The key to any funk produced after the hip-hop revolution of the
1980s is that it’s deeply aware of the breakbeat. If the original
funketeers opened up the arrangements to “give the drummer some” as a
special courtesy, their descendants are all about the hypnotic,
repetitive drumwork.
The good folks at Now-Again have done the world a favor by
rereleasing this 2001 gem by Munich-born Afrobeat nuts Jan and Max
Whitefield, a disc long out of print and impossible to find. An amazing
tour through the best flavors of the soul-funk-jazz continuum, In
the Raw offers in one tidy package the fuzz-drenched eroticism of
“Prowlin’,” the post-Miles brujería of “Witch Jam,” and
the glorious “Eji,” a piece that updates the revered early-1970s Blue
Note sides and takes a step beyond in the progression from Horace
Silver to Mulatu Astatke.Whether you decide to lose yourself in the
groove of “Thunderbird” or luxuriate in several moments that feel like
the Platonic ideal of the Deep Throat soundtrack, “this, my
friend” (in the words of Howard Moon from The Mighty Boosh)
“is jazz funk.”
And in the words of Vince from ShamWow, “You know the Germans always
make good stuff.” Bottom line: You really want to pick this one
up. (Now-Again)
