Why is this beautiful music genre on the brink of extinction? Are there any interesting new funk bands out there? I know there's neo-soul, where's neo-funk/alternative funk?

Time happened, for starters. Tastes change. Then there's the fact that rnb as a genre (which includes soul and funk, IMHO) has been absorbed into hip hop and pop music. Funk never had much "cross over" appeal and the artists of that era were pretty much confined to the rnb charts, but now artists have little incentive to cut themselves off from mass appeal w/ a form that had never crossed over.

Slapbak featuring Jara Harris. Besides his own releases with Slapbak, the bass skills from multi-instrumentalist Jara Harris are recorded on Cameo's album "Emotional Violence",
and Jara also briefly performed with The Time. Larry Blackmon, Bootsy & George Clinton produced tracks for Slapbak's first album.




http://www.imeem.com/fuze...day-night/

Dawn Silva released some tight updated funkjams a few years ago :

1 - http://www.imeem.com/peop...y-friends/

2 - http://www.imeem.com/peop...one-intro/

3 - http://www.imeem.com/peop...ak-me-off/

4 - http://www.imeem.com/peop...sco-to-go/

5 - http://www.imeem.com/peop...mber-them/

You might also find something in the following topic : http://prince.org/msg/8/310172

Try if you could get into this Dutch guy:

Bastian:



A lot of his stuff is quite electro-ish though, like this:


... but I think he's truly talented anyway. He also does chiptune -type of material (music utilizing old computers from the 80s, mainly the Commodore 64).

I gotta check out Slapbak myself ASAP!

novabrkr said:

And i'll search for some more Bastian tracks. Tight stuff !

seems like you aint looking hard enough

http://prince.org/msg/8/311273

suddenly I'm a Slapbak fan! Didn't realize I missed the funk until now.

IAintTheOne said:

PREACH!!!! There was just a thread on 21st century funk artists....I cant even say that funk si dead anymore because of the underground. Like someone said, real funk has naturally always been underground anyway.

paisleypark4 said:

Absolutely. Funk is very much alive and kickin', just not in the mainstream. And that's where it needs to stay, because we know what happened when Funk briefly into the mainstream back in the mid 1970s.

Funk is still alive in 2009, y'all. Hell the mainstream only embraced it for a few years anyway and you don't hear it on the radio or TV but fuck that. That's why the internet can be your friend sometimes. Ain't that right, MrSoulPower?
[Edited 6/22/09 9:17am]

Timmy84 said:

Funk has even gone international. Back in the 60s and 70s, Funk was almost entirely American. Now we see a rise in Funk bands all over the world, from the UK, Germany, France, Finland, Holland, Russia, Japan to Australia. How someone can say that Funk is on "the brink to extinction" is a mystery to me.

MrSoulpower said:

It's a deprived American thing. I admire that people from other countries are still "delivering the funk".

Timmy84 said:

Oh, it hasn't left America. America was just a bit behind for a while. But lately, many new Funk bands have popped up all over the country. The Dap-Kings (NYC), The Menahan Street Band (NYC), The Budos Band (NYC), Kings Go Forth (Milwaukee), Breakestra (L.A.) Ogone (L.A.), Wiley & the Checkmates (Mississippi), Charles Walker and The Dynamites (Nashville, TN) just to name a few... all these groups release records and tour.

MrSoulpower said:

Oh yeah, forgot about the Dap Kings. I gotta see about the others when I'm not too lazy to look 'em up but thanx. And I did check one of the songs by Kings Go Forth last week. In fact the song I checked out was the first song played on your station last week.
[Edited 6/22/09 10:01am]

Timmy84 said:

The Kings go forth are really hot. They were just formed in 2007. Their first single One Day - the one that I played on my show last weekend - sold out immediately after it was released. Sometimes it comes up on Ebay, and people pay as much as $400 for it. They are a very energetic band, and we'll hear more from them in the future. They are about to sign a three-album contract.
[Edited 6/22/09 10:13am]

MrSoulpower said:

Great news.

Once musicians found out that a drum machine and Synthesizer caould do what a seven to nine piece band used 2 do.....

diamondpearl1 said:

"Musicians" in America.

Like MrSoulPower and paisley said, not everybody uses a damn drum machine and synthesizer.

I thought he was gonna be wack as hell but, Slapbak sounds pretty good!

Cookin' on 3 Burners' version of Gorillaz' "Feel Good Inc.":



LIVE SHIT!

MrSoulpower said:

Looooove the Kings. They already hit me up on Myspace

paisleypark4 said:

Right on PP4.
What he said. Gary Shider and George Clinton have always said that as well. Funk is underground where it needs to be. Though a lot of music today that is "poopular"... is influenced by funk in some way shape or form so there ya go.

Bfunkthe1 said:

Just ask Rich Harrison "1 Thing" - Amerie "Sugar Mama" - Beyonce "Cant Stop" Missy, "Disrespectful" Chaka & Mary J..them are all old hidden rare funk tunes underneath.


Yup thats why there are so many "Funky Funky New Orleans / Detroit / New York" collections and all those Numero Forbidden Lost unheard funk 45 singles on one cd being released now.

YES! YES YES YES YES THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU. Now i'm going to go home and listen to these new funk bands and enjoy.. THE FUNK LIVES ON!

paisleypark4 said:

Great points. Hey I wanted to know what song did Jimmy & Terry sampled for "Disrespectful"...

Sandino said:

Ask Vainandy that same question and he'll tell you to blame Whitney Houston.

TonyVanDam said:

Whitney is definitely not to blame. It's us, we lost focus of funk. Thank God for this place because I would've been stuck in that same old boring musical routine I was getting used to.

I'm slowly turning into a funk-and-roller.

Timmy84 said:

Exactly. We touched that debate the other day - how black America has lost the focus on vintage Funk. Very few black clubs play Funk these days, and if they do, it's 80s synth Funk or Parliament. If you want to dance to the dirty thing, the real Funk, then you gotta go to underground parties or go clubbing in Europe or Japan.

MrSoulpower said:

I have to admit I'm disappointed at my community. The whole time we could've embraced those that "dared to do different". HELL we've yet to acknowledged the legacy of pre-Starchild P-Funk, Betty Davis, Labelle, Mandrill, etc. and yet we've be the ones mainly COMPLAINING that "the music is gone". Once you find the music, you realize how dumb the arguments are. We're as much slaves to what we're FED by corporate b.s.-ers and we allow ourselves to lose ourselves in a maze. Because whenever a new musical genre where we're the popularity gets taken over, we abandon it and it's time for that to END.

And I hear you about the underground shit. One of these days when I finally get settled I'm definitely gonna explore to see where the underground is.