Thursday, March 14, 2013

Alpman on Kept Records



Gunes Alpman is an 18 year old Turkish musician and producer working in an instrumental funk style, drawing on classical deep funk references and dragging wet reverb surf guitars straight through to the scuzzy garage sounds of today.

"Tintm" kicks off the A-Side with a subtle, muted bassline, almost silent just this raw sounding melody that knows exactly where to take this sound. There's a slight delay throughout the instrumentation that grows to include wet, reverby guitar scratches. A conga breaks into the creaking blues groove and another layer of higher scuzzy guitar starts to work in a slightly higher key over the increasing levels of funk. A wah wrings out the guitar melody over hidden hammond organ stabs. The beat drops into an entirely different brush stick rhythm with triangle fills and that bassline dominating the lower keeps things moving forward in an infinite jam.

B-Side's "Hypnotic Redhead" takes a reverse guitar and breaks it into nothing but warbling and heavy delay conga delaying all over itself. A subtle electric melody pans back and forth, getting, as Alpman says 'spychadelic'. Warm reverb, but no effect has a chance to stay very long... double up that high hat and get into jazzy uptown rhythms whie that smooth organ does runs up the keys. A Solo guitar creeps in a back and forth lower echo, playing on this established groove. You have to hand it to Alpman, he wastes no time in examining every measure of this thing. The abbreviated format maybe forcing him to utilize every spare moment, keeping it always interesting and changing. That big reverb melody making this a spy theme for sure, the beats are heavy as always, the rocky foundation, strong as hell to mess with the guitars in an almost funk garage surf sound, clean as humanly possible without a misplaced note, building up this funk to break it back down.

Import from Kept records who says:

ALPMAN taps into instrumental psychedelic moods and funk-inspired grooves to create a whole new genre dubbed instrumental spychedelic funk. The a-side, “tintm,”is a break-filled track, and although “this is not Turkish music,” the fuzzed-out bağlama inspired guitar riff cannot be unheard as it carries things to an absolute hypnotizing groove. On the flip, the groove comes quick, creating a hypnotic cut where you will hear flavours of trip-hop, spy and lounge music. This funk is like nothing you've heard before. This funk is fresh. This funk is hypnotic. This funk is instrumental "spychedelic."


1 comment:

  1. Would love to see these guys live. Though you wouldn't guess it from listening to our band (Face The King), much of the foundation of my guitar training was through funk and blues. Nothing like sitting down to watch a bunch of great funk and blues musicians tear it up. Hope they're coming to New York soon.

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