SFKUaNK!! (Pony Canyon) 2005

Nori Shiota
NARGO
Masahiko Kitahara
Ken Ota
Masato Ishinari
Makoto Kuriya
Black Bottom Brass Band
Etc.     

Bringing this number of varied musicians together to make such consistently great funk is kind of mind-boggling. It's a studio effort, but not one that sounds studio-like. The gut feel for funk, and plenty of it, keeps every track as raw and direct and in the groove as a live show. The thumb-popping bass and watertight horns are hard to resist.

The tracks vary from one style of funk to the next in rapid succession. Fusion, funk, soul, New Orleans brass band, big band, ska, reggae and R&B rhythms all show up. It's a little confusing at first, but once the "CD critic mind" shuts down and the funky rhythms take over, the CD is great fun. The musicians are all clearly having the time of their life. The melodies are vibrant and the rhythm infectious.

"Misirlou Pulp Fiction" has an odd minor Ventures-like riff that opens up into a Mexican trumpet and then plunges ahead into wilder and wilder playing. "D.R.F." goes back to 70s funk for a pulsing feverish groove that opens into great solos. The horns come in just in time to turn around the melody and springboard one great solo after the next. "Stan" dips into cool, laid-back, reggae-ish grooves.

"Missy" with the Black Bottom Brass Band builds on a cool repeated guitar riff, bits and pieces of New Orleans funk together with full-out blasting.  "Baker's Dozen" throbs with energy and brass. The horn section rips through fast lead lines while the bass never stops on this tune from New Orleans funk jam band Galactic.

"A Love Song" from Ego-Wrappin' is given a great workout, with a clean, light mix and tender solos, followed by a smooth vocal version. "Geppetta" is given a vocal version at the end, though the cool funk of the instrumental version gets me grooving more fully. This CD is intriguing in its tight funk, a rhythm that is perhaps all too rare among Tokyo musicians, without losing a high level of soloing and ensemble work. It makes it very easy to press the repeat button again and again.