James Brown invented funk in 1965 with Papa Got A Brand New Bag, a song he memorably described thus: “The title told it all – I have a new bag.” (more…)

Not being of an overly religious persuasion, gospel has never been my go-to musical genre. But this exuberant fusion of gospel with soul and funk is irresistible. Especially on a quintessentially English summer’s day like today (ie. wet). (more…)

With its slinky, sinuous groove and rattling percussion, Pusherman offers a fly-on-the-wall trip through the inner-city ghetto, guided by Curtis Mayfield’s inimitable falsetto. (more…)

Sound Experience brought their uptempo funk grooves to Boogie Nights and deserve to be more widely known than they were, even in their 1970s heyday. (more…)

Undiscovered for decades, here is the full 33-minute version of Isaac Hayes’s psychedelic jam Do Your Thing. (more…)

James Brown channels his anger into a revenge fantasy in the influential funk classic The Payback, much sampled by hip-hop artists in later years. (more…)

Headhunters served up this fat slice of funk in 1975, featuring a famous sample that’s formed the basis  of countless hip hop tunes ever since. (more…)

The Chambers Brothers blended their gospel roots with folk and West Coast rock to create a unique take on psychedelic soul in the first Summer of Love. (more…)

There’s something horribly prophetic in the lyric of Gil Scott-Heron’s song The Bottle: “Look around on any corner/If you see some brother lookin’ like a goner/It’s gonna be me.”
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Quincy Jones came up with the song named after the Japanese arthouse porn film that gave me one of my most memorably horrible experiences in a cinema. (more…)