Don’t let the band name fool you, this is straight up old-school funk played by a new generation of young musicians with plenty of tight chops and respect for the masters of the groove; James Brown, Tower Of Power, The Meters, Curtis Mayfield (which is featured on the album in the form of a very nice cover version of “Move On Up”) and many more. While all the members of the group are very competent players, their drummer Adam Deitch deserves special mention, he perfectly nails the funk down on every track.
Tag archive: soul
Lettuce – “Rage!” (2008)
March 8, 2010 - posted in Records, Releases.
Nils Landgren Funk Unit – “Funk For Life” (2010)
February 26, 2010 - posted in Albums, Reviews.
If you have read some of the previous reviews or other posts on this site written by me, you might have noticed that a majority of it is focused on relatively new artists and music, and that is no coincidence. I truly love funk, soul and jazz music from the 60’s and onward (even earlier with jazz), but one of the reasons I have for contributing to this site is to help spread the word about all the bands and musicians that keeps the music alive and fresh today by creating original material, and Nils Landgren together with his Funk Unit does just that, and they do it well!
Rune mix 04 – “Space is the Place to Chill”
February 3, 2010 - posted in Mixes, Releases.
Post number 50 and our third mix in a row, but since we are all about bringing you great music, it’s all good! This one was created for relaxation and reflection while still being funky with an electronic twist to change things up a bit (the playlist and mix download link is available by reading the full post):
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Johannes mix 3 – “Soul #1″
January 30, 2010 - posted in Mixes, Releases.
My first Ultrafunk post. Yeah! Thanks to my friend, funk & webmaster Rune for putting together this excellent site! Here’s my mix no. 3 – a soulful 45 special this time (the playlist and mix download link is available by reading the full post):
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Funky Halvor + Rune – “Made In Tromsø”
January 25, 2010 - posted in Mixes, Releases.
Inspired by the excellent performance of the funk cover band Badass Motherfunkers that was put together by Halvor for the Tromsø International Film Festival 20th anniversary party, we made this up-tempo mix (sorry, no playlist is available):
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Download link: Funky Halvor + Rune – Made In Tromsø (208MB mp3).
Funky Halvor – “Motherfunkin’ Boogie”
January 16, 2010 - posted in Mixes, Releases.
DJ 
Funky Halvor is back, this time with a pure boogie-disco mix that really kicks some serious ass — enjoy! (sorry, no playlist is available):
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Download link: Funky Halvor – Motherfunkin’ Boogie (142MB mp3).
Nils Landgren Funk Unit – “Funk for Life”
December 29, 2009 - posted in News.
“Funk for Life” is the latest album from the Nils Landgren Funk Unit that will be released on January 20. 2010, you can listen to a few sample tracks on their MySpace page. They will also be touring all over Europe this coming spring starting in early April (tour dates), catch them if you can, it’s a live funk experience of high caliber.
Update: A review of the album has now been posted here.
Rickey Vincent – My favorite funk albums of the 2000’s
December 4, 2009 - posted in Features.
Rickey Vincent, the funk guru, author, radio DJ and much more, has been kind enough to let us publish his own personal list of favorite releases from the past ten years and it’s a great read, so dig in and have fun!
Rickey Vincent – “The History Of Funk” radio show
December 3, 2009 - posted in Misc, Releases.
Author of the excellent book “Funk: The Music, The People, and The Rhythm of The One“, Rickey Vincent, has hosted his own radio show dedicated to the funk for a number of years, and you can catch the latest ones through the KPFA.org online archive. You can read more about it and have a look at some of the amazing guests that have visited him in the studio over the years on the show’s homepage.
DJ Afro – Unknown Afroshow tracks
December 2, 2009 - posted in Releases, Tracks.
While listening to some of the earliest DJ Afro shows that are no longer available, I found four tracks that I really like but have not been able to identify because the playlists are long gone (read the full post for audio samples). Please leave a comment if you know any of the artists performing these songs:
DJ Afro – “Afroshow”
December 1, 2009 - posted in Mixes, Releases.
DJ Afro, also known as José Luis Pardo – the guitarist in Los Amigos Invisibles, has his own hourly radio show where he spins some of his favorite tunes from many different genres. On his website there is an excellent archive of his newest shows available for online listening, just follow the link above and check it out because there is a lot of really good stuff in there, although some of his house mixes are not my cup of tea.
Swingin Cheese – “Croon Tunes and Kitscherama” (1997)
November 25, 2009 - posted in Records, Releases.
