#funk revival

[randomvarious]

1996 New York City Playlist (YouTube)

OK, folks, for this week’s playlist post, I figured we’d do something a little bit different than what we’ve been doing lately, by taking a nice and circuitous day-tour through some different and random parts of the Big Apple’s music underground. But when we first arrive, we’ll also be hopping into a time machine that’ll be taking us all the way back to the year 1996 🏃‍♂️💨.

Our journey will start in uptown Manhattan, specifically Harlem, because that’s where this severely overlooked rapper named Raucous a/k/a Sabotage hails from. He couldn’t seem to figure out a way to hack it in an oversaturated east coast rap market at the time, so, at some point he moved to Frankfurt in Germany to try his luck over there. But before that move, it appears he dropped a 12-inch on New York’s Shadow Records called No Way Out. And on that 12-inch is a dope mix of the song by this German-Italian guy who goes by Roey Marquis II. This vintage mid-90s hip hop gem’s got a couple uploads on YouTube and, in total, is currently sitting at over 2,300 plays.

After that, we’re grabbing the 6 train and taking it down to the Broadway & Lafayette stop, where we’ll then transfer to the F, and then take that to 2nd Av. There’s this Lower East Side skacore-punk band down there named Choking Victim, and they’ve got this fuckin’ wild and rowdy anthem about being driven insane by treatment for bug bites called “Infested” that really makes you wanna break shit and put holes in walls 😤. This one’s actually a bit of a 90s punk classic though, because across its many uploads on YouTube, it’s managed to rack up well over a million plays at this point.

Next, we’re gonna get back on the F and take that to the West 4th Street stop, where we’ll then transfer to the A/C/E line and then get off at 42nd Street in Hell’s Kitchen. There’s this new funk label a couple blocks over called Desco, and they’ve got all this old, analog equipment that allows them to make tunes that sound like they’re straight out of the 60s and 70s. They have this remarkable band called The Other Side, a guy who plays sitar coffeehouse funk named Bill ‘Ravi’ Harris—who is really just one of the label’s co-founders, Gabriel Roth—and they also have this pretty unknown chick named Sharon Jones too. Be on the lookout for her 👀. Desco’s stuff is really cool, and none of these tracks seem to have too much YouTube burn either; the one with the highest view count belongs to one of those ‘Ravi’ Harris songs, having achieved over 12,000 plays across its multiple uploads.

And then, for the last stop on our trip, we’ll get back on the A/C/E and take it down to 14th Street, where we’ll transfer at the L, and then take that to Bedford Av in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. We’ll pick up a bag of some super dank weed and then check out this little-known illbient-dub scene they’ve got going on there, with all this eerie, trip-hoppy and hip-hoppy music that feels slightly off-kilter and a tad unsettling. Plus, a little bit of jungle too. There’s acts with names like Lloop & Morpheus, Captain Kowatchi, Professor Shehab, Master Crazy Bongo, and Dr. Israel. Just stoner beats galore crawling through this neighborhood! 😊. All of this stuff’s at under 2,200 plays too.

This playlist is ordered as chronologically as possible and links are provided below to songs that have been posted about previously in order to give them more context:

Raucous a/k/a Sabotage – “No Way Out (Roey Marquis II Remix)” Choking Victim – “Infested” The Other Side – “You Do Something I Don’t Do Nothing” Ravi Harris & The Prophets – “Path of the Blazing Sarong” Ravi Harris & The Prophets – “Hot Pants Road” Sharon Jones – “Damn It’s Hot (Part 1)” Sharon Jones – “Damn It’s Hot (Part 2)” Lloop & Morpheus – “Hibiscus” Captain Kowatchi, Professor Shehab & Master Crazy Bongo – “The Question of Conscience” Dr. Israel – “Residence Dub”

Playlist is also on YouTube Music.

So, a little over 40 minutes of New York City music from 1996 here for you all. Such an incredibly rich and eclectic metropolis, with these little sonic pockets that all managed to operate simultaneously. Cool to take a bird’s eye view of it all too 😎.

Enjoy!

More to come, eventually. Stay tuned!

Like what you hear? Follow me on Spotify and YouTube for more cool playlists and uploads!

