Rigid Alien Funk (1983)

I swear to god this is what disco would sound like produced by asexual robot aliens. It's actually kind of disturbing.

here

World Clique (1990)

Huuuuuuuuugeee sound-for-sound's-sake positivity and exploration. House control, sample-psych spontaneity, kitschy pop smirk, and punk design- (feigned/fashionable) indifference and (secret/fashionable) purpose regarding the deliberate pulling apart and then mish-mashing together real haphazard of these divergent properties which were previously not divergent but actually coexisting quite happily. Then the story goes they were pulled apart, their differences pointed out and exaggerated, their subsequent reunion a self-aware freakshow that might've changed music forever. If not then it at least spawned a great single and ~4 tracks that are secretly even better

A-

yay

The Isley Brothers - The Heat Is On (1975)

Comfortable lineup, comfortable rock funk soul fusion, 3 + 3 had the freshness and excitability that came with the realization of what this could achieve i.e. quiet storm sensuality meets rocknroll sexuality and the crossover success that a public in need of sophisticated baby making sensuality with flourishes of raw sexuality, could bring the Isleys. Fight the Power is ambitious but not in the pop sense which defined 3 + 3. Rather it's an album of epics, ideas, and sides. Side one is killer funk foundations and loose psych ornament, ostensibly loose and intoxicating, but tight and planned, driven by the Isleys' take on the black experience both political and personal. Side two is straight intimate. Worth it for Sensuality alone imo

A

try / buy

Sylvia Striplin - Give Me Your Love (1981)

Sylvia's fine, she does her thing, her disco thing, like thin and somehow monotone, and it would've sounded good, or suitable at least, but here's the thing: Roy Ayers does his thing too and he does it disco-funk, thudding and twinkling in a way that's beyond Striplin's innocent disco vocals. This makes Give Me Your Love a better record than it might've been without Ayers, but the discrepancy between Striplin's and Ayers' contributions evokes a singer out of their depth, and this may lead to serious nose-scrunching in the more nasal passages of a song like Searchin', however moved the nose-scruncher might be following the double-hit of disco funk goodness that is Give Me Your Love to Will We Ever Pass This Way Again. Recommended?

B-

try

24-Carat Black - Ghetto: Misfortune's Wealth (1973)

Dale Warren- dude who arranged Isaac Hayes' epic Walk on By which is Hood Took Me Under and I Can't Go To Sleep- hood tales and social commentary combined, and then, before them, Ghetto: Misfortune's Wealth- hood tales and social commentary from 20yrs earlier, in fact, an expansive soul opera or funk opera or ghetto opera- make it through the slow/moody first half and you'll be rewarded with the incredible second, take no issue with the first half and you've found yourself a classic. Lucky you!

B+

try
vinyl

Various Artists - SOUNDSHOCK 2: FM FUNK TERRROR!! (2012)

Happy Halloween! I'm posting stuff because nobody is posting stuff despite people wanting stuff. Is this compilation album spooky in any way aside from the cover art and title? Not really. Personal favourites include track 12, Chomp by Moot Booxle, a comparatively simple track with a great synth solo that sounds like it's running through a talk box, and track 13 (woooo!), Back Alley Clash by Bomb Boy. This is only the second song Bomb Boy has ever released; the first can be found on the previous album.

320 @ MediaFire
FLAC & ALAC @ Ubiktune

African Suite - African Suite (1980)

Rhythmic/layered perfection- sexy chants over funky proto-house superficially inspired by Africa or Richie Rome's exotic/erotic vision thereof

A

here

Material - Memory Serves (1981)

Material's avant-garde dance record: as fun and weird as that sounds. Laswell plays oddball funk basslines which anchor the songs as the other musicians experiment like crazy over the top. Said musicians manage to go avant-garde while maintaining a punk rock spirit, keeping Memory Serves unpretentious. I can hear the Captain Beefheart influence and also where guys like Mike Patton and Les Claypool listened excitedly. That may or may not be a bad thing to you.. I think it's awesome

A-

spotify

The Brothers Johnson - Light Up the Night (1980)

THAT COVER. Sets things up interestingly: I can't see The Brothers Johnson playing this, but Interstella 5555 by way of Star Wars, or just some delightful space pop funk. The Brothers Johnson's last Quincy Jones production and arguably last good album. Stomp is a funk pop classic, You Make Me Wanna Wiggle is oddball funk but still lite, and This Had to Be was co-written by MJ and has him singing backup

