Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Superhuman Happiness / CSC Funk band split on Electric Cowbell

Here's another genre expanding split from a local label, Electric Cowbell Records, this time it's a split between the CSC Funk band and Superhuman Happiness.
Superhuman appropriately kicks off the A-Side with "Human Happiness". Of course these guys are a perfect match with CSC, only Superhuman immediately shifts expectations with an old school casio demo beat leading off the funk. I'm sure that's a first for funk and the 7" single. A bassline groove builds over the beautifully captured casio and horns launch into a the main melody theme. The entire track they're playing with various textures while the casio plods on: fuzzed out experimental guitar distortion and wood block fills. I can't tell if that horn section melody from Stuart Bogie keeps building with layers of harmony's underneath, or it's just by this point the funk has completely taken over. Most of all I like their attitude, they've really played everything, across the spectrum of experimental, minimalist, indie, but they just appreciated going back to this sound and applying those aesthetics to a big band funk. The label and these bands, if it wasn't enough already this is coming out on 7", they're really in it for the love of performing this music, and I have to see this in person.

The B-Side "A Troll's Soiree", continues the groovy horn blasting based funk, the main groove giving way to everyone's individual solo parts weaving throughout. Oboe solo, anyone? Amazingly talented, this super clean sound could have originated 30 years ago...it just highlights the major gaps missing from my music experience.
I get nostalgic for getting together and just playing music without all kinds of expectations, if nothing else I'm glad home recording maybe brought back that idea of creating music being a necessity and not just for the talented...even if it's a solo experience, but these guys have an amazing pedigree and decided to really authentically bring the funk. Damn.

You know most labels seem to document a particular part of the country by default, there's a few bands around, they have the same sensibilities and play together and get the attention of the micro-label, but Electric Cowbell seem to be going one step further and focus on documenting a particular genre within an area. The Captured Tracks for jazz and funk if you will.
They are making me a believer in the who cares about a scene, and it's exactly why I started talking about singles in the first place to randomly come across bands like this. There's absolutely nothing wrong with getting all funked up in the morning.
Get this one from Electric Cowbell Records.

Superhuman Happiness is the musical love of Stuart Bogie's life (tenor sax player of Antibalas and all-around awesome dude.) Using layered horns and funky guitar and bass lines, electronic beets and blurps, Human Happiness will make you shake your Superhuman ass happily. This track is sounding like a cross between funkish afro-beat-tinged beats with some Zappa's Yellow Shark mixed in for good street measure.

CSC brings the horns, the rhythm and the swagger like it's 1972. This track, from the band's forthcoming 7" split with Superhuman Happiness, grooves with an easy gait as tight brass takes center stage. Clocking in at just a little over the 3-minute mark, this funky instrumental could easily be the theme song of a new Brooklyn-based cop show. Close your eyes and let CSC take you undercover with a new breed of cop show funk!

1 comment:

  1. I was going to recommend this label to you but I see you are on top of it!!

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