DAM FUNK ON TOUR!

GET READY.

Dam Funk is on the road in support of his epic five volume masterpiece, Toeachizown. Released last fall on Stones Throw, Toeachizown was embraced by critics and fans alike. Keeping the funk movement alive and well at his club night, Funkmosphere, in Los Angeles, Dam is ready to give the rest of the country a taste.

Check out the love for Dam Funk, because there’s a lot:

Dâm’s specialty lies in 80s-style analog fizziness once spearheaded by the likes of Roger Troutman and Prince. His grooves are thick and synth-y and beatifically mid-tempo; they conjure champagne glasses clinking in soft focus or day-glo block parties filled with boomboxes and barbecue. PITCHFORK

Dam-Funk’s D.J. sets run headlong toward shimmer, with glorious winding synths that are a Los Angeles hallmark. NY TIMES

[Dam’s] compositions are full of blown-out synthesizers, thwapping drum machines and vocodered vocals, all wrapped in a thick purple fog. It’s the kind of stuff that would blare from the stereo of a homemade spaceship. LA TIMES

Channeling the past, L.A.’s Dam-Funk brings funk back to the future. XLR8R

Los Angeles ambassador of boogie grooves, Dam Funk, taps into the warmth of the sun with this five-volume effort. SF BAY GUARDIAN

To hear him talk about funk is to hear an alchemist orate on the elixir of life—he speaks of its untold power, its limitless influence, of its ability to help, and furthermore, to heal. THE FADER

Toeachizown is a must-hear for all the lush terrain it visits and fertilizes. If you’ve an interest in the rubbery bounce of Zapp, the synthesized sexual obsession of early Prince, the re-evaluation of the G-Funk Era happening every morning and afternoon on the Los Angeles freeways thanks to the way-ahead-of-the-curve KDAY-FM, or LA’s nascent “bedroom funk” scene….. or LA’s throwback-soul movement … Toeachizown is the first, uh, “project” with the grapes to even try to condense it all, and go one or two further. Dustedmagazine.com

What makes it so exciting is the way in which [Dam] threads his singular vision with a scholastic and soulful reverence for the past. Like a missing quadrant between the sparkling sequin sheen of Slave, the talk-box groove of Roger Troutman and Zapp, and the G-Funk glide of Dr. Dre and DJ Quik, Toeachizown is quintessential California ride music. LA WEEKLY

The master of Modern Funk will bring the house down on the following select dates.…

Thurs 3/4 – Toronto @ The Drake
Fri 3/5 – Montreal @ Lambi
Sun 3/7 – Boston @ Great Scott’s
Wed 3/10 – NYC @ Bowery Ballroom (Full Live Band Show)
Fri 3/12 – Philly @ Robotique at Kung Fu Necktie
Sat 3/13 – DC @ 411 NY Ave. (DJ only)
Sun 3/14 – Baltimore @ Ottobar
Tues, 3/16 – ATL @ Bar CV
Wed 3/17-20 – Austin, TX @ SXSW
Sat, 3/27 – Miami @ WMC

Jahmek Power aka Jammer is one of the true pioneers of the grime scene. A builder of bridges and peacemaker rather than a loose cannon, Jammer is one of the few people in London who can count both Dizzee Rascal and Wiley amongst his friends and who has worked with Kano, Tinchy, Chipmunk and just about everyone else, underground and overground. And if none of them have a bad word to say about him, that’s because, at heart, Jammer believes more in music than he does in ego.

Jammer always knew he’d do something in music. His dad was a musician and he grew up fiddling with the buttons on the family stereo. As a teenager he started out DJing drum & bass and ragga with a mate, DJ Supa D (now one of UK funky’s biggest names) after the pair of them found some cheap decks down Hackney Wick market. After leaving school he went to work at the distributors Essential Direct just as So Solid and Ms Dynamite started to come through from the underground. Jammer saved up his wages to buy a basic production set-up which he installed in the cellar of his family’s house in Leytonstone. The space was to become known as The Dungeon and to many people is one of the key locations in any geographical history of grime.

