Disco Funk on our radio show Midnight Soulstice tonight. I won't be on the show, I got some other obligations tonight, but my co-host Mr. Felty will be hittin' it hard behind the decks.

Tune in from 11 pm - 1 am EST live at www.wrir.org




Many blame the rise of Disco for the downfall of Funk, and we agree with this thesis. But not all Disco was a watered down, lame, white-washed and pop-go interpretation of Funk. Some of the most incredible records were released in the post 1975 period, but these tracks hardly had a chance in the sell-out world of K.C. and the Sunshine Band and Village People.
DJ Pari is taking a well deserved break tonight, and it will be Mr. Felty who will dig out his best records of the genre that we call Disco Funk. Turn up the volume and find a way to convert your living room into a club dance floor, because once this show starts, there'll be no holding back! Tune in from 11 pm - 1 am EST tonight - it'll be the jam of the week!
Make friends with Midnight Soulstice at www.myspace.com/midnightsoulstice


[Edited 6/6/09 7:08am]

Disco funk,huh?

Oh hell to the naw! Funk lived on until 1984 even after disco died and the funk that remained was even better than the previous funk. Little miss you-know-who was the downfall of funk.

vainandy said:

Naw, dude. The prime years of Funk were from 1968 - 1973. Those five years did it all. After that, Funk turned white and stale. True, there was P-Funk, but P-Funk is boring.

Funk picked up again in the late 1990s, and ironically, there are more Funk bands worldwide today than in the 1970s.

SoulAlive said:

Yeah, believe it or not. I don't know what Felty picked out for tonight, but I know it'll be some hot schitt.

MrSoulpower said:

W-wha-whaaat?!?

Wow. To each their own I guess, but I've never known anyone who likes funk to think of P-Funk as boring. When I think of P-Funk, boring just doesn't come to mind. That was a joke to see how many will bite right? You got me.

70sLove said:

Naw, I was never into P-Funk. I respect the genre, it just never did it for me. I like my Funk dirty. '68 - '73 is exactly my bag. Call it Deep Funk or Rare Funk or whatever. You get the idea.

P.S. There are a lot of Funk fans who don't really feel P-Funk.
[Edited 6/5/09 14:03pm]

FuNkeNsteiN said:

Yeah, I think that the sides Booty recorded right after he left JB were his best.
But I wouldn't go as far as saying that he lost it after that.

[quote]

MrSoulpower said:

Well, apparently somebody forgot to tell the white folks this because 99% of them weren't listening to funk in the early 80s and I didn't see too many black folks listening to pop/rock at the time either.

vainandy said:

I had to re-think if white was the best term ... because can easily be misunderstood. But then I decided to leave it.
I did not use that word to categorize the race of the listeners. But the fact is, in the mid- to late 1970s, Funk lost a lot of its dynamics that made the genre interesting in the first place. Funk is all about rhythm, rhythm, rhythm. And back in the mid 1960s, black musicians introduced a rhythmic concept to Soul music, which was unknown at the time, hence creating Funk.
Listen to Clyde Stubblefield play drums.
Then listen to the stale drum computers many Funk acts of the 1980s used. Where is the life in that?
In the end, it's a matter of taste, though. I have to admit, one of the reasons for my dislike of P-Funk or 1980s Funk is how many people today reduce Funk to that period, entirely ignoring the raw, uncut deep Funk of the early years.

MrSoulpower said:

I hear you. Much respect for your explanation. '73/'74 was a transitional time in a way. There was a time I argued(wrongly) that JB never used syths on his 70s work. I thought it tarnish a raw funk sound. P-Funk(as well as Stevie) allowed me to realize it could be used correctly. They had different styles of funk.

I got a feelin Felty is gonna pull out some sick shit.

