Big Rock Finish… reviews of independent music

Name: God Made Me Funky
Album: Enter the Beat
Released: 2008
Members:
Kaybe - Sangin’
Lynzie Kent - More Sangin’
PHATT al - MC
Cam Dougall - Bass
Rich Grossman - Guitar
Arthur Kerekes - Sax
Benji Perosin - Trumpet
Al Witz - Drums
Danny Argyle - Keys

Website: www.godmademefunky.com
Favourite Song: We All Fall Down

This band is huge. Seriously. God Made Me Funky is huge. Not only in a musical sense, but in a general… physical sense. Not each individual, but the sheer amount of individuals. Causes for an interesting sound because there’s such a blend of different things going on that could be pulled off in studio as well as on stage. If I am to use the album art as an indication, there’s eight different people in the band. Possibly nine, I’m not sure if the sillouette of a person is supposed to represent a band member. After writing that last line I thought it’d be a great idea and check the “members” bit I just wrote, which states there’s nine people in this band. NINE!

Juding soley from the NAME of the band, I’m going to say… Funk. Myspace fills in the Hip-Hop and R&B tags. I can’t disagree. The bass reminds me of “funk” like no other. I forget now where I heard it from, but someone somewhere at some point (…) says the bass line is what makes funk funk. So… yes. And you don’t hear brass instruments a lot in my “line of work” seeing as not a lot of people I can think of really play them outside of the school marching band.

I like that the songs have enough of the same elements, in that you know it’s the same band. The diversity of the band is what makes each individual song great, because there is so much you can add and take away with this amount of members, that isn’t possible when it’s a three piece band. I don’t hear a lot of vocals that are shared by a male/female lead. Also makes for interesting music, since it’s not just someone singing background vocals, or being used as just an extra filler, but a big part of each song.

Get out on the dance floor. Whether through someone’s mp3 player or live on stage, I can’t imagine any club playing God Made Me Funky is going to have an empty dance floor. It’s impossible. Sitting in my seat, and extremely rhythmically challenged, even I’m trying to dance.

August 2, 2008.

Hello Beautiful is not a band I actually know a whole lot about. I’ve heard OF them, and from what the rumours say, they’re a good tight band that’s going to go places. And from seeing bits and pieces of their live show, I’d have to say the rumours are true.

Really, seeing as how I sort of just stumbled across them playing on the same stage as Awaking State a few sets later, I had no expectations and no real knowledge of what I was getting myself into. A part of me just thought “HEY! I have all-access and darn tootin’, I’m gonna use it!” and was able to get some pretty neat shots of the band (and the drummer too!) I’ll have to contact them soon about the photos, I like to show off, and I’m sure Hello Beautiful won’t mind that I use them to show off.

But really, they sounded really good, didn’t sound pretentious at all, genuinely seemed to love their time on stage and were having just a great time. The band loved it and the crowd loved it. I’m really happy I caught a part of their set, because it was really enjoyable.

I would definitely want to see Hello Beautiful again at some point, and maybe this time I won’t be so shy and actually introduce myself!

Alright. It’s a holiday Monday, I’m sitting at home, dehydrated, not at all on a normal sleep schedule, sunburnt to the tits (actually, to be perfectly honest my tits are the one part of my body NOT sunburnt) and wondering “what the hell happened 72 hours ago?” I was at the Cutting Edge Music Festival.

I went there with no more than the intentions to take photos of Awaking State while they were on stage, off stage, and everything in between. Mission accomplished. I also saw a few other bands that I enjoyed, some I recognized, some I didn’t. Since Awaking State was the first band of the event to perform, it meant that after that it was just party time until it was time to go home.

Friday night all four vehicles of Awaking State arrived, picked a camp ground and proceeded to drink until it started pouring crazy rain that disallowed any more tent setup. As I slept quite uncomfortably in the van, I wondered how everyone was doing in tent city since they were not allowed to have their cars at the campsite (artists were allowed).

Saturday was Awaking State’s set, which was awesome, and a lot of my wandering around the festival afterwards checking out the vendors, taking photos of other bands, using my media pass to it’s fullest advantages. Just hung out really. Found out we weren’t even in the right camp ground (which explains why no one else was there. Although I find it surprising that the entire Awaking State group was directed to one area, while everyone else was pointed in the complete opposite direction) and we had to move campsites.

Saturday night I was dead tired and generally feeling a little burnt, drank some and wanted to sleep early. Completely repacked the travelling van so I had room to lay down in the back, and promptly fell asleep while the headlining act was playing about 500 feet to my right.

Sunday we had a mix of security issues, no hot water, and my giving up on a shower and just toweling myself off in a still generally clean washroom. Waited 3 hours for something to eat for breakfast since the boys were driving off into town, this being after about an hour and a half of trying to jumpstart a car with a dead battery. Finally after eating, we drank some more so I was able to finish off my alcohol, and more sitting and chilling, and finally packing of the van so we could leave. The rest of the group stayed until today from my understanding (Monday afternoon) but I had to leave early, so we did!

I liked it. I wouldn’t mind doing it again. I’m just going to make sure I bring less clothes (I totally overpacked in the clothing department) and more food & booze to not have to pay outrageous prices at the event.

Give me a few more days when typing no longer hurts my sunburnt shoulders, and I’ll tell you more about the bands.

Name: Jen Militia Album: Berlin Boot Camp Released: 2006 Members: Michael Dainjah - vocals and blackness J.Double - Guitar, keyboards, bass, percussion and booze Gord Pesst - synths, samples and beat jacking Christion - drums and hating Kyle Nova - Bass and dreadlocks Holla - Back up vocals and the finest of hooks. Website: www.jenmilitia.com Favourite Song: This is not a test (track 1)

Punk. Soul. Hip Hop. Is political a genre of music? Because I really urgently want to write political. Screw it. I’m adding it as a genre of music. It doesn’t even really take a politic major, or a political comedian like my friend Erik, to know that. If the cover art doesn’t totally give it away, I’m sure the song titles would have. It’s an interesting mix of music styles though I must admit. The cover art on the CD really doesn’t give away who’s in the band, so I was definitely surprised when I read that the creator of the band, or the lead of the band, or… well SOMEONE in the band, was originally from Trinidad. Just because I don’t meet a whole lot of people from Trinidad.

I…… really……. like the songs. Seriously, because I’m such a non-political person I had some reservations to reviewing this, thinking I wouldn’t understand any of it and would just end up not wanting to listen because it would have all been about how “the man” is keeping us down or whatever. But it’s not. It’s catchy, it’s got a hook. (I keep thinking about suspension when I write stuff like that) It’s got… it’s got a lot that makes me want to keep listening. Do you know how hard it is to try and look cool in front of your webcam while you dance in your chair listening to music through a set of headphones? Well that’s what I’m doing right now. Thank god the webcam isn’t turned on right now.

Some sort of rally, protest, or march. I remember being all opinionated when I was in high school because it got me out of afternoon math class. And in university because we somehow were convinced that marching up to some government house and chanting outside in the cold would make a difference in our tuition costs. If I recall… it didn’t. But this is really uplifting music, that would really suit these types of protests. Because while it never lowered tuition, those rallys always uplifted spirits. And it’s in the act of getting people together whether it be to protest the government or to listen to good music, it’s a good thing. Mind as well put the two together.