Sexy Attempts to Hack Your Playlist 1: Five Feats of Funky

AJ Haynes of Seratones

Lettuce, Phyllis (2015): 

Lettuce is a six-man squad churned out of the famous Boston Berklee School of Music that plays funk in the tradition of Dennis Coffey and the Detroit Guitar Band, Tower of Power, and the large ensemble sound version of Prince—guitars rhythming unassumingly and unashamedly out front. With a debut that dropped in 1991, Lettuce—like Fishbone—maybe hoary enough to be second or third-generation old skool. The sound is intricate and deep, swerving into the middle-of-the-road lane at times, but overall worthy bearers of the standard, whichever direction it goes. 

Seratones, Gotta to Get to Know Ya (2019):

Shreveport, LA’s Seratones have been compared to Alabama Shakes but I don’t hear it. They’re both white rhythm sections fronted by black women but that’s where the resemblance ends—though, I’ll confess to know embarrassingly little about the Shakes (the name put me off). The Shakes are rootsier and the ’Tones are punkier but otherwise, it’s a useless comparison. I prefer Seratones.

As far as this tune goes, the opening shrieked whoos alone ought to be enough to bring you in. Passed that, it’s all hard candy funk and butt-shuffling melody to follow. In another age, it’s the kind of territory Ike and Tina might’ve inhabited.

Cory Wong, Cosmic Sans (2017):

The wah-wah and Stratocaster groove here drops like nuclear fallout. The chorus goes a just slightly north of schmaltzy but the thumb-heavy bass thump counterbalances. Altogether, it’s a smoker.

Fishbone, So Many Millions (1991):

Nineteen ninety-one seems so old skool now but the cascade of analog layers bring the Funkadelic like no one else—save peak Funkadelic. The drummer drives the herd like a border collie but what follows in its wake is nothing less than reckless joy.

Curtis Harding, Dream Girl (2017):

Harding’s sound is syringed deep from the gravy of the classic early 60s period but he also provides plenty of young blood to go with it. Territorially, he’s not far afield from what Amy Winehouse was doing though his affections and affectations can tip more toward the garage than Winehouse’s big production sound would’ve. This is a groove you and your parents can listen to together.