Funkalicious.1

Welcome to the first post for Quadzilla’s Playlists. Like the “spinning” lists, these are from Apple, so an account is needed to listen to the full songs or, you can load the titles into whatever music source you use. As I mentioned in my first post for the spinning playlists, a great deal of the music used for these comes from the many sub-genres of electronic music, and the word “many” might be a bit misleading! Wikipedia lists 24 sub-genres, and under these are hundreds of sub-sub-genres. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_electronic_music_genres For example, House, one of the sub-genres, has 60 different forms of that genre listed under it, including electro-swing, one of my favorites, that will be the subject of an upcoming feature. This is one of the main reasons for my chosen titles for these playlists; rather than titling a playlist IDM (Intelligent Dance Music), only to have you scratching your heads and saying: “What?” When I first saw this it made me wonder if there was a SDM genre…you know, Stupid Dance Music! Sorry, I couldn’t resist.

All of the above is my way of saying that because I have listened to an inordinate amount of this music over the years as I compiled my spinning lists, I have grown to not only like it, but have become fascinated with the many and often elaborate ways it is made and played – from single DJs with computers and electronic gadgets, to the fusing of “real” instruments and musicians and electronica, such as the many ensembles in the electro-swing genre, and everything in between. I distinctly remember the grumblings from the so-called music purists, many of whom thumbed their collective noses at electronic music, saying it wasn’t “real” music. I even found an old WordPress post with the title: “Is Electronic Music “Real Music?” Given what you are about to listen to, you know where I stand on this issue. I recently posted a DUTC featuring Thievery Corporation and their song “Lebanese Blonde,” and a comment from EclecticMusicLover pegged the music he was listening to as: “cool, sophisticated and eclectic,” which pretty much sums up most of this music. Thank you!

One of the many things that intrigues me about this music is that way that the music is often assembled and presented with copious amounts of “overlay” and build-up of melodies, rhythms, instrumentation, effects, vocals, and many other features, that are embedded into a song. If there is one element to this music that is fairly consistent, it is the beat, or rhythm which, for me, almost always results in my head bopping to the music. What can I say? I like to “bop.”

The length of these playlists will vary, and this offering clocks in at around 56 minutes, with 11 songs from eight different artists, featuring the following labelled genres: Dance, Electronic, Breakbeat, Funk, R&B/Soul, and Rock. Breakbeat, one of the 24 sub-genres mentioned above, is a “broad type of electronic music that uses drum beats, often sampled from early recordings of funk, jazz, and R&B.” For myself, this is where electronic music takes a sharp left turn from “traditional” music, which is often covered by other artists, but “sampling” of past music is a rarity, if it happens at all. When you add to this mixing, and remixing of songs by other artists (sometimes the original artists mix and remix their own music), it opens up many ways to experience one tune. One of the selections on this playlist, “Nothing But the Funk,” by BadboE, is a remix by Fretless, from the album, Break The Funk Remixed.  Not only are there two versions of the song, but there are also two versions of the album, both released in 2009; one is labelled Breakbeat, the other Jungle/Drum ‘N’ Bass. As you can see, it gets complicated, but if you’re a music nerd like me, it makes discoveries much more interesting and satisfying! The songs on this list were all released between 2007-2022, with the exception of “Play That Funky Music” by Wild Cherry, which was released in 1976. If you want to see an awesome cover of this song, check out Prince’s live cover at Hollywood Swinging in 2011. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNrAFb3I2js  And now for the music.

Enjoy

Los Angeles 2025