King Farook - Land Of The Horny

YOURZ

I first heard about King Farook through a work mate, whose son is the lead singer in this great band.  He was obviously a proud Dad and talked up the band a lot.  And to be honest, I didn't take a huge amount of notice as I'd heard it all before.  But then he gave me this CD.  Listening to King Farook's hybrid of funk, rock, hip hop and whatever else they throw in to the mix convinced me. 

Land Of The Horny is a party album in waiting, with the emphasis on party.  Like a good party, this album peaks and declines, giving both band and listener a chance to catch a breath before kicking the energy up again.  But it is all about the groove, about booty-shaking beats and tighter than tighty-whites instrumentation.

They've also garnered a reputation for being one of the best live bands around, somethinng I'll only be able to confirm when I see them for myself.  And I guess this will be sooner than later.  Stay tuned...

VERDICT: TURN IT UP

MINE

Another reason not to judge a book by its cover.  I thought these  guys would be yet another hip-hop act doing shouty stuff I'd hate.  But instead, they're fun, funky, cheeky, rude, totally danceable and completely delightful!  One for our next party.  One to see live.  Catch them in Sydney on the 13th of November (check the website) and hopefully we'll be there too!  Sounds like a great birthday night out... over to you, my love?

VERDICT: TURN IT UP and get down

For more information: http://www.kingfarook.com/

Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings - 100 Days, 100 Nights

MINE

This CD breaks all my rules.  I mean, it sounds like classic 50s-60s soul, but it's been written and recorded right now.  And ordinarily I'd sniffily call this sort of music "wanna-be soul" - except it doesn't wanna be, it damn well is.

Sharon can wail like Aretha or Diana or any one of those fabulous soul divas, and that band is tight.  Plus (and I don't mean to sound like a production Nazi here, but) that production is faultless.

This music is like discovering a whole new novel by an author you love and thought you'd read everything they'd ever written.  It's a modern classic.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP and get boogying, y'all

YOURZ

Thank you, Spicks And Specks.  If it weren't for this excellent music quiz show, we wouldn't have heard about the marvellous voice of Sharon Jones and her incredile soul-funk band, The Dap-Kings.  Appearing on an episode, she blew us away with one of the challenges, to sing a song using the words of an unrelated piece of text.  She was, simply and crudely put, fucking brilliant.

In fact, we have Spicks And Specks to thank for a number of our favourite pieces of music but more of that later.  In the meantime, 100 Days, 100 Nights could easily be the soundtrack to our other viewing experience of late, that of the marvellous HBO series, Treme.  Take the hint, sucker, and get watching!

We've expressed our love of good funk and soul before and while this isn't breaking new ground, it certainly shows there is still great music being made in this genre.  You just gotta keep an eye out for it.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP and shimmy like a slinky thang, you...

For more information: http://www.daptonerecords.com/pages/stable_sharon.html

New Orleans Funk Volumes 1 & 2

YOURZ

New Orleans has an extremely rich musical history, being home to some of the greatest jazz, blues, soul and funk musicians ever known.  These collections, both from the Soul Jazz label, are reverently-sourced and contain some of the greatest funk tracks ever recorded.

The first volume concentrates on bringing the listener a aural history of the genre and includes some very hard-to-find recordings (particularly now considering a lot of the archives for these recordings were wiped out by Hurricane Katrina).  The second volume continues the exposition with a similarly tasty playlist.  The only criticism I have (and this is very minor) is the tracks aren't in chronological order.  Yeah, I did say minor.

There are so many good tracks on both, it is virtually impossible for me to single out any one.  But if there is any track that defines this collection for me, it has to be Aaron Neville's Hercules.  It is sublime, superbly voiced, sexy and extremely funky and epitomises what it is all about.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP and g g g g get on down

MINE

Featuring names I know, like Allen Toussaint, Dr John, Lee Dorsey and Aaron Neville - and a whole bunch of people I'd never heard of before this - these two CDs plus some more Soul Jazz collections are party central music.   All our funk collections come courtesy of YourZ except one, which is kind of weird when you consider I am the Funky Queen in the house (in the house, I say).  (YourZ sez: so you say)

Truly I could listen to funk compliations for most of the rest of my life without getting too bored.  They're full of wildly groovy tunes, they're mostly highly danceable, the singers are great, what's not to love?  And that would be my only comment - proceed directly to the verdict - if not for one funk-related story I have to relate.

So a long time ago I purchased one of the In Yo' Face! compilations - Volume Three, to be exact.  My boyfriend of the time (Hi Kevin!) was just a trifle dismissive of the purchase, especially of the opening track, Jungle Boogie by Kool and the Gang.  Fast-forward a few months to the first time we saw Pulp Fiction - and guess what song is the first one you hear on the soundtrack?  I confess, I allowed myself a brief inner moment of glee.

But anyway, if you don't have any funk compilations in your collection, why not?  Top class music, all the way.  Just ask Quentin Tarantino.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP

For more information: http://www.souljazzrecords.co.uk/