Digging Deeper – Funk

Welcome back to Digging Deeper the series of posts where I go into a thing (a genre of music, a band, a book, a genre of film, an actor, whatever) and really get into it, explaining it, giving examples, and showing you why I enjoy that particular thing in its many facets.

Do remember I in no way claim to be an expert and I am sure there are a ton of resources that can, and will, go into greater detail than I can here. Consider these a good starting point in your journey. And as always please let me know and feel free to give me ideas of things you’d like to see me dig into.

Today we’re going to discuss Funk.

Funk, as a genre, really came into full form in the 1960s. There are any number of reasons for that but one I find interesting is that it exists as a strange collusion of timing.

See in the 30s the electric guitar was invented and quickly adopted by jazz players, because it meant that single note solos could be heard well by an audience. Back then jazz, in terms of percussion, was nominally led by the bass not the drums because the drums were louder and would drown everything else out.

That’s why you got a lot of brushes and subtle hi-hat work.

Amplified guitars started to change the equation. But it wasn’t until the early 50s that Leo Fender really brought out the electric bass. Now able to match the guitar (though you could of course use the lower strings on the guitar for a bass effect…not the same) the bass could be as loud as the drums.

And things started to shift. We started getting the percussion led by the drummer instead, on many forms of music, since they could now be fully deployed sonically, without washing out literally everything else.

But we also got jazz using electric bass. And well, if you follow the trail of blues to jazz, you see how the progression is about to go, right? Jazz was everything from experimental to dance, and with electric bass in the mix you could have it still dominate and really push forward.

But it did so in an interesting way. While rock music tends to land in the 110-150 bpm (beats per minute) range, funk is slower, normally like 85-110 bpm. Between that and the roots in jazz and the bass forward nature of it you could go to some very unique places.

Chic

And people like James Brown did exactly that. As did Sly and the Family Stone, Earth Wind & Fire, Chic, and so many more in the 60s. Which lead into Parliament-Funkadelic, The Meters, and more in the 70s.

Funk tends to, and all of this is “tends to” because there’s no one enforcing this stuff obviously, want more groove than four chord progressions. It isn’t the opposite of rock music, really, but it can sometimes feel that way. Funk creates a groove, a moment, and a space to be filled with your own motion. Rock tends to be more declarative in how it expects you to receive it.

Jaco Pastorious

Funk flowed right into Disco and synth driven dance music in the late 70s and early 80s.

DJ Afrika Bambaataa

It evolved, in a lot of ways from jazz-funk from Herbie Hancock, Prince, and Weather Report (side note, if the name Jaco Pastorius doesn’t mean anything to you look him up as he was honestly one of the best bass players to ever walk this Earth), to Electro from DJ Afrika Bambaataa, punk funk from Rick James … and so on.

After that funk, now mostly thought of for the bass driven backbeat, over less “traditional rock” chord progressions really found footing as Funk Rock and harder Punk Funk, and you get Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rage Against the Machine, Faith No More, and countless others.

And seriously, going all the way to my first examples, I am naming a tiny, tiny, slice of the bands creating funk at any given moment.

And here’s the great part – funk is still a powerhouse of a genre expanded into the world of music, across every country, and growing bigger and brighter all the time. Funk has not died, it has grown stronger and experimented endlessly, standing on the shoulders of all who came before it.

What started as an African-American art form has gone truly global, finding new merge points and subgenres to expand constantly.

But I notice that when a lot of people talk about funk they act like it has gone away, and seem to reach back to the 60s and 70s and treat a lot of what came after as not “true” funk, if they even know of it. And yet they will also mention how much they like it. And I think there’re a few genres like that, honestly, that have passed out of the public eye in large scale ways.

The Haggis Horns

It certainly doesn’t chart much anymore, but charting is an ever-changing world of the now and truly an ephemeral concept. The truth is any genre you like still exists and is probably thriving, you just have to look for it.

