Funk
A Statue of Prince’s Love Symbol Has Been Installed At Paisley Park
While the world is tearing down monuments of problematic historical figures, the grooviest statue in music has just been erected. Prince’s iconic Love Symbol now stands proudly at Paisley Park in Chanhassen, Minnesota, home of the late singer’s studio and estate. A tribute to the late funk legend, the Love Symbol statue is 11 feet tall and 6 feet wide, and is decked out in Prince’s signature purple hue, as fans would expect. It’s positioned at the entrance to Paisley Park, where fans can take photos and pay their respects for free before paying admission to the compound. A plaque at the base of the statue features lyrics from the 1985 song “Paisley Park” and reads: “For love is the color/ This place imparts (Paisley Park)/ Admission is easy, just say you/ Believe and come to this/ Place in...
Thundercat Contributes New Song to ThunderCats TV Series: Stream
Who better to write a new song for the ThunderCats reboot than the musician named Thundercat. The funk and jazz maestro born Stephen Burner has contributed a new song called “Grune’s Tune” to Cartoon Network’s ThunderCats Roar. As Pitchfork points out, Burner’s song is about a villainous anthropomorphic saber-toothed tiger named Grune the Destroyer, of which he also voices in the series. During a Comic-Con@Home panel on Thursday, Burner spoke about his life-long fascination with ThunderCats and revealed his musical moniker came about because he frequently wore a ThunderCats T-Shirt in the studio, leading Erykah Badu to refer to him as “Thundercat”. Watch the animated video for “Grune’s Tune” and the Comic-Con@Home panel below. Back in April, Thundercat released his fourth st...
Rare 1979 Version of Prince’s “I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man” Has Been Unearthed: Stream
This September brings a massive reissue of Prince’s 1987 tour de force, Sign O’ the Times. The expanded collection boasts 63 unreleased tracks, as well as a previously unseen concert film recorded at Paisley Park on New Year’s Eve that same year. Fans were already treated to one of the reissue’s many rarities, “Witness 4 The Prosecution (Version 1)”, back in June. Today, Warner Records and The Prince Estate are sharing a never-before-released 1979 version of “I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man”. This iteration was recorded at Hollywood Sound Recorders, Studio A on May 23rd, 1979. According to a press statement, it’s “the oldest recording” found on the upcoming reissue.”The track was retrieved from the vault by Prince in June 1986 and re-recorded, with Prince adding a guitar solo...
Kamasi Washington, Robert Glasper, Terrace Martin, 9th Wonder Drop New Album as Dinner Party: Stream
Kamasi Washington, Robert Glasper, Terrace Martin, and 9th Wonder have released their debut self-titled album as Dinner Party. Stream it below via Apple Music and Spotify. In a press release, the band’s origin story is explained as the intersection of authentic connection and musical camaraderie. “Dinner Party is years of friendship, shows, dinners, conversations, laughs and life experience, all converging into one moment,” it reads. “Dinner Party is a metaphor — a group, a project, a spirit, an imprint of time — and also the name of the album… Dinner Party is invite only, but it’s for everyone.” The supergroup of neo-jazz virtuosos and hip-hop producers was unveiled several weeks ago by way of “Freeze Tag”, their lead single. While Dinner Party is only seven songs long, it takes its time ...
Kamasi Washington, Robert Glasper, Terrace Martin, and 9th Wonder Form New Supergroup Dinner Party
Kamasi Washington, Robert Glasper, Terrace Martin, and 9th Wonder are Dinner Party Neo-jazz virtuosos Kamasi Washington, Robert Glasper, and Terrace Martin have teamed up with hip-hop producer/rapper 9th Wonder to form a new supergroup called Dinner Party. The quartet will release their self-titled debut on July 10th, and you can stream the first single — “Freeze Tag” featuring Chicago singer Phoelix — below. Though Washington, Glasper, Martin, and 9th Wonder only began working on the album in late 2019, the supergroup’s origins date back nearly two decades. Washington and Martin went to high school together in Washington, and met Glasper at a jazz camp. In the ensuing years, they’d collaborate together on a number of projects: Martin and Glasper are both members of R+R=Now, while Washingt...