If you ever need a collection of high quality easy listening tunes, and yes, they do exist, this album from Irma Records is fine choice indeed. It covers the period from 1966 – 1972 and the track selections are really good, avoiding the drab elevator music arrangements in favour of solid performances and danceable grooves, making it perfect lounge fare for your ears and feet. Unfortunately it seems to be out of print, so you’ll have to track it down on your own which is probably not that hard.
Gilles Peterson – Incognito 30th anniversary interview
November 15, 2009 - posted in Misc, Releases.
Renown DJ and radio show host Gilles Peterson interviews Incognito founder and frontman Bluey about the 30th anniversary mixed with some of their songs and a selection of tracks from artists that have inspired him and the band:
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Download link: Incognito 30th anniversary interview (58MB mp3).
Jazz Mafia sampler
November 12, 2009 - posted in Releases, Tracks.
Our Jazz Mafia friends from San Francisco have released a free 15 track sampler of their music:
Oslo Soul Experience – Mixes and rare tracks
November 10, 2009 - posted in Mixes, Releases, Tracks.
The excellent DJs behind 
Oslos best monthly soul club, Oslo Soul Experience, have created a great archive of their own radio shows/mixes and rare tracks from their extensive collections of 60’s, 70’s and 80’s soul and funk 45s that are not easily found elsewhere, just follow the links above to download, listen and enjoy.
Halvor + Johannes + Rune – “Fresh From Frisco” (4 of 4)
November 6, 2009 - posted in Mixes, Releases.
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Download link: Halvor + Johannes + Rune – Fresh From Frisco – Part 4 of 4 (123MB mp3).
Halvor + Johannes + Rune – “Fresh From Frisco” (3 of 4)
November 5, 2009 - posted in Mixes, Releases.
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Download link: Halvor + Johannes + Rune – Fresh From Frisco – Part 3 of 4 (117MB mp3).
Halvor + Johannes + Rune – “Fresh From Frisco” (2 of 4)
November 4, 2009 - posted in Mixes, Releases.
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Download link: Halvor + Johannes + Rune – Fresh From Frisco – Part 2 of 4 (106MB mp3).
Halvor + Johannes + Rune – “Fresh From Frisco” (1 of 4)
November 3, 2009 - posted in Mixes, Releases.
Meeting up with Halvor right after he landed in Oslo fresh from his stay in San Francisco with the usual batch of new records under his arm, resulted in this 4 hour long DJ-session with the three of us which is presented here in four parts (no playlist is available for this mix):
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Download link: Halvor + Johannes + Rune – Fresh From Frisco – Part 1 of 4 (110MB mp3).
http://www.ultrafunk.com/docs/Halvor%2BJohannes%2BRune%20-%20FreshFromFrisco.mp3
Johannes mix 1 – “Bounces and Contractions”
October 29, 2009 - posted in Mixes, Releases.
Presenting the first mix from a very groovy Ultrafunk contributor, Mr. Johannes, for your listening pleasure (the playlist and mix download link is available by reading the full post):
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Archive On 4 – “Beat Mining With The Vinyl Hoover”
October 23, 2009 - posted in Misc, Releases.
Excellent BBC Radio 4 documentary presented by Toby Amies on crate digging and beat mining, the influence old vinyl has had on hip-hop, the resurgence of funk and soul/northern soul, sampling etc., featuring interviews with Coldcut, Keb Darge, Steinski, Mr. Scruff, Idris Muhammed and more:
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Download link: Archive On 4 – “Beat Mining With The Vinyl Hoover” (54MB mp3).
Funky Norwegian music – part 2
October 21, 2009 - posted in Releases, Videos.
Here is a one hour long live concert of Jarle Bernhoft performing his solo debut album “Ceramik City Chronicles” backed by a very competent band of musicians at a venue in Oslo called Blå, enjoy! (Sorry about the wrong video aspect ratio, but this is how the original source is encoded).
Newtone – “Newtone” (1996)
October 19, 2009 - posted in Albums, Reviews.
I don’t know why or how their only album got made, because the band appeared and then disappeared again almost immediately without any trace. “Newtone” was released just as the acid jazz wave faded out from the charts around the world, and I’m guessing that bad timing probably killed any chance it had to succeed. Originally, a friend of mine bought it on impulse sometime in the late 90’s because the cover looked, well, kinda funky, and surprisingly, the music actually matched his initial expectations and then some!
News summary for October 2009
October 18, 2009 - posted in News.
Read on to get the latest news about the new Jamiroquai album and tour, Stuart Zenders latest projects, the state of Ronny Jordans new album, and an update from Nils Landgren regarding the Funk Unit.
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