Word: funke
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1990-1999
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...many jazz musicians found themselves marginalized by rock and soul. Then in 1970 Miles Davis received the first gold record of his life, for Bitches Brew, a sonic eye opener that experimented with electric instruments and rock and funk rhythms--a strange, primal, remarkable album. Soon, however, a whole generation of musicians was squandering its talents on increasingly vapid (though profitable) jazz-rock hybrids that came to be called fusion. Known today as smooth jazz, or as "that crap they play when Regis and Kathie Lee go to commercial," fusion continues to thrive; it even has its own Billboard chart...
...album opens with a skit in which the gospel singer-choir leader is put on trial for blending the secular and the sacred. Unlike most skits on music albums, this one hits home: Franklin has proved himself to be a threat to musical orthodoxy. His blend of gospel, funk and hip-hop is ingenious and unique; and in pop music it's certainly harder to advocate positive religious values than it is to be Marilyn Manson. On this album Franklin has refined his sound further; his melodies are stronger, the vocal arrangements more graceful. Hard, beat-driven songs like Revolution...
...assistance of veteran Cardigans producer Tore Johannson integrating diverse genre elements and quotations to create the albums deliriously composite and cohesive sound. Good Humor is almost inconceivable: a broad, ecstatic blend of the pristine disco of ABBA, the elegant jazz pop of Steely Dan, the rhythmic bass throb of funk and the bleary-eyed cocktail electronica of trip-hop. The product is anything but tired; on Sylvie, for example, the rueful, cosmopolitan irony of the lyric is offset completely by a glowing arrangement. The overlay of subtle syncopations and retro instrumentation makes the song surreal and engaging, like a chance...
...making her chief impact with her music. Hill wrote and produced every song on her CD (except for two standards she covers). Her album also uses live instruments, giving it a fresh, personal feel. "People like Lauryn and Wyclef and Missy [Elliot] are making creative albums," says Funk Master Flex, a D.J. for New York City's Hot 97 radio station, whose own CD, The Mix Tape Volume III, is a Top 10 hit. "They're sending a signal to other artists: check yourselves, and step up your game...
...been at the White House to watch the Super Bowl back on the first horrible weekend of scandal, and he and Chelsea got along great. It was mainly for her that he was invited back last weekend, family friends said, to help talk her out of her funk...