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Word Up! by Cameo was a hit single in 12 countries in 1986-87. The funk and R&B song, which sampled the theme from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, was written by band members Larry Blackmon and Tomi Jenkins. The video featured LeVar Burton from Roots and ST:TNG, and a codpiece designed by Jean-Paul Gaultier. Also available as GIFs. Word Up! has been covered across a range of genre by artists including Gun, Mel B, Korn, Little Mix and Willis. Lyrics below the fold... [more inside]
posted by Wordshore on Nov 27, 2016 - 58 comments

Deavid Soul ("The Avid Soul") aka "Rich & Famous" are a Japanese duo who make house/disco/funk and, more recently, world music. You may remember them from such Dreamcast darlings as Jet Set Radio and Jet "Grind" Radio. Their style is an instantly recognizable mix of 90s house and classic disco with copious samples from hip hop, disco, R&B, reggae and 80s/70s film. For their latest album, they've collaborated with Exotic Light Orchestra to add a Latin American fusion sound to their already eclectic aural soup. They're real good. [more inside]
posted by byanyothername on Jun 6, 2015 - 9 comments

This a little story 'bout this one time, we got booked to play a show, right? It was down in the Keys, we wuz makin' our way - and we ran into the Tiki Bar

“Funk cruises through the Caribbean picking up Afro sounds from Cuba and Puerto Rico. Reggae meets rock in a head-on collision. Jazz and electro hook up for a sidewalk makeout session. Hip-hop seems to hum from the very pavement, and R&B drifts in on the night wind. Suenalo reaches to far-flung corners and retrieves all these, takes them and mashing them together, marrying them—disparate players melded into a somehow harmonious blend.

[more inside] posted by the man of twists and turns on Sep 2, 2014 - 5 comments

Some say that surf guitar started here: Johnny Guitar Watson - Space Guitar
Young John Watson's first appearance on wax: Chuck Higgins & his Mellotones - Motor Head Baby
Also back in the day: Johnny "Guitar" Watson - The Bear
And not so far back in the day - a Frank Zappa jam with Tuva throat Singers, Chieftains and Johnny ''Guitar'' Watson [more inside]
posted by y2karl on Dec 22, 2012 - 9 comments

Get Down On It:
Jean Knight - Mr Big Stuff
Marvin Gaye - Got To Give It Up
The Five Stairsteps - Ooh Child
Al Green - Tired of Being Alone
Shirley Brown - Woman to Woman
Joe Tex - I Gotcha
A Taste of Honey - Sukiyaki
Yellow Magic Orchestra - Firecracker
Five Star- All Fall Down
Eddie Kendricks - Happy
Aretha Franklin - Rock Steady
Al Green - Love and Happiness
The Staples Singers Come Go With Me
Sly & the Family Stone - Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)

And as no Soul Train post would be complete without a line dance: Temptations - Papa Was A Rolling Stone [more inside]
posted by y2karl on Dec 21, 2012 - 42 comments

GRiZ - Mad Liberation. Take a 21 year old bedroom producer from Michigan, raise them on the the internet with a near complete access to the history of modern music with a focus on electronic/dance and apparently you get this incredibly humanistic and cross-cultural album that's both homage, monument and appropriation of hundreds of influences in modern music in an incredibly dubby dubstep framework. (Free album download here.)
posted by loquacious on Sep 5, 2012 - 63 comments

"A wildly flamboyant funk diva with few equals even three decades after her debut, Betty Davis combined the gritty emotional realism of Tina Turner, the futurist fashion sense of David Bowie, and the trendsetting flair of Miles Davis, her husband for a year. ... she turned Miles on to Jimi Hendrix and Sly Stone (providing the spark that led to his musical reinvention on In a Silent Way and Bitches Brew), then proved her own talents with a trio of sizzling mid-'70s solo LPs." - All Music Guide (many links nsfw-ish)
posted by Joe Beese on Feb 17, 2009 - 22 comments