[randomvarious]

Today’s compilation:

Spike's Choice: The Desco Funk 45' Collection 1998 Funk Revival / Funk

This entire compilation consists of funk songs that sound like they were recorded in the 60s or 70s, but were actually recorded in the 90s. And that’s because the label that was responsible for releasing all of these songs, Desco, only used equipment from the 60s and 70s in order to get that good, vintage funk sound. Based out of New York City, Desco’s main mission was funk revivalism, and they were probably the best label to do it at the time. Desco were also the ones who gave the late, great Sharon Jones her start (god rest her beautiful soul) and provided a home for veterans like Joseph Henry. And then there was the amazing sitar coffeehouse funk of Bill “Ravi” Harris, for whom they developed an elaborate backstory, when it was just Desco’s co-founder Gabriel Roth the whole time. Awesome stuff.

Twelve 45s from the Desco catalog crammed here into one, excellent compilation. You could surreptitiously take any of these songs and put them in a 60s/70s funk playlist, and unless someone recognized the songs themselves or the voices of the singers, there's no way they'd know that these songs were actually from the 90s. Like, the sound really is that authentic. You, yourself, could try your hand at playing a 60s or 70s funk tune note-for-note, but it wouldn't sound like these tunes do because the recording equipment you'd be using is different than the equipment that was used in the 60s and 70s. But Desco had that equipment, which is why this comp sounds like a bunch of old, never-before-heard funk gems.

As a label, Desco wanted to reproduce the sounds that old school funk junkies would spend hours digging through crates in musty basements in search of and they consistently managed to knock it out of the park. Good variety on here, too. Slow, midtempo, and fast; fully instrumental and also vocal. Just a bunch of superb odes to a bygone era.

Highlights:

The Other Side - "You Do Something I Don't Do Nothing" Ravi Harris & The Prophets - "Path Of The Blazing Sarong" Ravi Harris & The Prophets - "Hot Pants Road" Sharon Jones - "Damn It's Hot (Part 1)" / "Damn It's Hot (Part 2)" Sharon Jones - "Hook and Sling Meets the Funky Superfly (Part 1)" Ravi Harris & The Prophets - "Thunderbird (Part 1)" Ravi Harris & The Prophets - "Thunderbird (Part 2)" Soul Providers - "Soul Jasper" Soul Providers - "Let the Music Take Your Mind" Joseph Henry - "Who's the King? (You Know That's Me)" Joseph Henry - "I Feel Right" Sharon Jones - "You Better Think Twice" Sharon Jones - "I Got the Feeling" Lee Fields - "Hay Sallie Mae Get Off My Feet"

[randomvarious]

1990s Funk Playlist (YouTube)

This entire playlist consists of funk songs that sound like they were recorded in the 60s or 70s, but were actually recorded in the 90s. And that’s because the label that was responsible for releasing all of these songs, Desco, only used equipment from the 60s and 70s in order to get that good, vintage funk sound. Based out of New York City, Desco’s main mission was funk revivalism, and they were probably the best label to do it at the time. Desco were also the ones who gave the late, great Sharon Jones her start (god rest her beautiful soul) and provided a home for veterans like Lee Fields and Joseph Henry, too. And then there was the amazing sitar coffeehouse funk of Bill “Ravi” Harris, for whom they developed an entire fake backstory, when it was just Desco’s co-founder Gabriel Roth the entire time. Awesome stuff.

This playlist is ordered as chronologically as possible and links are provided below to songs that have been posted about previously in order to give them more context:

The Other Side - “You Do Something I Don’t Do Nothing” Ravi Harris & The Prophets - “Path of the Blazing Sarong” Ravi Harris & The Prophets - “Hot Pants Road” Sharon Jones - “Damn It’s Hot (Part 1)” Sharon Jones - “Damn It’s Hot (Part 2)” Sharon Jones - “Hook and Sling Meets the Funky Superfly (Part 1)” Soul Providers - “Soul Jasper” Joseph Henry - “Who’s the King? (You Know That’s Me)” Joseph Henry - “I Feel Right” Sharon Jones - “I Got the Feeling” Lee Fields - “Hay Sallie Mae Get Off My Feet”

More to come, eventually.

[numidianwriter]

Ear pleasures 🖤🤎💜🎧😊

[randomvarious]

Visit Original Link

Sharon Jones - “You Better Think Twice” Spike’s Choice: The Desco Funk 45′ Collection 1998

Sharon Jones, dubbed the female James Brown, got her start in the music industry at age 40 singing backup in New York for Lee Fields. The two men who organized the recording session would go on to found Desco Records, a label at the helm of a 90s funk and soul revival scene in New York. It was at this label that Jones released her first three singles from 1996 to 1998. This is the A-side of the third single. 