B


spotify

Rick James - Garden of Love (1980)

Carnal enough to indicate that James' Garden of Love is a different kind to the one Blake found- rather than moral and religious limitations, he's found two dark skinned aliens with the same haircut as him and a creepy light skinned one with cornrows. And lush green! And mushrooms... Not as psych as all that'd suggest, but about as laid-back as this kind of thing can be. REAL laid-back. As much as I'm gripped by Street Songs' chaos, I'm also happy to lay back in the green and watch the warm sunset with Rick James and his aliens and their mushrooms. I mean:

This must be love that I'm goin' through
I can feel it, I can feel it
This must be love
Summer love and you
Could this be love I'm goin' through
Warm as the sun soft as the mornin' dew

how nice! Underrated and a real musical oddity- in parts Garden of Love is more folk than funk. I like it a lot

A-

buy
spotify

Rick James - Street Songs (1981)

The classic one- the cover's not as mesmerizing as Bustin' Out of L Seven which recalls The Ramones' big dumb 80s period, playing Street Fighter at an arcade machine at night, Escape From New York, and The Warriors. Nor as creepy as Throwin' Down which is the end of Poltergeist II meets Mad Max by way of a creepy sexual theme park ride or laser tag. Not as confusing as Garden of Love's surreal take on reggae artwork. BUT I LOVE THOSE BOOTS. OH THE CLASSIC ONE. There's no Mary Jane or epic heartfelt Hollywood! But that doesn't matter. There's a Ghetto Life, and if that's not good enough, a Super Freak. You know what? I'd be happy with even one of them. The fact that it opens with the lesser known (actually a single, whatever) but equally strong Give It to Me Baby just makes the record all the more confident: James is gonna come back from a critical lull (Garden of Love), grabbing the listener's attention and promising he won't let go 'til his 8 tracks are over. His grip weakens (now regretting this analogy) on Mr. Policeman- not because of the message but because it's not quite as good as the ones that come before and after. The final four are solid though. The only problem might've been the seven minute Fire and Desire, but it's crazy epic and touching in its hit those high notes when you've got no more words to sing wooooooooo sugar sugar sugar-ness. His songs don't always grab me (I try to forget about his and Prince's rivalry), but there's always enough chaotic funk and sexual ridiculousness to keep me listening and saying fuck yeah I love Rick James! Street Songs! Mary Jane! Hollywood!

A

buy
spotify

The Coup - Steal This Album (1998)

"Steal This Album" was released in 1998, and easily stands the test of time. Boots Riley is, song for song, one of the very best emcees in rap history, and there are moments on this record that will not be topped. The words and concepts contained on this record are truly revolutionary, and will have you thinking long after the last track fades. Even on a base level of entertainment, Boots crafts visceral and witty rhymes throughout, and musically it is a deeply funky record that is frozen in time. Even if you haven't been there, Boots will make you understand how he feels, and that is the ultimate test of an artist in my mind. Get this album, however you can.
-RapReviews

I WANNA PISS ON YA GRAVE
MAKE ME FEEL ALRIGHT
YAA YAA YAA

A

buy
spotify

Bryan Loren - Lollipop Luv (1996)

1. Lollipop Luv

2. Easier Said Than Done

3. For Tonight

4. Complications

5. Do You Really Love Me

6. Falling In Love

7. Stay With Me

8. Take All Of Me

I was all HOW THE FUCK WAS THIS RELEASED IN 1996 LOOK AT THIS GUY ALSO LISTEN TO THE SOFT-PRINCE-FUNK ON THIS THING and then realized that Bryan Loren was released in 1984 then re-released as Lollipop Luv in 1996 so it's not a record made by these dudes with Jheri Curls who got sent into space in the 80s and forgot everything except food, water, and their Prince tapes so were in some weird musical/historical/cultural vacuum where they didn't know that MJ turned into a white guy or that Prince was now an unpronounceable symbol....

