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Dirty Word
(Louisiana Red Hot)
01 June 2013 — by Brett Milano

Dumpstaphunk has a few simple missions on its second full-length CD: To make a modern album steeped in the funk tradition; to show the strengths of its new lineup (with drummer and sometime-singer Nikki Glaspie) and high-profile friends; and, oh yeah, to change the world. Other than that it’s a pretty modest record.

From the opening “Dancing to the Truth,” it’s clear that this is a message album—but fear not, the message is mostly the same communal one that George Clinton offered on One Nation Under a Groove (and Clinton’s influence doesn’t end there: The addition of strong female voices—Glaspie and on one track, Ani DiFranco—allows for layered vocals out of P-Funk’s trickbag). While live Dumpstaphunk is all about groove, this disc gives equal weight to Ivan Neville’s songwriting: “Take Time”, “They Don’t Care” and “Water” all return to the message of self-reliance and personal responsibility that he’s put forward in the past. The lyrics reference his cleaned-up lifestyle, but stay positive enough to (usually) avoid slipping into preachiness. In that sense it’s a close cousin to the last Neville Brothers album, Walking in the Shadow of Life, on which Ivan played a major part.

But Dirty Word is still a band album, the work of a band that’s gigged itself into fighting shape. The production doesn’t turn twin bassists Nick Daniels and Tony Hall into one giant bass: Listen through headphones and you can pick up all the interwoven bass parts that can get lost in concert. Glaspie’s importance to the band is hard to miss; her vocal on “If I’m in Luck” (cut by Betty Davis in the ’70s, and revived here with Flea on even more bass) makes for the band’s toughest rocker yet. And as a non-New Orleans native, she throws a different spin on the rhythms: The finale “Raise the House” is a carnival extravaganza with Art Neville, Trombone Shorty and the entire Rebirth Brass Band; and it’s Glaspie’s drum part—navigating a grey area between funk, second line and rock backbeat—that holds the party together. Ian Neville is the one member you don’t always notice, a rarity for a lead guitarist in a funk band: he plays what the songs call for, and that’s what distinguishes Dumpstaphunk from lesser funkateers: For them, songwriting isn’t a dirty word.

http://www.offbeat.com/20...a-red-hot/

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NY Times pre-release stream: http://www.nytimes.com/in...;_r=2&

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My girl Nikki Glaspie finally getting a chance to cut loose.


Music for adventurous listeners

tA

Tribal Records

they were great at this event which I was lucky to attend

https://www.facebook.com/...amp;type=1

[Edited 7/24/13 16:15pm]

3rdeyedude said:

they were great at this event which I was lucky to attend

Cool. So Mr. Clinton showed up.
I know Dumpstaphunk was doing a Parliament/Funkadelic tribute for at least a few shows.


Music for adventurous listeners

tA

Tribal Records

More DUMPSTAPHUNK from the NY Times...

Dumpstaphunk, Five Finger Death Punch and Ben Monder
By JON PARELES
Published: July 29, 2013


New Orleans never needed a soul revival. Funk, soul and old-fashioned R&B are still live dance music in the city’s clubs. And while many New Orleans funk bands rely on the city’s trove of oldies, some are generating new material — including Dumpstaphunk, the band that plays the city’s hardest-hitting funk. “Dirty Word” is its second full-length album.

Dumpstaphunk is led by the keyboardist and singer Ivan Neville, the son of Aaron Neville and a former member of the Neville Brothers band founded by his father and uncles Art, Charles and Cyril. Dumpstaphunk is steeped in the mad science of New Orleans syncopation as defined by the Neville Brothers and, before them, Art Neville’s band the Meters.

In Neville grooves, Dumpstaphunk operates less like a funk machine locking into a pattern, more like a finely coordinated organism in motion. Bass lines lope and skulk, the drums sputter with offbeats, and rhythm guitar and keyboards share a flippant, cackling cross talk, like wiseguys in the back of a high school classroom. Wah-wah pedals get plenty of action.

Dumpstaphunk’s update of its heritage revives the aggressive guitar tone of the Meters (with Ian Neville, Art’s son, on guitar) and punches up the low end with two bass players, Tony Hall and Nick Daniels III. It also looks toward Sly and the Family Stone with Dumpstaphunk’s current lineup, which includes Nikki Glaspie on drums and vocals. She can belt on her own — she rips into a Betty Davis song, “If I’m in Luck.” And she and the men in the band toss around vocals, just as the Family Stone did.

Since its 2010 debut album, “Everybody Wants Sum,” Dumpstaphunk has moved from writing grooves to shaping songs: bridges, choruses and all. “Dirty Word” holds socially conscious messages (“Dancin’ to the Truth,” “They Don’t Care,” “Reality of the Situation”); a snappy lovers’ quarrel (“I Know You Know”); and good excuses to hear the band steaming along — like the title track, which gets to its lyrics three minutes into the song. Art Neville shows up, along with the Rebirth Brass Band, for the second-line party of the album’s finale, “Raise the House.”

Outside New Orleans, “Dirty Word” could sound like a throwback to the 1970s: performed instead of programmed, community minded instead of self-absorbed. But for New Orleans music, it’s simple continuity, done right. I don’t expect to hear anything funkier this year. (Dumpstaphunk is performing on Aug. 7 at Madison Square Park.)

http://www.nytimes.com/20...c&_r=0
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Music for adventurous listeners

tA

Tribal Records