Groove.1

My first installment of the Quadzilla Spins playlists last month was Funkalicious.1. Now it’s time for Groove.1. Some might argue that there isn’t much difference between music that is “groovy” or “funky,” and while there is some truth to that, there is a reason I am making that distinction for these playlists. There are songs that I feel are more “groovy” than “funky,” and part of that has to do with the era that many of the songs on this playlist are trying to emulate. I started to think about this when listening to the playlist the other night, in particular when the number nine song, “Burn,” started playing with its distinct “disco” vibe to it, which in my mind is both “funky” and “groovy.” I know, I’m splitting hairs (not an easy task for someone who’s bald!). The word “groovy,” pertaining to music in particular, predates the word “funky.” It was jazz music of the 1920s that was first labelled “groovy” in order to describe the rhythm and “feel” of that music. And then came the 60s and early 70s when the word became ubiquitous, being used to describe pop music, movies, television, advertising…hell, almost everything was “groovy” in the 60s!  It was, in fact, 1971 when I first heard the word being used as a general descriptor, but it was not in Canada. I was travelling in the U.S. with a friend, and we had just arrived in Lake Tahoe, CA to visit a cousin of mine. When we got there after driving through a snowstorm in June, my cousin came out of the house, looked at my VW bug, and said: “Groovy.” I had no idea what he was talking about.  

As for “funky” music, some believe that James Brown’s 1965 hit song, “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag,” was the first funk song, while the first song with “funky” in the title belongs to Dyke and the Blazers’ 1967 song, “Funky Broadway,” parts 1 & 2.. Rather than spend any more time trying to figure out whether or not a song is “groovy”, “funky,” or both, I want to point out that, with the exception of the last three songs on this playlist, which I added for comparisons sake, not one of the others on this list is from the U.S. The “groovy” music you are about to listen to originates in Austria (3), Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Netherlands, France, Croatia, Spain, Greece, and Brazil! It is the musical disparity between all these songs, and my connection to them, that led me to come up with these, shall we say, more generic and all-encompassing categories.

First up are Tosca for Austria, consisting of Richard Dorfmeister and Rupert Huber. This is Dorfmeister’s second project, the first being Kruder and Dorfmeister, with Peter Kruder. Huber and Dorfmeister met in school and began experimenting with tape machines, Indian music, and poetry lyrics. Plastyc Buddha are Stephan Parmentier and Pieter Verschueren from Belgium, putting out tunes that incorporate downtempo, ambient, electronic, dub jazz and Bossa to create their unique sound. Parov Stelar, aka Marcus Füreder, is an Austrian musician, composer, producer, DJ, and designer. Although they are widely known for their electro-swing music, and especially their live performances with an array of amazing musicians and singers, with Füreder handling the electronics from his perch behind a huge console, this particular song is from a much earlier release and is far more “jazzy” than the electro-swing music that followed. I featured them along with other electro-swing groups in a DUTC (41) way back in October of 2023.

Trio Elétrico are Peter Heider, who was one half of Boozoo Bajou (they will show up on a playlist soon), are from Germany, bringing together Latin, breakbeats and house music, while Robert Jan Meyer, known as Minus 8, is a producer and disc jockey from Switzerland who has released seven albums thus far, and has composed music for films both short and long, sports, and trailers. Kraak & Smaak, who I will do a feature on in the near future, are a musical production trio from the town of Leiden, Netherlands. They have been going at it since 2003, with their first album released in 2006, at which time they began performing at music festivals and clubs in the U.K and the U.S.

The next five selections belong to: Jean Flambert & Temple Kid, both from Reims, France. Flambert made his debut on Soundcloud with some disco/house edits; Funky Destination (more proof of the overlap) is Vladimir Sivc from Osijek, Eastern Croatia and uses both live instruments and electronics in his music; Giman & Chic_Ago (of the “Burn” track mentioned above) are two friends from Barcelona, Spain and are fixated on house music; Basement Freaks is the brainchild of George Fotiadis from Thessaaloniki, Greece, and has been described as “the hardest working man in Funk,” which should not be a surprise as the track in this playlist is from his album, Funk from the Trunk; and finally, Madrid de los Austrias, Heinz Tronigger and Michael Krfeiner from Vienna, Austria.

The last selection, before the throwback to the 60s tracks, belongs to a music collective called Fragmentorchestra. Their concept is described as follows: “To orchestrate fragments through modern and old technologies, sounds from around the world, fragments like notes from a journey through the civilizations of sounds, photography, pieces of civilization and life, which join together in a unique sound through the art of the aesthetic orchestration of a prospective.” Let’s put aside the fact for now that this is a run-on sentence (once an English teacher…) and give yourself a pat on the back if you understand what their mission is. And if you think that is a mouthful, they go on to say that their DJ sets incorporate “electronics, live performances, complete eclectics stile nu jazz, nu house, Brazilian beat, afro elements, old school & roots, and a great passion and respect for jazz that is an expression of freedom…” Fortunately, I listened to their music before reading the above, and while that helped make sense of what they are trying to say, I think I might have phrased it differently! The bottom line, though, is that the music is wonderful, and that is all the counts in the end.

Enjoy!

Los Angeles 2025