Dam-Funk is about the funk, the whole funk, nothing but the funk. But that all-encompassing ardor for the sound that James Brown first spawned has never been at the exclusion of other types of music. Talk to Dam and you’ll meet someone well-versed in metal and rap, 70s AOR and psychedelic rock. The inspiration for the name, modern funk came from the modern soul sub-genre. He spent some of last year touring with Todd Rungdren. He boasts the diverse musical palette of someone who spent their formative years employed at Poobah Records.
Even before last year’s Invite the Light, Dam had mentioned his desire to explore other non-funk fragments of sound. His latest release, the gorgeous and accurately titled “Hazy Stomp” is one of the initial steps in that direction. A funk house glide that clocks in just under 120 BPM, it’s the first salvo from a three-song EP slated for November release on the Canary Islands dance imprint, Saft.
It’s not a stylistically 180 from the West Coast freeway funk that he earned his name on, but certainly a switch to a faster lane — more propulsive and classic house influenced — but nonetheless a recognizably Dam-Funk song. The synth lines are kaleidoscopically bright, the bass lines imbued with moon bounce float, the drums slapping. A hazy stomp. Ideal for platform shoes or Timbs, oceanside drives or crowded dance floors, perpetual movement being the only prerequisite.