With friends D Double E and Hyper Jammer formed 187 Crew, the three of them eventually migrating to join Nasty Crew around 2000. Nasty were to become one of thedefining crews within the early growth of the musical style which would eventually be named Grime. Their famous Monday night show on pirate station Déjà Vu started at this time and they were amongst the first to be playing releases from the likes of Roll Deep and Dizzee. And as well as the radio show, Jammer was producing, for instance putting together the beat for “Take You Out” – the first Nasty Crew track to feature Kano. Jammer followed this up by releasing Kano’s “Boyz Luv Girlz” on his own Jahmektheworld imprint. Alongside this sat his own “Dubz” releases on the massively influential Locked On imprint, his renowned remix of “Are You Really From The Ends?” and the “Why?” white label, released by Wiley.

Jammer’s connection to Locked On would lead to Kano and D Double E meeting Mike Skinner and eventually signing to 679, an event which played its part in the dissolution of Nasty Crew. Suddenly finding himself with less rappers in the studio Jammer began to play around with MCing himself. The result was “Murkle Man” – one of the funniest (and biggest) grime tunes (and videos) ever made, and one which emphasised that the music could incorporate humour and self-deprecation as well as macho posturing. In between touring the country in a purple and green superhero costume, Jammer found time to release the excellent “Are You Dumb?” mixtape series (check the cover to volume 3, showing Jam tying his shoelace in front of oncoming traffic on the M11) and mastermind, film and record the “Lord of the Mics” DVDs, all from that same basement in the family home and including such classics as the clash between Kano and Wiley.

Since then, in between the mixtapes and DVDs, Jammer has toured the world with Dizzee Rascal and the Dirtee Stank crew (as well as recording with him on the “Murkle Man” remix and “Lemon”), become a member of the most influential contemporary grime collective, Boy Better Know, featured on the BBK remix of Jay Sean’s “Stay” (over 1 million views on YouTube) and on and on. All this and the man is still only 27 and about to release his debut album!

When Kid Sister announced this show on her Facebook, we hadn’t even heard about it, but snagged tickets online the same day because intuition was just shouting that it would be a fun time. Kid Sister–aka Melisa Young–and Flosstradamus–J2K (Josh Young) and Autobot (Curt Cameruci): are you kidding us? Our expectation for the show could not have been more accurate!

Detroit Bar isn’t a huge venue in terms of space, but it’s big enough and the vibe there the whole night was awesome. We arrived early: before the place had even really filled-up, and it was still entertaining to start the night by listening to good music as the TV screens played clips from the 80’s. Not much time passed before the place was packed and everyone was dancing.

This was the best show that we’ve been to in months. It’s not purely about the music, of course, but it’s also about the crowd. Not only were the performances great, but everyone at the event was pretty chill. You know those times you’ve found yourself out and there’s some belligerent drunk guy trying to start beef with you over nothing, or when everyone’s so hung-up on looking cool that they are kind of awkward and don’t even seem like they’re really having a good time? Well, this night was the opposite. Most everyone seemed like they were just busting loose and enjoying themselves. For that reason it was a memorable night. Check out the video below and see how part of how wild things got for yourselves.

Okay, so you may have noticed the annoying feedback in the series of clips. Oh well, just like love, shows aren’t perfect. Kid Sister handled it in a breezy way though, and honestly, the energy during the show was so intense with everyone all hyped-up by the performance that it wasn’t all that noticeable.

The show was also covered by the OC Weekly crew. See their fantastic coverage at ocweekly.com.

Jimmy Edgar – “Turn You Inside Out:”

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

In keeping with BBE’s tradition of high quality disco comps, The Boogie Back features an exclusive remix of the NYC cult jam Jan Leslie Holmes’ “I’m Your Superman,” tasty edits from Spinna, a ready made party mix for house parties and unmixed selections on CD2 for collectors. These classic tracks are hard to find anywhere!