Yeah, reality is stranger but I'd love this even more if it was legitimately spaceman vacuum funk. When I called it soft-prince,funk, I just mean it's sweet poppy funk that doesn't throw anything unusual or experimental into the mix (as Prince frequently would). Straightforward, but really well written and performed so straightforward isn't an insult at all. In fact, the simplicity is the reason I like it so much

A+

spotify

Kashif - Kashif (1983)

Aaaawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww yeeeeahhhhhh. I get an aural boner from this. I like the vocals- his and the ones which ride in and out on waves of sweet 80s synths. Also the bass. The bass and drums are all electronic-y-future-funk so the songs fun and danceable. Everything else is waves. Sensual reverbed out waves.

A+

spotify

Baby Huey - The Baby Huey Story: The Living Legend (1971)

Baby Huey's only album, released after his untimely death, is titled The Living Legend with good reason. He was legendary in his appearance, a 400-pound man with a penchant for flamboyant clothing and crowned by a woolly Afro, a look that is best illustrated by one of several rare photos included in the Water Records edition that shows our man in a wide-lapeled polka-dot shirt with a lime-green jacket. Beyond his unusual appearance, though, he was graced with a stunning, fierce voice on par with Otis Redding and Howard Tate, wailing and howling one moment and oddly tender and sentimental the next. Nowhere on Living Legend is his range more apparent than the opening track, "Listen to Me," where listeners are introduced to both the enigma of Baby Huey and his diamond-tough psychedelic funk backing band, the Baby Sitters. The high-energy instrumental workout "Mama Get Yourself Together" is worthy of the J.B.'s and a hazy, spiraling ten-minute rendition of Sam Cooke's chestnut "A Change Is Going to Come" confirms that the Baby Sitters could hold their own with Blood, Sweat & Tears. Further lore that catapults The Living Legend from good to great: the production was helmed by Curtis Mayfield, reason enough to make it near essential, and is highlighted by three of his compositions, "Mighty Mighty," which Mayfield and the Impressions recorded a few years earlier; "Running," a classic Mayfield cut that can only be heard here ripped to glorious bits by a band that is trying to let every member solo; and "Hard Times," which Mayfield himself would revisit on his 1975 album There's No Place Like America Today, although Baby Huey's razor-edged reading remains the definitive version -- no small caveat considering Mayfield not only wrote the tune, but could rightfully be considered one of the architects of soul to boot. 

-AMG

A-

spotify

Chic - C'est Chic (1978)

1. Chic Cheer 4:44

2. Le Freak 5:31

3. Savoir Faire 5:04

4. Happy Man 4:26

5. I Want Your Love 6:57

6. At Last I Am Free 7:11

7. Sometimes You Win 4:29

8. (Funny) Bone 3:42

Fuck all yall this is cooler than Risqué

Released in 1978, just as disco began to peak, C'est Chic and its pair of dancefloor anthems, "Le Freak" and "I Want Your Love," put Chic at the top of that dizzying peak. The right album at the right time, C'est Chic is essentially a rehash of Chic, the group's so-so self-titled debut from a year earlier. That first album also boasted a pair of floor-filling anthems, "Dance Dance Dance" and "Everybody Dance," and, like C'est Chic, it filled itself out with a mix of disco and ballads. So, essentially, C'est Chic does everything its predecessor did, except it does so masterfully: each side similarly gets its timeless floor-filler ("Le Freak," "I Want Your Love"), quiet storm come-down ("Savoir Faire," "At Last I Am Free"), feel-good album track ("Happy Man," "Sometimes You Win"), and moody album capper ("Chic Cheer," "[Funny] Bone"). Producers Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers were quite a savvy pair and knew that disco was as much a formula as anything. As evidenced here, they definitely had their fingers on the pulse of the moment, and used their perceptive touch to craft one of the few truly great disco albums. In fact, you could even argue that C'est Chic very well may be the definitive disco album. After all, countless artists scored dancefloor hits, but few could deliver an album this solid, and nearly as few could deliver one this epochal as well. C'est Chic embodies everything wonderful and excessive about disco at its pixilated peak. It's anything but subtle with its at-the-disco dancefloor mania and after-the-disco bedroom balladry, and Edwards and Rodgers are anything but whimsical with their disco-ballad-disco album sequencing and pseudo-jet-set Euro poshness. Chic would follow C'est Chic with "Good Times," the group's crowning achievement, but never again would Edwards and Rodgers assemble an album as perfectly calculated as C'est Chic.
-AMG

A

spotify

Jim Ford - Harlan County (1969)

