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Is funk making a comeback!?!?!?!

#41
azfryguy said:
haha i like this thread glad i made it. I have always thought funk bazz should be 90% fingerstlye and 10% slap. IMO slap is a rare treat like when you give dogs when they do something good i.e eat your homework, Bite your boss when he comes over for dinner , and when you go to the dog park go up to some really foxxy ladies
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I disagree! Funk music should be what it is! Whatever suits the song! I will never make a concious effort to ration out slap style over fingerstyle! :cool:
 
#42
christw said:
I'm going to say funk as a major influence in music is coming back, at least in my local area. There are some legitimate funk bands around Columbus and a lot of interesting funk fusions. A couple of bands are funk-punk fusions, others funk-rock, and one is a funk-rap fusion that works very very well. I've been trying really hard to put together a funk-rock jam group among the many talented musicians from my work and see where it goes.
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The backbone of todays rap music and Urban Gospel music is Funk! It's not making a comeback, it's been here all along. And as I stated in an earlier post, a good handful of the original funk bands are still playing today! I'm attending a funk fest tomorrow night. Radio just won't play straight up funk but it's always been here.
 
#44
I have a question, are we saying that funk basslines only exsist in funk music?

I've been hearing funk bass in all sorts of stuff for...well... forever.

To say that funk has a playing style is a little silly to me. I don't know how to compare the funk of Bootsy, Graham, Rocco, Jamerson, Duck Dunn or a guy like Tommy Cogbill that played some great funky basslines... and on and on... but they all have VERY different playing styles as well as music they played on.

I guess my point is; If you can make your bass sound good by farting ping pong balls into the strings then you're good with me. I promise I won't try to fit into a tight box of playing style.
 
#46
four words.

Bear Creek Music Festival

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moe.
Umphrey's McGee x 2 (Thu + Fri)
Maceo Parker Band
Ivan Neville's Dumpstaphunk x 2
Lettuce x2
Soulive
The New Deal
Bonobo Live Band
The New Mastersounds x 2
Perpetual Groove x 2
George Porter's Running Pardners x2
Bernie Worrell & Social Lybrium
Chali 2'na Duo
Papa Grows Funk
Toubab Krewe x2
Zach Deputy x 2
DJ Logic x2
John Brown's Body x2
The Everyone Orchestra
Will Bernard Band
DubConscious
Garaj Mahal x2
Rebirth Brass Band
Eric Krasno and Chapter 2
Break Science
The Dead Kenny G's
Big Sam's Funky Nation
Papadosio
The Tony Hall Band
Brian Stoltz
Dr. Claw
The Sam Kininger Band
Eliot Lipp x2
Alex B x2
Motion Potion x2
Rubblebucket
The Macpodz x2
Lubriphonic x2
The Nigel Hall Band
The Heavy Pets (Wed & Thurs)
Orgone x2
The London Souls
Saltwater Grass
The Soular System
Catfish Alliance
Curious Circus
Lingo
Cadillac Jones
The Malah
Green Hit
Van Ghost
Honey Island Swamp Band (Wednesday)
Billy Iuso & the Restless Natives (Thurs)
Brock Butler
Josh Phillips Folk Festival
The Legendary JC's
Matt Grondin Band
Snarky Puppy
Greenhouse Lounge
Burnin Smyrnans
Zoogma (Wednesday)
Aquaphonics (Wednesday)
Entropy
Spiritual Rez
Cope
Diocious
Team Jaguar
TAZERFUNK!
The Fritz
 
#47
johnboy65 said:
I have a question, are we saying that funk basslines only exsist in funk music?

I've been hearing funk bass in all sorts of stuff for...well... forever.

To say that funk has a playing style is a little silly to me. I don't know how to compare the funk of Bootsy, Graham, Rocco, Jamerson, Duck Dunn or a guy like Tommy Cogbill that played some great funky basslines... and on and on... but they all have VERY different playing styles as well as music they played on.

I guess my point is; If you can make your bass sound good by farting ping pong balls into the strings then you're good with me. I promise I won't try to fit into a tight box of playing style.
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I don't think that's what is being said. Funk music is a genre however, there are tons of non funk tunes that have funky basslines.
 