Funk never died. Funk is stronger than ever. So here are a few examples for you. They span bands and albums that came out in 2014, say, to last week. We’ll cross a few sub-genres as we go. I’ll list each band, give you a short bit about them & their sound and then drop an example of two.

Prepare for incoming funkification.

Manu Dibango (Bandcamp) – Known for merging  traditional Cameroonian music with jazz and funk, he was a master of afrofunk and one hell of a sax and vibraphone player. Sadly he passed away a few years ago. But we can all go listen to his many astounding recordings.

Cissy Street (Bandcamp) – This French jazz funk group has a really strong sense of self, doing both halves of the jazz funk equation equally well and never afraid to lean one way or the other in any given song when needed.

Haggis Horns (Bandcamp) – The Leeds-based funk band has a name you won’t forget (I just…) but they deliver on their promise. The horns are deft and wonderful, the funk is loud and moves from a more jam funk to a groove funk depending on the track.

Will Sessions (Bandcamp) – This Detroit soul funk band can manage to sound like they found some lost James Brown tracks at times, in uncanny ways. The rhythm guitar work, especially when they’re going for a James Brown styled track, is a strand out.

Five Alarm Funk (Bandcamp) – Canadians also throw down some funk, let me tell you. And when they do, they throw it down clean and classic, and it hits hard. They’re not afraid to be silly, either, often ending up with a playful, powerful, groove.

Lettuce (Bandcamp) – Going the route of hip hop jazz funk, Lettuce manage to do things their own way, sounding both old and new at the same time, an ever-evolving style that cuts its own path through the crowd.

Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio (Bandcamp) – Take one part New Orleans funk, to two parts old school soul jazz and you’ll end up here. And you’ll like being here. There’s something refreshing about a stripped down trip that can punch you in the gut as hard as any larger band can. They’re in sync with each other and deliver classic-feeling tracks.

Favourite People (Bandcamp) – Much newer on the scene, these folks lay down some blues funk with an almost psychedelic rock edge to it, that, honestly, moves away from funk as often as it languishes there. But it’s never a bad choice. They’ll often end up somewhere between classic rock ala Cream, and a good groove funk. It’s fascinating and almost addictive to listen to.

Polyrhythmics (Bandcamp) – With what feels like pure groove funk this band just puts out album after album of pure atmosphere that leaves you feeling like you’ve been transported to a much cooler world. They’re a soundtrack band, for my brain, and all I mean by that is they sort of make you feel like their music is the background that goes on along your day. You should be so lucky to have them as your baseline.

Speedometer (Bandcamp) – Soul funk at its finest, they up the tempo often to brush against dance ready tunes while still holding down the funk end of their spectrum with ease.

The New Mastersounds (Bandcamp) – Listing themselves as a jazz fusion and soul funk band, this British band has come together to put down a hard groove that will go anywhere it needs to while still grounding itself in funk. The organ/keys work also lays a great grounding for them.

vivian panache (Bandcamp) – Heavy bass and snare leads the mix in their vibe between rock and groove funk, showing a lot of promise for newer band. Some tracks have vocals so far down in the mix they are just atmospheric sounds, layering against percussion. It’s an interesting effect to be sure.

The last two bands I want to mention today will only get one song each for a reason that will become clear…

Vulfpeck (Bandcamp) – An amazing powerhouse of a band, Vulfpeck has dragged funk closer back to the mainstream then almost anyone else. Each member is an amazing artist in their own right and together they form one of the best bands to record funk, or anything else, period. So I’ll give you a track, but for more, you can go ahead and read the Digging Deeper: Vulfpeck post itself.

Cory Wong (Bandcamp) – A member of Vulfpeck, but also such a force of funk in his own right, he has his own Digging Deeper here. But for now here’s a track to wet your whistle.
There are, of course, hundreds more funk bands, spanning so many more different soundscapes. This is only a dipping of the toe. But I hope it serves as a way to open a door for you and introduce you to a ton of new music in a genre that is possibly my favorite ever.