In Heavy Rotation: Orgone – Cali Fever – Ubiquity

Orgone – Crazy Queen

Last year around this time I was heavily impressed with Orgone’s performance at the Funk Rumble Block Party in Chinatown (BTW, Funk Rumble part 2, “Make It Funky” is coming up soon July 31st! More info on that shortly). I loved the way they effortlessly shifted their funky focus, from an opening instrumental working of Peter King’s “African Dialects” to “Who Knows Who,” their own original material featuring sassy vocalist Fanny Franklin. Their new album “Cali Fever” builds off of the promise their debut “Killion Floor” hinted at as they dig deeper down the well of funkiness, with some afro-beat flavors on the title track and on “Mantanza,” to even some late 70s vibes, especially on “The Only One” and “Time Tonight” (though that track shows that someone is a fan of the Gossip’s post-punk sound on “For Keeps”…).

Several songs still feature the tough and rough funk of the debut, including “Crazy Queen,” where the boys take the rhythm to their previously released (On the Time Tonight 12″) instrumental “The Big Escape” and add Fanny’s vocals into the heavy funky mix, and instrumentals like “The Last Fool” and “The Cleaner.” All in all, a fine funky time and another reason to think that the center of the current Funk/Soul revival may be shifting from the east coast to Los Angeles.

One Reply to “In Heavy Rotation: Orgone – Cali Fever – Ubiquity”

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