Contemporary Funk

It'd be really good if Halsey or Taylor Swift would release an R&B album with a traditional and modern funk instrumental accompaniment. There will always be a place in my crates for superstar pop that appeals to the mainstream, however; I hosted a indie rock radio show on an alternative radio station for 10 years and I enjoy discovering different bands. During my days volunteering, I was exposed to listeners throughout the city and saw a lot of unique instruments and analog recording technology. Some of my favorite live shows had guitarists with tube amps, organs with spinning horns, and bassists with homemade baffled bass cabinets covering Prince songs. Here is my recent score from the closing local record store:

And here is another dig from a few years ago (Depeche Mode influenced):

Menomena released "Moms" in 2012 and around 2015 the LP hit the bargain bins, marked-down from $19.98 to $11.99. I had heard some fun 7" singles on the label Barsuk, I may have already bought the Menomena / The Helio Sequence split 7", so I picked up the double-disc LP with gatefold cover.
Here is another close one:

<insert British accent> Moneyman Tactics!

Again in the bargain bins, however these are the even less frequented 7" 45rpm crates. Yes, the bricks and mortar store stocks imports and some of the them are singles. If they aren't swooped up by diggers they eventually end up in the bargain bins. Maybe if Technics 1200's were not in such limited supply and radios still hired DJ's to be live on-air, then the singles crates would get more traffic. Regardless, I don't blame the in-home, Crosley record listener for passing up on record singles. They were invented to be widely distributed as promotional material, used in jukeboxes, and eventually thrown away. Nonetheless, I had six 1200's, three pairs, and had put metal adapters in each large spindle-holed 7" so I could power mix with.

Luckily I found this contemporary funk gem:

According to Discogs, Loyal Divide's LP - Bodice Ripper was release in 2011. To the best of my recollection they are from Cincinnati, OH. This live studio session is pretty sick, 971 views on youtube. They have this drone / chatting vibe that puts me into a hypnotized state. Ungodly rare pressing:

This is a picture of the pressings for your inspiration:

Here is a local 7" nugget. On top of being a 7" 45rpm, it is single sided (s/s) and private press. Keep your eyes peeled for a copy if you are in the Stockton, CA area. Just don't get your hopes up because this rekkid is ungodly rare. The percussionists (drum and bass) creates a downbeat rhythm and the keyboardist provides catchy support to the melody.

From New Zealand / Australia comes 'Pajama Club.' They are a three member band on their debut self-titled album and picked up a fourth member for their 2011 live tour. Lost in the obscurity of electronic rock, Pajama Club is an example of, "things fall through the cracks of pop culture." Most of their youtube tracks have less than 1000 views:

I heard about the band Grouplove from my friend wearing their t-shirt. We were at happy hour and talking about music and my friend asked me if I knew them. I didn't, and my friend showed me the shirt he was wearing with band art. Something like a screen print tweak. Later, I heard some of the band's music on the radio station during the "music discovery" program. Their sound is upbeat at times and a lot to think about. Here is a video that appears to be a field recording 9unauthorized video) from a fan. Stage banter included:

Metric broke into the US main stream with their alternative rock hit, 'Help I'm Alive.' Who knows how many t-shirts sales were made from the booming success of that first wonder. They had been working on music for a while leading up to their first charting single, just not making any hits precisely where a wide audience was listening. To this day, 'Help I'm Alive' is the apex of the bands popularity, they leveraged their success by releasing the album 'Synthetica.' Now, Metric is drifting into obscurity because 'Synthetica' was not developed enough to be pop and not minimal enough to be punk. Here is a score from the 2012 tour:

Here is a group that a fellow volunteer DJ played during their show, Bass Drum Of Death. The 45rpm single is pressed on 8"s of vinyl... Pretty different. Maybe from LA:

Folk is not funk. Thoughts of people protesting doesn't align with my concept of "upbeat." Music is supposed to be fun, so an up beat is an important characteristic of the complex category of funk. Milky Chance is a "folk" group from Germany known for their hit 'Stolen Dance." Their nonchalant music making style helps them create a relaxing quality to their songs. Does this track sound like folk, or does irony give it a just enough to register as funk?

Not sure what the story is with this little ditty. Discogs says that its, "Not on a label," maybe because it is a split 7" with Dirty Heads. It must be rare because it is not currently for sale. Sometimes if a cheap record sells for a high price, then suddenly a bunch of copies turn up for sale. Anyway this 45rpm brings a lot of joy, so many views on youtube that I don't know which video to count. Matisyahu is a 40 yr old beat boxer from West Chester, PA. "Sunshine," seems like a great example of why music lovers may enjoy his live shows to this day.

I've been feeling so fucking feisty recently. Just extremely busy with rice harvest starting this week, traveling to the east coast for my birthday, and another personal problem that needed to be ironed out. The best possible solution is going for a swim. Here is a track to get this thread back up and running. *not intended to cross out of contemporary funk, however; this is an electronic duo with vocal features, so.... prayer to Bermuda.

Pumped Up Kicks was a pretty fun song in my group of friends. Foster The People puts on a great live show. The lead singer was a video editor in LA when he started making his own music. Recently new FTP tracks have been in my recommended tracks list on YouTube, so the collection might expand to 4 LP's. Additionally, there is quite a bit of graffiti in Sacramento that is similar to the cover art on the second album, "Supermodel." That was the first LP I found, in Sacramento. Follow by "Sacred Hearts Club" at Rasputin in San Francisco. Lastly, "Torches" from a small store in my hometown. My "Torches" may be a reissue because they allegedly exist, however, that needs to be verified by the wax etching to be sure. Otherwise, it might just be 9 years distributor inventory, "with the NME hype sticker?" It doesn't matter to me, although a collector might pay attention to the pressing. Anybody here got a low number Beatles - White Album? Cheers!

A bit late and out of sequence, however; here is a photo of the records posted before Hermitude.

Been very busy with little time to spin records and post in the thread. Here are two 7" scores from the Amoeba in the City and one from Dimples in Sacramento. Souphonics & Ruby is an upbeat "modern soul" hit made in the traditional Mo-town style. It features improved instrumentation on a private label. Girls Names is an unknown group release on a notoriously punk label out of Oakland (?), Slumberland. [That location is heresay, or a vague memory (need to do the research later)] Rounding-up this post is a 7" 45rpm single used to promo the release of Alabama Shakes LP titles Sound & Color. Enjoy.

Pic: