»Uuuh … , now I want it nasty«. There is no better way of phrasing it than Ed »Apple« Nelson did in these first few lines of »What Goes Around Comes Around«. This record’s sound is as dirty as it takes for a good funk-record. The same way that »funky« used to refer to something »smelly« in the original meaning of the word (apparently the Caucasians called the sound smelly because they weren’t that much into this alleged dirt), »nasty« also refers to something being done incredibly well. Hence, the few singles this band has come up with so far can definitively be called »nasty«. No matter if it’s a romanticized courtship-track like »True Love Will Nev’er Die«, James-Brown-esque rap-tirades like in »Curse Upon The World«, or distorted psych-guitar-riffs and bugle-arrangements gracefully limping through the almost forty minutes of »Free and Easy« – this record has everything a man can want from funk in order to have his passion revived. It should be a mandatory listen for everyone having a try at funk these days, especially since so many of them fail. The reason is that most people would say that they love cheese even though they eat nothing but young Gouda every day. That’s the same kind of people who’d throw away their Brie one day after its due-date has passed, without knowing that that’s the time when it gets real good. Still, what those people ignore most is that the strong Roquefort loved by the French can bewitch the senses most. That’s the way the cheese crumbles.
Various Artists
Shanghai’d Soul: Episode 12
The Numero Group