTunes, be sure to download iConcertCal. The latest version is killer. It integrates as a visualizer into your iTunes, takes a look at your iTunes library – then shows you who in your library has an upcoming show in your area, and when they have new albums scheduled. Take a look & download here. Highly recommended by yours truly.
The Truth About Funk
May 12th
Behind the scenes, I have quite a cool little network of like-minded folks when it comes to the music of Prince. We have a soft spot for that golden era in Prince music – the 80’s – when he was as prolific as ever. We also have fond memories of his side projects and off-shoots from that era – the Time (of course), The Family, Madhouse… So how cool is it to see that some members of these groups – St. Paul Peterson, Jellybean Johnson, Jerry Hubbard, and the great Eric Leeds – have come together to form The Truth.
Their mission? Keep the Minneapolis Sound alive! And throw in some old school funk from the likes of Funkadelic, Cameo, and the Ohio Players while they’re at it. The guys are tight and funky as hell live, very true to the originals, and boy can they play the sheeet out of some Prince jams… “Erotic City”, “DMSR”, and even “America”.
The kicker? A new live album recorded at Minneapolis’s Fine Line that showcases their conglomerate of Prince-inspired talent. Who knows how they feel personally about their old boss, but make no mistake that they’re paying tribute to him, and to an era very important to a lot of us – an era that will never be matched.
This live album comes highly recommended… here’s a taste:
The Truth - High Fashion (mp3)
Visit the band on MySpace.
The Truth is:
- St. Paul Peterson (The Time, The Family) on bass, vocals, guitar and keyboards
- Jellybean Johnson (The Time, The Family) on guitar
- Odell (Mint Condition) on guitar and vocals
- Jerry Hubbard (The Time, Jesse Johnson) on bass, keyboards, guitar and vocals
- Chance Howard (Prince, The Time) on bass guitar, bass synth and vocals
- Kip Blackshire (Prince) on vocals, keyboards and guitar
- Kirk Johnson (Prince) on drums and vocals
- Eric Leeds (Prince) on saxophones, keyboards and vocals
- Donnie Lamarca (Johny Lang, Mick Sterling) on keyboards.
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