Key-tar Heroes

We invoke the spirit of the boogie-funk on the latest edition of "Spine Blowing Decisions." Tho there is an unavoidable kitsch element involved with any genre characterized by ten-person bands whose members (alternately or simultaneously) rock jheri curls, sparkles, Edwardian ruffled shirts, and/or midriff baring gear like the guy in white above, at its best boogie-funk represents that happy place where the exquisite meets the aggressive. Or as Dam-Funk told us at his RBMA-London lecture last February, the kind of music the most beautiful woman in the world and the most gangsta dude in the world could sit down and enjoy together over a glass of wine.

As genuinely inspiring as I find that description, this mix leans a little more on the "fun" in "funk." How could it not given the inclusion of former Ohio Player/P-Funk soldier Junie (Morrison)'s old school hip-hop lampoon, "Rappin About Rappin" - which features the priceless lyric, "I can rap about the crackers on the 4th of July"? Tho come to think of it there's actually more than a couple songs about heartbreak included - "Hips" by Mtume (a "new" vocoder funk discovery unearthed by the authority on such matters) being the one with the most unique lyrical take. (Chorus: "Your hips are shakin'/ My heart is breakin' - for you!") Of course, I couldn't resist following "Hips" with Don Blackman's yabba-dabba-doo funk classic, "You Ain't Hip" (oh well, so much for respecting the pathos of the former).

Anyways, emo-boogie-funk isn't what this show is about (tho there's an idea for a future mix; maybe it could be called, "The Computer Love I Lost"?). It's about that wormy synth bass thing (it's too short to qualify as a solo) three and a half minutes into "Cutie Pie" - which still sounds as badass to me now as it did when the girls in gym class (or recess or whatever it was) were doing that old rope pull move to it B.I.T.D.

DL (at least for the next month) here. Playlist below. Enjoy!

Spine Blowing Decisions Vol. 25: Spirit of the Boogie-Funk

Punchh - B.J.D. Song

Lambchops - Bus Stop

Junie - Rappin About Rappin

Geno Jordan - You're a Peachtree Freak On Peachtree Street

One Way - Cutie Pie

Zapp - Heartbreaker

Bobby Glover - So Mean

Mtume - Hips

Don Blackman - You Ain't Hip

Demo-Barry - City Funk

Parlet - Ridin' High

The Batiste Brothers - Freeze

Gaston - Here a Funk, There a Funk, Everywhere a Funk Funk

Roadway - Let's Go For It

James Taylor - This Girl