DJ Spinna
The Boogie Back – Post Disco Club Jams
Label: BBE
Release Date: November 24, 2009

myspace.com/djspinnafrombrooklyn
For Fans Of: Kurtis Blow, Michael Jackson, Mtume, Parliament, War

Boogie Music is the dance music genre that was wedged between 70’s disco music and the electronica explosion of the 90’s. Some call it Post Disco, some call it Electro Funk, but the characteristics that define Boogie Music (funk, soul and R&B) would form the building blocks of proper house music. This is the kind of music that was coming out of the inner city clubs of the time and there’s a whole lot of culture and emotion built into these songs. Hell, Michael Jackson’s classic Off The Wall is a boogie record!

A child of the 80’s DJ Spinna (aka Vincent Williams) lived through the boogie heydays. With a global resurgence in vintage club music, Italo disco, alt dance and dance rock, Spinna felt it was his duty to pay homage to the original artists who inspired so many of today’s hottest DJs and musical acts. The jams on this compilation rocked the airwaves in Brooklyn back in the day and now it’s ripe from a brand new crop of music lovers across the world.

This package really satisfies all tastes and moods. Disc One is DJ Spinna’s ready made block party DJ Mix for getting it all going right. These crispy, funky tracks are lined up side-by-side for a vibe that takes you straight to the streets, circa 1982. A second disc is prime meat for all you crate diggers and features 12 unmixed classics; many of which are unavailable on CD, Vinyl or even digitally!

One again DJ Spinna delivers a product that’s not just 4/4 beats or empty tracks. Rather, through all his many releases over the years he’s proven to be the authority on providing real music for real people. DJ Spinna is one of a few active DJs today whose versatility and all round knowledge covers so much ground. From Rock to Jazz, Reggae to Hip-Hop, soundtracks to House, Soul, Funk, Disco or Techno this man has the knowledge and can rock parties as good as any leading lights in any of the aforementioned scenes.

BBE releases DJ Spinna Presents The Boogie Back – Post Disco Club Jams on November 24, 2009

CD 01 – Mixed by DJ Spinna

01 South Bronx – The Bottom Line
02 Foxy – Tena’s Song
03 T.J Swan – And You Know That (Dub)
04 Chemise – She Can’t Love You (Original 12” Mix)
05 Mtume – o You Wanna Be A Star
06 Final Edition – Betcha Can’t Love Just One (Can’t keep Running Away)
07 Masurrati and Huey Harris – Super Duper Lovin, Don’t Stop
08 Community People -Education Wrap (Dj Spinna Edit)
09 War – The World Is A Ghetto (Special US Disco Mix)
10 Ronnie Dyson – All Over Your Face (Special J&M Mix)
11 Stargaze – You Can’t Have It
12 Jan Leslie Holmes – I’m Your Superman – (Dj Spinna ReFREAK)
13 Slyck – Love It (Or Beat The Bush)
14 Modern Romance -Salsa Rhapsody
15 Melody Stewart – Get Down, Get Down
16 Captain Rapp – Bad Times (I Can’t Stand It) (Part 2)

CD 2 – Unmixed, Compiled by DJ Spinna

01 South Bronx – The Bottom Line
02 Foxy – Tena’s Song
03 T.J Swan – And You Know That (Dub)
04 Chemise – She Can’t Love You (Original 12” Mix)
05 Mtume – So You Wanna Be A Star
06 Final Edition – Betcha Can’t Love Just One (Can’t Keep Running Away)
07 War -The World Is A Ghetto (Special US Disco Mix)
08 Ronnie Dyson – All Over Your Face
09 Stargaze – You Can’t Have It
10 Jan Leslie Holmes – I’m Your Superman
11 Modern Romance -Salsa Rhapsody
12 Melody Stewart – Get Down, Get Down