Prince “Lovesexy” by Norn Cutson

After ten years in the (print) game, the hip-hop/soul/funk magazine Wax Poetics has reached its 50th issue, and to celebrate they have commissioned an exclusive mix from LA’s King of the Boogie, Dam Funk. In keeping with the issue’s theme, the mix is all about, as the magazine itself says: “one of the most iconic musicians in the history of African American music, the one and only Prince.”

A Prince-themed mix by Dam Funk? That’s two of the most brilliantly funky acts of modern times coming together. Dam stays away from the obvious hits, to focus instead on album tracks, live recordings and re-edits, and even adds his own exclusive cover version of the song “17 Days”. It’s great and a must for all Prince fans, even the most obsessed who think they’ve heard it all. You may know some of these tracks, but you won’t have heard them quite like this…

Wax Poetics’ 50th issue is also dedicated to the purple sex pixie (truly one of the most outstanding artists in the history of popular music, no?) and features interviews with, and wrtiting on; Larry Graham, Morris Day, Questlove, The Family, Frank Ocean and much more. You can buy the magazine, which is being printed on high quality paper and is designed not to be disposed of, directly from the Wax Poetics website. In the meantime, you can check out Dam Funk’s Prince mix right here:

 
1. Prince & the Revolution – 17 Days (original version)

2. DāM-FunK – 17 Days (D-F Re-Freak)

3. Prince – Irresistible Bitch (Props Re-Edit)

4. Prince (featuring Andre Cymone & Pepe Willie) – One Man Jam

5. Prince – Wet Dream Cousin

6. Prince – Dirty Mind (1981 Live Version)

7. Prince – Soft & Wet (original version)

8. Prince – Ballad Of Dorothy Parker (D-F Extended Re-Edit)

9. Prince – Sticky Like Glue (Props Re-Edit)

10. Prince & the Revolution – All My Dreams

Previously on Dangerous Minds:
Download Dam Funk’s new EP for free
Dam Funk: King Of The Boogie

 
Sweeeet - In preparation for his upcoming US tour, king of the boogie Dam Funk has made his forthcoming InnaFocusedDaze EP available as a free download. The 10” vinyl of InnaFocusedDaze will be released through Scion A/V in October, when Dam goes out on the road with his band Master Blazter - tour dates and more info on the EP can be found on the Stone’s Throw website. You can download the EP here, and just in case you need to be reminded of just how cool this cat is (he really IS king of the boogie) here’s a video for the EP’s lead track “Forever”:
 

 
Here’s a couple of free downloads that see a near-perfect meeting of minds between “haunted retro” acts Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti and Nite Jewel, and king of the retro-boogie himself, Dam Funk. All of these acts have an obsession with synthesizers that come from a particular era (the late 70s to early 80s) and produce music that sounds like the kind of thing you’d find in you hip uncle’s garage on a dusty mixtape labelled “Memories of 1982”.

First up, Dam Funk has done a remix of the Haunted Graffiti track “Fright Night”, one of the stand outs on last year’s excellent Before Today album on 4AD Records. He adds even more lush synths and drum machine action that fits like a velvet glove. You can download the track here, via Pitchfork.

Secondly, about 18 months ago Dam Funk was brought together with Nite Jewel to co-produce an exclusive track for XLR8R magazine’s “Tune in an Afternoon” feature, another meeting of soulful synth acts very much on the same page. I only discovered the track, called “Am I Gonna Make It?” about 6 months ago, but it has been on heavy rotation on my MP3 player ever since, it’s that good. You can download it here, via XLR8R.

I was surprised at the negative reaction to Nite Jewel when I posted about them on DM before. What gives guys? Are they getting excessively pushed by the American press? Because they’re profile is pretty small in the UK. Or are they too hipster-seeming? I was surprised at the reaction, which seemed to go beyond mere dislike and into something darker. Either way, I genuinely like Nite Jewel and their spooked-out, lo-fi take on MOR soul-pop. Here is the short film made by XLR8R for the “Tune in an Afternoon” feature, which gives an insight into both artists’ production styles, plus a look around Jack Waterson’s Future Music store in LA - haters should watch this as it might just change your mind:
 

 
It’s a Saturday night and I’m feelin’ alright… and this excellent dj mix is just too damn good not to share!

“Boogie” is an often overlooked subset of disco and funk. It peaked in the early 80s when many of the acts from the disco era looked for a new dancefloor style, swapped their guitars for synthesizers and modified their syncopation to suit the popular roller disco phenomenon. Though relatively short lived and with no major artists representing the style in the mainstream (outside of funk-pop acts like Cameo or the more P-Funk-y Zapp) it managed to be hugely influential. It reared its head again for a while in the 90s when many of the original records found themselves being sampled in hip-hop and in particular g-funk, courtesy of producers like Dr Dre. It’s a very West Coast sound, and when it comes down to it nobody knows boogie quite like Dam Funk.
 
Dam Funk - “Hood Pass Intact”
 

 
This native Los Angelino’s name should be familiar to music cognoscenti, as he has released a string of records to much critical acclaim on San Francisco’s Stones Throw label, including the mammoth 2009 5-LP set Toeachizown. A man with a strong fetish for original FM and analog synths, his sound is definitely heavily influenced by early 80s funk and disco and 90s hip-hop, while maintaining a singular sound and atmosphere.

But Dam Funk is not just a talented producer, he is also an excellent DJ, as this awesome set proves. Although he hosts a weekly funk shindig in Los Angeles called Funkmosphere, this recording is taken from the first birthday party of the London night Deviation, and uploaded to Soundcloud by the BBC Radio 1 DJ Benji B. Dam is what is known as a “personality DJ” who is not afraid to get on the mic, give shout outs to the audience, and tell us the names of the tunes he is playing. And damn are those tunes hot - I just keep playing this mix over and over, it’s that good.. You can find more info on Dam Funk (including tour dates, merch and downloads) on the Stones Throw website. But for now just hit play, blaze, boogie and have a great Saturday night: 
 

 
 
Thanks to Kelvin Brown for the link.
 
Bonus!

The original video for Dam Funk’s DJ staple “Dangerzone” by Midnight Express (whose dancing zombies theme possibly pre-dates “Thriller”):