#50
Like everyone else said, Funk never left it's just not what's being played on popular radio anymore. That said, groove is finding it's way back into mainstream music and I'm lovin' it! Check out some of this:

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Snoop Dogg ft. Justin Timberlake and Charlie Wilson - Signs

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And then there's this guy Sam Sparro who is really making funk accessible and reaching out to an audience who may have never considered it before:

Sam Sparro - Cottonmouth

Sam Sparro - 21st Century Life

Sam Sparro - Clingwrap

He's also done a cover of one of my favorite songs of all time!

I hope that this kind of stuff finds its way more and more into popular music :)
 
#51
DWBass said:
My brother, you ain't looking hard enough! There are plenty of real live funk bands out there.
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I am sure there are. I was talking about "radio music". I was listening to a really nice funk song on the radio the other day, but it was all "computer made". I mean, when somebody talks about a "comeback", I always imagine that we are talking about the mainstream.
 
#52
#53
What's been done before isn't going to be done again. The sound of yesterday's funk will never be today's music. Elements will survive as music adapts.

One of my favorite funk albums was the soundtrack to a computer game that came out about 10 years ago: Interstate 76. You could put the CD-rom into your CD player, and believe me, it spent much more time in the car than the computer. Here's a youtube video with the music:
 
#54
OtterOnBass said:
What's been done before isn't going to be done again. The sound of yesterday's funk will never be today's music. Elements will survive as music adapts.
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Nope! Not going for it! Not saying it will be 'todays' music but it is and will always be there for whoever wants to hear it. Todays music is geared towards the majority of the music buying demographic which are kids! Kids don't want substance in their music! They want disposable unmemorable dribble! Adults don't count anymore. If the kids were into funk, trust me, it'd be on the radio! "Elements' as in 'sampling'? Why not have the real band play it? Expose the youths to what's really real. Sorry, funk will not be ignored or just thrown away! At least, not in my little world!
 
#55
DWBass said:
Nope! Not going for it! Not saying it will be 'todays' music but it is and will always be there for whoever wants to hear it. Todays music is geared towards the majority of the music buying demographic which are kids! Kids don't want substance in their music! They want disposable unmemorable dribble! Adults don't count anymore. If the kids were into funk, trust me, it'd be on the radio! "Elements' as in 'sampling'? Why not have the real band play it? Expose the youths to what's really real. Sorry, funk will not be ignored or just thrown away! At least, not in my little world!
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Hey now! Us kids aren't the ones buying Kenny G albums :p!

All kidding aside though this is pretty much the truth. The fact is, the majority of the music buying public is buying pretty much whatever the major labels are churning out, good or bad. I do agree that what was once popular is likely never to be again in the exact same way that it was before, though. Trends in popular music seem to be moving a bit slowly in the past 2 decades but on the musical (not the lyrical) side of things popular music is really becoming something. I'm pretty young myself but until now I never found myself enjoying pop music so they must being doing something right, however slowly they may be moving :).
 
#57
i see live funk constantly. and its not lady gaga, either..

dumpstaphunk is probably funkier than anything i've ever heard, and theyre compltetly contemporary.. same with soulive-lettuce, funknstein, and all those other groups like that..

just because you dont see it on tv or hear it on the radio doesent mean its not around.
 
#59
Kwesi said:
Hey now! Us kids aren't the ones buying Kenny G albums :p!

All kidding aside though this is pretty much the truth. The fact is, the majority of the music buying public is buying pretty much whatever the major labels are churning out, good or bad. I do agree that what was once popular is likely never to be again in the exact same way that it was before, though. Trends in popular music seem to be moving a bit slowly in the past 2 decades but on the musical (not the lyrical) side of things popular music is really becoming something. I'm pretty young myself but until now I never found myself enjoying pop music so they must being doing something right, however slowly they may be moving :).
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Just curious as to who you listen to? What is your musical taste.
 
#60
conttador said:
Unfortunately commercial music has taken a turn for the worse. More and more music uses less and less musicians. Everywhere you turn now they sample stuff. It's a sad sad state.
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What timeframe are we talking about here? I was born in '91 so I can really only comment from about '96 onward and I'd definitely say that as a whole, commercial music has gotten better. Really the only place that you see samples in is rap and R&B, pop may be electronic but it's usually totally original with the exception of covers, of course. I've said it before and I'll say it again, as a whole, music has never been in a better position than where it is now.
 

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