Home » funk

Tag: funk
Posted inMusic

Demdike Stare celebrate Jamie Hodge’s techno productions with an archival double LP

by Leor Galil

A teenage Jamie Hodge enchanted the international underground-dance community in 1993 with his debut 12-inch as Born Under a Rhyming Planet, Analog: Heaven. Techno figurehead Richie Hawtin released Hodge’s music on his Plus 8 label after the Chicago producer played him some original recordings—he dropped in on Hawtin in Ontario at the end of a […]

Posted inMusic

The modern soul of the O’My’s sounds smoother than ever on No Swimming

by Leor Galil

As the O’My’s, singer-guitarist Maceo Vidal-Haymes and keyboardist Nick Hennessey carefully control the heat they apply to their luxurious contemporary take on soul, so that it smolders instead of burning off the roof. The Chicago duo mostly stay cool and low-key on their latest EP, No Swimming. During the songs’ hushed passages, Vidal-Haymes’s almost hornlike […]

Posted inMusic

Cimafunk brings his uplifting Afro-Cuban funk fusions to Chicago in advance of El Alimento

by Jamie Ludwig

Erik Alejandro Rodriguez, who performs as Cimafunk, is a prominent figure in a rising generation of Cuban artists, and his fusions of Afro-Cuban musical traditions with funk, hip-hop, and African rhythms have a fresh and uplifting vibe. Rodriguez’s stage name comes from the Spanish word cimarrón, which translates to “wild” or “untamed” and in the […]

Posted inMusic

Jupiter & Okwess capture the musical anarchy of their performances on Na Kozonga

by James Porter

My first impression of Jupiter Bokondji and his band Okwess was that their sound resembled Fishbone filtered through traditional African music. That’s not to say that the players in this Congolese ensemble actually take any cues from the legendary ska-punk band—rather, both groups combine African rhythms with rock, funk, and the occasional jazzy flourish. Jupiter […]

Posted inMusic

Chicago producer Vince Kaichan steers footwork toward serenity on Lost in Time

by Leor Galil

Chicago electronic producer Vince Kaichan is an omnivorous listener—or at least that’s the impression I get from the hodgepodge of styles in his own music. For roughly a decade now, he’s tussled with chiptune melodies, jazz-influenced lite-funk grooves, and serrated funk carioca rhythms. Recently, Kaichan has taken a shine to footwork, and his years of […]

Posted inMusic

Chicago polymath Cam Be melds funk, R&B, and hip-hop to lift up struggling spirits

by Leor Galil

Chicago composer, arranger, and multi-instrumentalist Cam Be draws on his community to invigorate his already bold musical ideas. On his new second album, Summer in September (on his own Camovement label), Cam and an ensemble of friends create immediately gratifying fusions of soul, funk, hip-hop, and R&B. Feel-good jam “Fade Away” opens with 16 people […]

Posted inMusic

Fantastic Negrito merges rootsy sounds on his new Have You Lost Your Mind?

by Kirsten Lambert

Songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer Xavier Dphrepaulezz, better known as Fantastic Negrito, takes us on a trip through his consciousness on his latest album, Have You Lost Your Mind Yet? (Cooking Vinyl/Blackball Universe). He confronts heavy issues such as mental illness, addiction, and gun violence, and filters them all through the lens of his own life […]

Posted inMusic

Chicago rapper Ric Wilson and Los Angeles producer Terrace Martin invigorate disco, soul, and funk on a new collaborative EP

by Leor Galil

Chicago rapper and prison abolitionist Ric Wilson knows the joy of combing through history for jewels of knowledge that enrich his connection to his hometown’s multifaceted Black communities. He also understands how to incorporate sounds from the past into contemporary music. Last year he found a kindred spirit in Terrace Martin, a Los Angeles jazz […]