1. Harlan Co.

2. Love on My Brain

3. Changin' Color's

4. Spoonfull

5. Dr. Handy

6. To Make My Life Beautiful

7. Workin My Way to L.A.

8. Long Rd Ahead

9. I'm Gonna Make Her Love Me

10. Under Construction

Loved by Nick Lowe and others appreciating its effortless enthusiasm, catchiness, and eccentricity, forgotten by more and maybe never liked by critics any way- Jim Ford was a versatile song-writer and performer who aped his influences convincingly (to the point I was gonna write he was obviously inspired by Allen Toussaint's 1972 masterpiece until I noticed the year this was released), never bettering them, and released Harlan County which is essential for fans of Waylon Jennings, Allen Toussaint, Van Morrison, or actually anyone who fits into any one of the genres I've listed under labels- and doesn't really give a shit whether an album's influential or canon or whatever

A-

Here, My Dear (1978)

1. Here, My Dear 2:48

2. I Met a Little Girl 4:58

3. When Did You Stop Loving Me, When Did I Stop Loving You 6:11

4. Anger 3:58

5. Is That Enough? 7:42

6. Everybody Needs Love 5:41

7. Time to Get It Together 3:51

8. Sparrow 6:06

9. Anna's Song 5:49

10. When Did You Stop Loving Me, When Did I Stop Loving You (Instrumental) 6:03

11. A Funky Space Reincarnation 8:12

12. You Can Leave But It's Going to Cost You 5:27

13. Falling in Love, Again 4:36

14. When Did You Stop Loving Me, When Did I Stop Loving You (Reprise) 0:40

In 1975, Marvin Gaye's wife filed for divorce. He could not pay child support or alimony and so in 1976 set to work on creating a "lazy, bad" album so that half of the royalties earned could go to his ex wife. Here, My Dear was going to be that "lazy, bad" album, but unfortunately for Gaye (and fortunately for us), he could not keep his feelings out of the album, and so what we have is a dark, emotionally raw album about the deterioration of marriage and everything that follows. What's Going On is the conscious one, widely regarded as his best album. Let's Get It On is the sexy one, almost as highly rated as What's Going On. Here, My Dear is the third classic, not as widely beloved as the other two, but one that some love more for its emotional truth and honesty. Sorta like Springsteen's Tunnel of Love or Dylan's Blood on the Tracks.

A+

here
my dear

Roy Ayers - He's Coming (1971)

1. He's a Superstar 5:35

2. He Ain't Heavy He's My Brother 4:04

3. Ain't Got Time 2:53

4. I Don't Know How to Love Him 4:02

5. He's Coming 6:20

6. We Live in Brooklyn Baby 3:43

7. Sweet Butterfly of Love 1:52

8. Sweet Tears 3:32

9. Fire Weaver 3:40

He's Coming captures Roy Ayers at the absolute top of his game, masterminding jazz-funk grooves as taut as a tightrope. Profoundly inspired by the Broadway musical Jesus Christ Superstar (and including a reading of the soundtrack's "I Don't Know How to Love Him"), the album is a deeply felt exploration of Ayers' spiritual and social beliefs, celebrating the life and rebirth of Jesus with "He's a Superstar" and its follow-up title cut before delivering the equally impassioned political manifesto "Ain't Got Time to Be Tired," a wake-up call for slumbering revolutionaries. Aided by an exemplary backing unit featuring saxophonist Sonny Fortune, bassist John Williams, keyboardist Harry Whitaker, and drummer Billy Cobham, Ayers channels the intensity of his message into his music, creating the most vibrant and textured music of his career to date. The atmospheric "We Live in Brooklyn, Baby" is an absolute masterpiece, a haunting hybrid of jazz, funk, and soul that exemplifies the Ayers aesthetic at its most far-reaching and inventive.
-AMG

A-

spotify

The Time - What Time Is It? (1982)

1. Wild and Loose 7:33

2. 777-9311 8:04

3. OneDayI'mGonnaBeSomebody 2:26

4. The Walk 9:31

5. Gigolos Get Lonely Too 4:41

6. I Don't Wanna Leave You 6:28

Morris Day and The motherfuckin' Time. Everything written and performed by Prince with the exception of lead vocals which are Morris Day's. That's a good thing though- Prince is a genius when it comes to writing and performing funky pop and so What Time Is It? is widely considered to be a funk classic

A

here