The First Funk Friday after the first day of spring calls for this breezy, warm-weather track from the great band The Apples that hails from Tel Aviv, Israel. I listen to this and I see myself throwing around a frisbee on the Mall, grilling at a friend’s place, inviting my crew to my roof deck, playing boozy croquet in the park – really doing anything that involves good friends, warm sun, cold drinks, and solid tunes. Spring, you ol’ so-and-so.
funky
Funk Friday: “But I Do,” Poldoore
StandardI. Cannot. Stop. Playing. This. Song. This is a remix of O.V. Wright’s Song “I Don’t Know Why,” which, as you’ll see is much slower. By speeding it up and adding a new drum track, Poldoore skews the track way more towards funk – and hip-hip – and away from soul. I love the very 60’s era chord progression and lead guitar riffs (vaguely Buffalo Springfield-esque), the tempo, the rhythm track layered on top, the horns, the way it builds – everything. It’s flawless. Check out more of his stuff on his Soundcloud website. Groove on, Tune-Up fans.
Funk Friday: “I Got The…,” Labi Siffre
StandardIt’s too damn cold this week for me to be in an uptempo funky mood, so I pulled Labi Siffre off the shelf for today’s funk offering. I love how spare this song is at first and then builds to a simple richness. A nice and mellow sound while you pour yourself a drink and curl up indoors.
Funk Friday: “Concentration,” Quantum MC’s
StandardThis song is so wacky. (Then again, it was 1999.) It’s gotta be the most mild-mannered rap song I’ve ever heard, layered over a tight rhythm and feel-it-in-your-bones baseline. I recommend starting any conversation with, “Yeah-yeah, yeah, yeah…oh yeah.” Also, this has got to be the only song written ever, in any genre, that uses the lyric “flowing like soy milk over sweetened cereal.” Quantum MC’s were a great group that included two favorite artists of mine – Cut Chemist and DJ Shadow. I find that I tend to start the song fairly soft and then crank it by the time it gets to 3:37. What-what! Happy Friday, Tune-Up Fans.
Funk Friday: “Make Me Believe In You,” Patti Jo
StandardHappy Fear Day, Tune-Up fans! (Or, Valentine’s Day, if you’re committed to living a life of mindless literalism and social norms and having people actually understand what you’re talking about.)
Before you all inundate me with messages about the glories of love and life and birds and bees and whatnot, let me pause for a second. Love is great. Love is glorious. Love is also terrifying, difficult, and a royal pain in the ass. Think of all the hundreds of billions of inputs that endlessly feed into making you who you are – the person who takes their coffee black, who prefers staying up late to getting up early, who prefers big groups to small gatherings, and will never under any circumstances wear pleat-front pants. You and everyone you see every day are Olympic-sized swimming pools of memory-infused preferences and experience-born trigger points, some conscious and some so parked in your subconscious you don’t even know it. In a way, there are seven billion unique languages on the planet. And yet, in the midst of all of this, we meet people, we fall in love, and, sometimes, we find our languages have a common root. Amazing.
This is what I ponder every February 14th that rolls around, and it always makes me think of those people who are in the beginning stages of the whole love saga. No matter how much sang-froid one was born with, it’s impossible not to wonder about the future. And because, in my mind, V Day is also Fear Day, it does kind of put one on the offensive. Hit it, Patti Jo. “You’re gonna be downright in shame if I find that you’re playing any game. Make me believe in you.”
Modernism Monday: “Mr. Dabada,” Carlos Jean
StandardHave a good weekend? That’s nice. Get some sleep? Have a few drinks? Went for a hike, caught up on your scrapbooking, maybe tagged some buildings? Did you “kick back” and maybe even “chillax?” Cool, cool. You know what? Monday doesn’t care. Monday thinks your social life – if that’s what you call your improv classes and the occasional “Thirsty Thursday” with those holier-than-thou Levant desk officers – is about as exciting as a Bob Ross marathon. It’s kind of cute, in a way, how you saunter around on Saturday and Sunday, feeling all pleased with yourself, deliberately choosing to forget that Monday is going to jump off the top rope and drop a knee to your lower back as soon as you crank up your computer. Five minutes until you present your new project idea? Printer chokes on the sides. That thing you delegated to that new guy to do last week? Not only did he do it wrong, but he undid some of your own work, too. Like yogurt? Great! It’s now all down the front of your black dress.
What Monday doesn’t know is that you have a secret weapon: Mr. Dabada. Your music shields are up and your phasers are set to stun. “Hey man – what the hell you doing?!” “I…I’m going crazy!”
Okay, Monday… let’s dance.
Funk Friday, Part II: “(There’s A) Freeze On Funk,” Olympic Runners
StandardOH SNAP! Didn’t see that coming, did you, Tune-Up fans? I had to split today into two parts. Part One: Normal funk Friday to get you in the mood. Part Two: Funk appropriate for the Winter Olympics Opening Ceremonies! The only people I could call on to help us get down to the Sochi groove is, obviously, the Olympic Runners. This song in particular is apropos – not only because it’s mind-bendingly cold in Sochi, but…how to put this delicately…Russia’s government has been an active participant in every aspect of planning for these winter games. (See: euthanizing roaming packs of dogs, hotel rooms so unfinished the guests are bartering lightbulbs for door handles, the whole “there are no homosexuals in Sochi” thing, the list goes on.) I for one am extremely curious to see how Russia will portray itself during the ceremonies tonight. As a serious aside, let’s all toss in some good thoughts that things will stay safe and calm.
Funk Friday: “Straight Fire,” The Jive Turkeys
StandardDamn, I love The Jive Turkeys. This awesome, relatively new quartet is from Cincinnati, Ohio, one of our funkier states. There isn’t a single song they’ve put out that’s been dull or sub-par. I highly recommend going on a YouTube walkabout to discover their other stuff. “Straight Fire” is a pretty solid place to start. I mean how can you resist that organ? You can’t. It’s not possible.
Funk Friday: “Hold On, I’m Comin’,” Sam Moore & Dave Prater
StandardStax Records is an absolute legend, so of course this recording of this song is, according to me, the very best one out there. No doubt these guys have amazing voices, but layer them on top of some serious horns and a tight groove, and you get something on a whole other plane. This has been one of those weeks when I have really leaned on my friends and man oh man am I grateful. Happy Friday, Tune-Up fans!
Funk Friday: “Chuck Berry,” Feature Cast
StandardYou know what Friday’s problem is? Friday’s problem is that it convinces you that the week is over at 12:01AM on Friday morning. I’m sorry, Tune-Up fans, but that’s wrongedy-wrong-wrong. But! Feature Cast has served up a tasty portion of motivation that – are you ready for this? – you can play during the day, and after the day is over. “Jump up, freak, or hustle – do what you want, but move every muscle. Ain’t no time for playing around! Only one thing to do when you hear this sound.” Consider this song the equivalent of that ever elusive day-to-night outfit that you’ve tried for years to find. I lost count of how many other funk songs this one samples. I know for sure there’s “Cissy Strut” by The Meters (that’s the “ahhhhh YAH” vocal). There are about six others, but I was too busy dancing to identify them. Party on, y’all!
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