Anderson .Paak Addresses Police Brutality on New Single “Lockdown”: Stream
Anderson .Paak is marking Juneteenth with a new single addressing racism and police brutality. It’s dubbed “Lockdown” and comes with a corresponding music video helmed by famed director Dave Meyers (Billie Eilish, JAY-Z, Ariana Grande). Also known as Freedom Day, Juneteenth celebrates June 19th, 1865, the day the Emancipation Proclamation finally went into full effect throughout all of the Confederate States of America. Legalized slavery may be a thing of the past, but as we’ve seen in just the last few weeks, racism and white supremacy are still very much a(n ugly) fabric of US society, and this is what .Paak focuses on in his latest track. “Sicker than the COVID, how they did him on the ground?/ Speakin’ of the COVID, is it still goin’ around?” says .Paak, referencing the murder of Georg...
Chromeo Release Cheeky EP for the Pandemic Era, Quarantine Casanova: Stream
Chromeo have just delivered the funkiest release of the coronavirus era so far. Stream the cheeky 10-track Quarantine Casanova EP below. The collection began somewhat haphazardly during the early days of the pandemic lockdown. Chromeo’s Dave 1 and P-Thugg kicked off quarantine by freestyling a song called “Clorox Wipe”, simply to bring some playfulness to folks who were suddenly thrust into such uncertainty. The response was overwhelmingly positive, with fans begging for more. Chromeo obliged, and eventually the Quarantine Casanova EP was born. Tracks take on love in the time of social distancing (“6 Feet Away”), embrace ennui (“Stay in Bed (And Do Nothing)”), and namedrop Dr. Anthony Fauci (“‘Roni Got Me Stressed Out”). There are five new songs in total, coupled with the in...
Jamie xx and The Avalanches Perform B2B DJ Set for NTS Radio: Stream
Jamie xx (photo by David Brendan Hall) and The Avalanches (photo by photo by Grant Spanier) Jamie xx and The Avalanches were supposed to perform on the same stage back in March at Sydney’s No Coal Zone climate change benefit. That event got called off due to coronavirus, but two months later, the musicians have found a way to get together anyway. Jamie xx invited The Avalanches to join him for a back to back DJ set on his monthly NTS radio show. Broadcast live on Friday morning, the hour-long set is now available to stream below. Announcing the collaborative performance on Instagram, Jamie xx described the “special” set as an “actual dream come true.” While no tracklist has yet been provided, the b2b set is tagged as “funk,” “soul,” and “classic disco,” with the participants trading off re...
Prince and the Revolution 1985 Live Album Finally Released: Stream
The companion album to the 1985 concert film Prince and the Revolution: Live has finally been unlocked from the vault. Stream it below via Apple Music or Spotify. The recording was made on March 30th, 1985 at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, New York, as Prince and his famed backup band The Revolution toured in support of 1984’s Purple Rain. The set included all nine tracks off of Purple Rain, as well as a smattering of hits and B-sides from 1999, the Controversy cut “Do Me, Baby”, and even a “Yankee Doodle Dandy” interlude. Sheila E., who opened for Prince, joined him on “Baby I’m a Star”, and the concert ended with an 18-minute rendition of “Purple Rain”. To capture the performance in all its luscious glory, the tapes have been remastered by The Purple On...
Prince and the Revolution Concert Film is Streaming on YouTube for Next 72 Hours
Turn those quarantine blues into “Computer Blue”. Prince’s unforgettable concert film Prince and the Revolution: Live, which gives you a front-row seat to his 1985 “Purple Rain Tour”, is streaming on YouTube for the next 72 hours. Grab your lighters or phone flashlights and stream it in full below. Recorded on March 30th, 1985, the concert film sees Prince dazzle the stage at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, New York, with a 20-song setlist, as well as costume changes, a guitar battle, and his iconic dance antics. The High Priest of Pop masterfully belts out every song from Purple Rain, but the evening is also full of other crowd-pleasing hits, including “1999”, “Little Red Corvette”, and “Let’s Pretend We’re Married”, which is one of Prince’s more, uh, spicy songs. A 20-minute extended versi...
Jacknife Lee Starts a Riot With Beth Ditto and Earl St. Clair on “I’m Getting Tired”: Stream
Between lockdown, the pandemic death toll, and The White House’s endless foibles, it’s hard not to feel completely burnt out on reality. That’s the kind of energy producer Jacknife Lee is channeling on his latest single, “I’m Getting Tired”, featuring Beth Ditto and Earl St. Clair. With the help of his two collaborators, Lee turns all of his inner frustrations outward in the form of soulful chaos mixed with noise-rock and fiery jazz fusion and funk. The collision of genres may seem a little busy on paper, but Lee is a master of balancing everything out — after all, his production credits do include an array of artists, such as R.E.M., Taylor Swift, and The Killers, and Regina Spektor. And at the end of the day, it’s that clashing of feelings and sounds that ultimately provides the catharsi...