At the start of the song is a drum beat and a horn. It sounds like a simple, funky old school hip hop beat. But after a few seconds, Jones starts singing and the bass kicks in, along with some funky guitar as well as an electric organ. I have no idea who any of the backing band members are, but they contributed to a sweet, 90s funk gem. 

Jones sings here with confidence as a strong and independent woman (Gotta be a woman, when things get rough) that knows what she wants: some good lovin’. She works hard (she was a corrections officer at Rikers Island) and she’s not gonna take any BS from any man.

[musicdawn]

Kuja Orchestra - Saataja Sapiens [Pingispong] 2003 Jazz Funk 45

[iheartmoosiq]

The other day, my friend who recently moved back to the States sent me a message. He was curious why the music scene suddenly revolved so concretely around funk and disco music. I wrote back some long winded, babbling thoughts about the current huge disco and funk revival. I'm pretty dang glad music has evolved in this direction as of late, as I've been a huge fan of the songs that have come out of it. Daft Punk's RAM still sits near the apex of this year's most stupendous albums for me. For those that agree, it's time to check out British duo Zero 7's latest On My Own. It's a nu-disco, glossy track that carries a lot of the same funk/disco vibes synth and instrumentals wise, but with a far more velvety vocal centric structure. On My Own features Danny Pratt of Australia on those vocals. There are certainly some Toro Y Moi moments in the track as well, particularly towards the mellow, chillwavey end. The B-side for On My Own is the fantastic Don't Call It Love featuring Los Angeles artist Tom Leonard. It continues the crunchy funk and smooth electro sheen. Stream it below. Yummy.

[mantekka]

Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings are the rarest type of retro/revivalist band-- the type that transcends its devotion to a style of music associated with a distant past. They make soul music in the classic sense, the kind of tracks that might have been laid down in Memphis, Muscle Shoals, Detroit, Philadelphia, or Chicago in the late 1960s and early 70s. But there's more to their sound than a nostalgia trip-- it's an affirmation of the validity of working in specific styles, even ones most people stopped exploring decades ago.

The Dap-Kings succeed through attention to detail. While a lot of music makes aesthetic or stylistic nods to 60s, almost none of it actually captures the sonic character of the era. But on each of their albums, Jones and her collaborators, led by Gabriel Roth, have done just that. And it doesn't just come down to the production and placement of the microphones. Jones deserves the most credit, simply for having an amazing voice that she understands how to wield effectively. Her impeccable sense of delivery balances power with nuance, varying her forcefulness for maximum impact. The songs give her plenty of room to move, too-- if these tracks weren't every bit as good as the ones that inspired them, all of the performance and production acumen in the world couldn't save them. As rote as it sounds, "Better Things" and "The Game Gets Old", among others on I Learned the Hard Way, would likely be classics today if they'd been released alongside the music that influenced them. In fact, they may yet become classics to a smaller, more niche audience today.

"Better Things" in particular is incredible, a brilliant kiss-off in which Jones reveals layers of anguish beneath her anger, while the band supports her with a heavy Muscle Shoals-style groove. It's striking to listen back to the very basic pastiche of the band's first album and see how far they've come, exploring different corners of funk and soul, experimenting with different meters and very complex arrangements. The trumpet in the intro to "Better Things" plays around with the vocal melody with a jazzy slyness that hits even harder when Jones follows it up by taking it over. Elsewhere, the horns and stormy backing track on "Money" save it from being a pretty typical soul rumination on being down and out, while Jones grabs the surfish guitar and bounding beat of "She Ain't a Child No More" and runs with them, delivering a commanding vocal to which her bandmates dutifully respond.

It all comes together to make an album that stands up as a varied and well-sequenced work, and as a collection of songs you can scatter through a shuffle and dig just as deeply. It's nice to hear the band really stretch themselves and develop the drama and tumult of songs like "I'll Still Be True" and "The Game Gets Old", which you can really hear the band putting its creative all the way into. This record hardly needs to be recommended to soul fans, but even if revisitations of older music styles aren't usually your thing, I Learned the Hard Way is worth digging up.

— Joe Tangari, April 5, 2010