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In: BANDS, BLOG POSTS, Lettuce

Hulaween has become one of the best, most popular multi-genre festivals in the East since it’s inception in 2013. I’ve now attended seven in a row since 2015 (no event in 2020) and somehow it keeps getting bigger and better.  It’s a split of live bands and electronic music, five stages from very large to intimate-sized, spread out among a tree-canopied campground for four days, Thursday to Sunday. String Cheese Incident is the headliner always — it’s their festival — and they typically perform six sets, two each day, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  Back in 2015, I didn’t know muchContinue Reading

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In: ALBUMS, BLOG POSTS, Lettuce

BTTRLY Quintet is a great band arising out of the pandemic and Coast is an epic debut. The band played a few shows live at Cervantes and has compiled some great stuff here from the combination of members of Lettuce (Eric “Benny” Bloom, Adam Deitch), Break Science (Borahm Lee, Hunter Roberts and Deicth) and Big Gigantic (Dominic Lalli). Its got some thick jazz roots with some funk jams and electronic cruises. This is not a melding of the industry veterans sounds but the forging of a new sound in the vein of great funk fusion bands like The Crusaders. NowContinue Reading

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In: ALBUMS, BANDS, BLOG POSTS, Lettuce, The New Mastersounds

The Bamboos just released their tenth studio album after more than than twenty years performing together.  This Australian group have refined their craft of finding the sweetest spot between soul and funk to the finest point yet.  Hard Up reinvigorate a classic sound, seamlessly  incorporating contemporary influences to create something altogether brand new. Much of the album was recorded communally over a week just prior to the pandemic at a sprawling country house just outside the (coincidentally named) town of Lancefield, north of Melbourne. The approach of making an album outside the recording studio, steeped in such legendary tales as theContinue Reading

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In: ALBUMS, BANDS, BLOG POSTS, Lettuce, The New Mastersounds

What do you get when three top notch musicians join forces to lock in with each other’s moods and moves – you get The Hit from WRD Trio!  I’ve been a long time fan of the respective bands of these three talents – Robert Walter of The Greyboy Allstars and Robert Walter’s 20th Congress, Eddie Roberts of The New Mastersounds and Matador! Soul Sounds, and Adam Deitch of Lettuce and Break Science. Hell, those bands would make a great lineup for a weekend festival.  So when I heard about this album, I knew I would dig it and indeed it’sContinue Reading

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In: Aisle 5, BLOG POSTS, Lettuce, Snarky Puppy, Terminal West, The Motet, Variety Playhouse, VENUES

Coming off of a great year for FunkCity.net in 2019, this year was starting out looking even better with a bunch of great shows lined up in the Winter and the fantastic festival kicking off in April.  There was no waiting as I rolled up to Greenville on January 2 to see Lettuce and I was off to the races. The first two months were fantastic and then it all came crashing to a halt at the end of February.  I had been anticipating writing this article somewhat in jest as the pandemic drew on, but ultimately realized that inContinue Reading

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Normally this time of year, I’d be prepping my Hulaween preview article.  This fantastic festival was scheduled for October 22-25 but like so many other events has been cancelled due to the coronavirus. My fourth Hulaween was 2018 and I had just started getting into video when I went all out and filmed 16 full or partial sets! Of course, I had seen many other wonderful musicians as well, and had to miss a few due to conflicts. To help with the Hulaween hangover, I’ve compiled all 16 videos from that year along with a couple of comments on whatContinue Reading

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In: ALBUMS, BANDS, Lettuce

After more than twenty years together, Lettuce is the preeminent funk band on the scene today.  Starting with their friendship at Berklee College of Music, they’ve shaped their sound from classic funkers of yesteryear like James Brown and Tower of Power but put their own new fresh spin on things. Going back 10 years or more the band did not tour very much and released a studio album every few years.  For the last several years, the band has been touring non-stop (pre COVID-19) and has become much more prolific in jam-funk-jazz improvisation and in recording albums.  Resonate is theContinue Reading

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In: Aisle 5, BANDS, BLOG POSTS, Lettuce, Lotus, Snarky Puppy, Terminal West, The Budos Band, The New Mastersounds, Variety Playhouse, VENUES, Voodoo Visionary

For FunkCity.net, 2019 was a remarkable year that is recapped here.  I apologize in advance for the self-serving nature but it was definitely a year like no other in my experience based on a combination of personal music achievements and fantastic music events.  It was a huge year for four of my favorite groups, Snarky Puppy, Lettuce, The New Mastersounds and The Budos Band! Here’s the nineteen top happenings in 2019 – Snarky Puppy 17 Compilation: The year started with my proudest musical moment – Snarky Puppy came out with a limited edition, 4-vinyl recap of their 2017 world tour. Continue Reading

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In: ALBUMS, BLOG POSTS, Lettuce

Elevate is one of those albums that hits you hard and you instantly like from the first note, first song to the end, on first listen. But then again, if you’re an avid Lettuce fan (like me), you’ve heard nearly all of the songs before as several have been played live by the band for more than two years. For that reason and more, the album is both familiar and fresh. It has a couple of covers including Tears for Fears “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” and Cold Blood’s “Ready to Live.” The compilation really shows off Lettuce’s rootsContinue Reading

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In: BANDS, BLOG POSTS, Lettuce, The New Mastersounds, Voodoo Visionary

Just had the most spectacular festival experience and will be writing some expanded coverage over the next couple of weeks but wanted to dash off a note to express thanks to all those involved and just touch on some of the highlights! First, hats off to Paul Levine and his crew for pulling off a monstrous feat in just two months time. The festival appeared to go off without the slightest hitch – who knows how much effort it took and what might have happened behind the scenes. The SOSMP crew was top notch hospitable as always. OMFG the musiciansContinue Reading