Skinshape: Life & Love
Time to get a little funky. Not too funky, but here are some excellent modern takes on the theme. Once again, I’ve got more seriously good recommendations than will fit in one week, so I’ll go halfsies between this week and next. For now, we’ll start with Londoner Will Dorey who recently put out his third album performing as Skinshape. Dorey is one more in a recent string of plays-every-instrument-on-the-album musicians, and, like all the others, he’s pretty awesome. Life & Love is some superb psychedelic bedroom funk, spirals of guitar/bass/drums/keys in rhythms both tight and light. Bob your head or, heck, get off the couch and slow-groove. It’s all good.
The Heliocentrics: A World Of Masks & The Sunshine Makers OST
Let’s hang out in the U.K. for a bit longer, they seem to have this slow-funk thing down. Here’s a band with not one, but two killer albums filled with absolute downtempo mastery. The band is RecommNeds alum The Heliocentrics. They’ve got A World Of Masks out, which showcases their exotic blend of psych-acid-jazz-dream-groove. The normally instrumental band adds vocals by Barbora Patkova who sings equally dreamy improvised lyrics in her native Slovakian to heighten the mystique. Perfecto! The second record is the soundtrack to The Sunshine Makers. The Heliocentrics are an ideal soundtrack band, providing perfect bite-sized nuggets of tripped-out funk to the story of dudes making LSD. Both of these are highly recommended!
Brownout: Over The Covers
That’s a lot of mellow grooving so far. Sweet stuff, yes, but if you want something with a little edge, a good bet would be Brownout’s new one. Brownout made their name playing big funk versions of Black Sabbath songs, which was a great idea, wonderfully executed. But now, as their new EP states in its title, they are “over the covers.” The EP is four tight originals. Crunchy, turn-that-shit-up, big-sound funk, with enough fuzzed-up guitars and bass to pair with a slamming horn section. Sabbath covers are awesome, but Brownout’s originals here hint at something even better. That should keep your boogie burning until next week when I’ll have a few more for your toes to tap to. Enjoy!
