FunkCity.net is a full-time passion project, effective July 1, 2024. So, what is FunkCity.net and what impact will this have? FunkCity.net started out nearly eight years ago as a lifestyle blog, primaril covering live funk, jazz Continue Reading
I’m a huge fan of the band Lawrence, but probably not a typical one in that I’m closer to their parents age than them. But, that gives me a different perspective and insight on their music. The band is fronted by brother and sister, Clyde and Gracie Lawrence from New York and is hard to genre-fy, other than to say they are great singers, performers, lyricists and musicians. Their songs lean towards kitschy-pop with a strong portion of funk and soul. In that way, they’re probably most similar to Vulfpeck. A lot of their lyrics deal with maturing and youngContinue Reading
Introducing: The Rare Sounds is the debut album of a new supergroup formed by Eddie Roberts of The New Mastersounds and Robert Walter, Zak Najor, and Chris Stillwell of The Greyboy Allstars. While it’s the first album release from this crew, they’re far from strangers, having met back in 1996 on GBA’s first trip to the UK when Eddie and his predecessor band opened for them. Since then, their paths have criss-crossed many times including the WRD Trio (Walter, Roberts and Adam Deitch from Lettuce) album The Hit in 2021. Unsurprisingly, this album melds the boogaloo sound of GBA andContinue Reading
Each album release from Kamasi Washington is cause for celebration in my book. Ever since his first triple CD album ‘The Epic’ (what a name for a debut!), his music evokes a tremendous sense of awe, with a spiritual, mystical and ethereal quality. ‘Fearless Movement’ is more down to earth according to the press notes, due to Kamasi’s change in perspective based on the birth of his daughter, Asha. Nevertheless, it’s still epic (yes, I did that) and a majestic collection of tunes that add to the fantastic legacy of this still-young, legendary composer and saxophonist. As usual for Kamasi,Continue Reading
The Jazz Defenders have recently become a personal favorite. They truly ‘defend’ the art of jazz pumping out fresh sounds with deep roots. This is just their third album and their previous one ‘King Phoenix’ was one of my top albums of 2022 (review here). ‘Memory in Motion’ is a great mixture conjuring up various artists of the past but adding melodic twists and turns for an enjoyable scenic journey. The tightness of the quintet format allows the horns and piano to tell the story while the drums and bass rev the engine. I know that readers and followers ofContinue Reading
Joe Marcinek has been consistently putting out excellent, interesting albums for several years now with a rotating group of musicians that keeps the music ever fresh and evolving. His latest release, 1 River Street, was recorded in Massachusetts at Iron Wax Studios with Alan Evans producing and on drums, Nate Edgar on bass, Kris Yunker on keys, Brian Thomas on trombone and Alex Lee-Clark on trumpet and Jared Sims on sax and flute. It’s a tight collection of eight sharply-honed tunes, each with a different flair to appeal to all lovers of groove-oriented music. I feel like the the flexibilityContinue Reading
Show Day Jonathan Scales Fourchestra, a personal favorite band, performed in April 2024 at Southern Feed Store in Atlanta and FunkCity.net was there to enjoy and video the show. The band was on top of their game an put on an outstanding show. For those that don’t know I use a pretty simple set up. In this case it was as follows: Video: iPhone 15 Pro Max Blackmagic Camera App Moment 1.33 Gold Anamorphic Lens Mounted on iFootage Cobra 3 monopod Rear Camera (focused on steel pans) Feiyu Pocket 3 Audio: Zoom MicTrack M3 32 bit float iRig XY micsContinue Reading
“Mustard n’Onions,” the just-released, double helping of funk from Ghost-Note has been cookin’ for six-years and its savory beats strike my main nerve. Ghost-Note, the brainchild of Robert “Sput” Searight and Nate Werth, coming out of Snarky Puppy nearly ten years ago, is now a bona fide funk factory. This album of course features the powerfully, kinetic collaboration of Nate and Sput on percussion and drums with a rock steady rhythm section, a truly effervescent horn section and psychedelic keys throughout. To top it off, they’ve brought in a legendary guest list including Benard Wright (keys) and Casey Benjamin (sax),Continue Reading
Sweetwater 420 Fest has more than a two-decade history in Atlanta starting out as a local festival at Candler Park before growing to a national festival at Centennial Park with four stages. In 2023, the super popular brewery retrenched the festival onto the brewery grounds and this year has built it back up to a multi-stage, two-day event at Pullman Yards, a newer performing arts venue in town. The headliners are Slightly Stoopid and Gov’t Mule on Saturday and Beck and Big Gigantic on Sunday. Of course, Gov’t Mule now features Atlanta’s adopted son, bassist Kevin Scott, so that’ll beContinue Reading
The New Mastersounds (NMS) have been consistently pumping out great music and super groovy vibes for 25 years and their latest release “Old School” is a testament to their legacy. NMS are an all-time favorite of mine — their retro-soul-funk in the tradition of The Meters is timeless but always evolving. Over the years they’ve had songs and albums with vocalists such as Corinne Bailey Rae and Lamar Williams, Jr. They’ve also had many tunes supplemented with horns for added oomph. But there’s nothing quite like the core four on the floor of Eddie Roberts on guitar, Pete Shand onContinue Reading