CD Reviews

The Whitefield Brothers | In the Raw

Now-Again (2009)

By GUSTAVO TURNER | March 30, 2009

4.0 Stars

The key to any funk produced after the hip-hop revolution of the '80s is that it's deeply aware of the breakbeat. If the original funketeers opened up the arrangements to "give the drummer some" as a special courtesy, their descendants are all about the hypnotic, repetitive drumwork.

The good folks at Now-Again have done the world a favor by re-releasing this 2001 gem by Munich-born Afrobeat nuts Jan and Max Whitefield, a disc long out-of-print and impossible to find. An amazing tour through the best flavors of the soul-funk-jazz continuum, In the Raw offers in one tidy package the fuzz-drenched eroticism of "Prowlin'," the post-Miles brujería of "Witch Jam," and the glorious "Eji," a piece that updates the revered early-1970s Blue Note sides and takes a step beyond in the progression from Horace Silver to Mulatu Astatke.

Whether you decide to lose yourself in the groove of "Thunderbird" or luxuriate in several moments that feel like the Platonic ideal of the Deep Throat soundtrack, "this, my friend" (in the words of Howard Moon from The Mighty Boosh) "is jazz funk." And in the words of Vince from ShamWow, "You know the Germans always make good stuff." Bottom line: you really want to pick this one up.

Live! — sort of
The success of the Metropolitan Opera's "Live in HD" experiment augurs well for dance on the big screen. Simulcast at select theaters, with tickets priced higher than for a movie but much cheaper than for a live opera, these events generate a sense of anticipation.
Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears | Scandalous
The soul revival has been going on long enough now that maybe it's a not a bad idea to stop calling it a revival at all.
Various Artists | Those Shocking, Shaking Days: Indonesian Hard, Psychedelic, Progressive Rock and Funk 1970–1978
I know what you're thinking: Is Those Shocking, Shaking Days: Indonesian Hard, Psychedelic, Progressive Rock and Funk 1970-1978 really as mind-bendingly, earth-shatteringly, consciousness-alteringly awesome as its title would suggest? Abso-fucking-lutely.
Philadanco brings the funk
The four pieces on Philadanco's program last weekend at the Institute of Contemporary Art had different accouterments — musical, scenic, philosophical — but they still looked very much alike.
Floating heavyweights
Club d'Elf, Julian Lage, Jérôme Sabbagh, and Michael Feinberg
Beastie Boys | Hot Sauce Committee Part Two
"Back on the mic, it's the anti-depressor," flows King Ad-Rock over raunchy drums and speaker-busting clavinet in "Make Some Noise," the bravado launching pad of Beastie Boys' eighth studio album.
Plainville, James Farm, and the Infrared Band
When Antoine Batiste is looking for a guitarist, the one thing he doesn't want to hear is "white boys with bad hair playin' them cowboy keys."
Various Artists | True Soul: Deep Sounds from the Left of Stax
Soul hounds love deep, obscure shit — the deeper it is, the more obscure it is, the funkier it is, the more Southern it is, the better.
Rubblebucket | Omega La La
Although bands often sacrifice musical quality for the sake of maintaining a weirder image, Rubblebucket keep buzzing forward, as impressive as they are idiosyncratic.
The schizoid stronghold of Iwrestledabearonce
The experts claim irony is dead, but the experts are stupid morons. Irony is an abstract concept. It was never alive, therefore cannot die.
Out: Dropping some future funk sounds with Jamaica Plain's the Craters at Yes.Oui.Si
About 30 kids bopped their heads to tracks from the Craters' 2010 tape Teenage High School , released via JP DIY label Breakfast of Champs, plus newer songs like the soon-to-be-hit "Sunsense."
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Topics: CD Reviews , Munich, Horace Silver, funk, More

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