If he pulls out "Sun Sun Sun" i'll shit right here

And here it is ... Download last night's show here:

http://wrir.org/x/modules...ryid=10023

Playlist:

Kebekelektrik-War Dance/Salsoul
The Players Association-Ride The Groove/Vanguard
Pleasure-Let's Dance/Fantasy
Bombers 2-Shake/West End
Ju Ju and the Spacerangers-Plastic/Black Fire
Terry and Deep South-Trying To Get By/Bama
The Whole Darn Family-New Yorkin'/Soul International
Asphalt Jungle-Freakin Time Part1/TEC Records
The Spinners-The Rubberband Man/Atlantic
Rubby Andrews-I wanna Be Near You/ABC
Soul Searchers-Boogie Up The Nation Part1/Polydor
Muscle Shoals Horns-Born To Get Down/Bang
Trussle-The Bicentenial Boogie/Bridge The Gap
Salsoul Orchestra-Your Just The Right Size/Salsoul
Pulse-She's Hot/Silver Cloud
Rise-Action/Bohannon's
Moses-The Coming Of Moses/Pure Silk
Symbol 8-Who's That Sexy Lady/Shock
Cash and Carry-Low Down/Miles
Mastermind-Happy Music/Half Moon
Wood Brass & Steel-Theme Song/Turbo
Little Benny and The Masters-Who Comes To Boogie(radio)/Jem-Rose
Juice-Catch A Groove/Greedy Records LTD
The Brothers Johnson-Get The Funk Out My Face/A&M
Meco-Funk/Millennium
Got-Cha'-Don't Stop The Music/Friends & Co.
Soiree-You Are The Sunshine Of My Life/Roadshow
David Lampell-Iranian Groove(Instrumental)/Prism

MrSoulpower said:

ahhhhh.... fuckin Felty pulled out my old "Block party playlist" from 76-79

he coulda pulled out " Love chant" by Eli's second coming too

Awesome!! This is the org-i-est playlist yet I think.

Cinnie said:

Yeah he pulled out some shit.

IAintTheOne said:

I don't know why but Bombers 2 is everywhere in Canada. I actually thought it was a Canadian record somehow.

Cinnie said:

Nah its a NY record. The Bombers had a hit with "Get dancin"

MrSoulpower said:

So the Ohio Players mercury years 74-79 were boring. Brick and Slave
came around in 77. The Barkays raw funk years 74-80 before they
became synth heavy in 81. You are telling me these bands were boring
especially when you stack them up against bands like Chromeo today
whom you claim to be new funk.

And these new funk bands that you speak of please do list them.
[Edited 6/6/09 9:24am]

Great setlist ! Thanks, i'll be checking the download in a moment

Asphalt Jungle's cool track was also released under the groupname of Funk Fusion Band :

"Hey I was diggin' on y'all's funk for a while. Sounds like y'all have a three on it to me. Then I was down South and I heard some funk with some main ingredients, like Doobie Brothers, Blue Magic, David Bowie, it was cool but can you imagine Doobiein' your funk?"

phunkdaddy said:

I never said that the Bar-Kays or Ohio Players were boring. I'm not too much into the Ohio Players post Westbound material. It's okay, but it doesn't beat their earlier releases, IMO. Same goes for the Bar-Kays (their raw Funk period, as you call it, was definitely pre 1975). Don't get me wrong, I don't think these are bad records (I have them all), but the earlier stuff is much stronger. Same goes for Kool & The Gang and even James Brown.

Who the hell is "Chromeo"?

If you are looking for new Funk, you can begin with a compilation like this one:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/S...B000AMCZ42

But judging by the undertone of your post, you're not really looking.
[Edited 6/6/09 10:59am]

Cinnie said:

In order to be org-i-est, we'd have to throw some Janet, Britney and Grace Jones into the mix. Won't happen.
[Edited 6/6/09 10:46am]

A good reference for Funk is this book:

http://www.funk.ch/funk-lexikon.htm

Ironically, written by a guy from Switzerland. It's the best book on Funk records and music that's out there. Not cheap, but an absolute must for every digger and Funk enthusiast.

MrSoulpower said:

Got it!

MrSoulpower said:

Let someone say my mixes are "Org-iest" i'll breaka da face

IAintTheOne said:

Timmy84 said:

I aint playin

IAintTheOne said:

Nah I feel ya, lol.