Vulfpeck - C/D?

Years ago I had the stoned thought/terrible idea: "What if I started an entire band around the concept of the theme music to HBO's Dream On?"

It seems like a bunch of highly skilled young musicians had the same idea and have since quietly risen to become a massive festival act/concert draw. And I don't entirely know how I feel about it. They sound a LOT like Stuff at times (the Steve Gadd project), but convincingly so. They are tight, they are sick musicians, especially the bass player. They often seem lacking in melody -- many entire tracks just sound like backing tracks where no one ever laid down the vocal or sax solo or whatever that was supposed to be added. They are extremely hammy on stage, at least from what I've seem in videos. There's not a lot of sex in the music, in fact there's a whiff of virginal christian rock underneath all the goof. Still, they have *something*.

They don't write songs, they write videos (very well).

Yes, and that seems shrewd of them in our age. I remember I first heard of them because of a stunt they pulled where they had fans leave their album on repeat 24 hours a day on spotify to pay for their tour. They are good at that sort of thing.

a bunch of virtuosic goofballs who make nigh-unlistenable funk pastiche

a younger guy i used to work with was really into them
he was home schooled

a bunch of my musician friends loooove them, especially the ones who are also into phish

lol

It's good that they try and shine a light on session musician legends past & present (Sandra Crouch, James Gadson, David T. Walker, Michael Bland, etc).

And it's good, I guess, for high school musician kids to freak out over how tasteful a lick is or how good a groove feels, rather than internet shredding? But its paired with the goofiness and some measure of ironic distance, idk, it's fine for them but definitely noticed a similar attitude with young musicians. A mix of serious dedication + dismissing it all as a joke.

xp

It kind of blows my mind that Cory Wong can sell out theaters as a headliner, on the strength of being a funky rhythm guitarist (on the internet).

A mix of serious dedication + dismissing it all as a joke.

― change display name (Jordan), Thursday, October 10, 2019 11:55 AM (seven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

YouTube Funk

This is absolutely sick, for example, and yet missing something
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=le0BLAEO93g

and actually that's one of their least missing something tunes

they're having fun making songs that are fun to play. imo, the missing element is songwriting, or a point to their whole thing beyond groove construction

I like the ones with Nate Smith, because Nate Smith
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkNmVSHckno

And a friend sang an actual song with them and it's very nice

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0vgMl6n7m0

What's worse are the bands that are trying to do the Vulfpeck thing (but more forced and not as good), like the one led by Jack of Pomplamoose/Patreon infamy (Scary Pockets).

These guys and especially Cory Wong make me
IA sometimes. I’m sure a little part of it is “that could be me” music school dropout jealousy.

(IA?)

Yeah, the schtick can be annoying for sure, but I also recognize that any irritation I may have toward nerdy Jewish funk scholars must largely be coming from a place of jealousy/narcissism.

This one on Aretha's rhythm sections is great btw:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOvemZ5YUBw

friend of mine played with Cory Wong in Sonny Knight and the Lakers and says he's a super good guy

I watched their MSG concert that's on Youtube recently, and appreciated the excited 'we made it' victory lap vibe.

i guess i kind of think it's cool they are out there and doing well also i can't really listen to their music

lol otm. why choose to listen to this stuff when the old soul stuff is right there

i would totally go see them live if a friend wanted to go and had a free ticket

I would never listen to them as audio, it's 100% tied to seeing people play instruments well and their general exuberance

Wong's guitar playing also leaves me cold even though it seems like it should be perfectly in my zone. Joe Dart's bass playing on the other hand, chef's kiss.

Would also definitely not object to seeing them live if invited, plenty to geek out on and enjoy even if the overall musical vibe isn't for me.

This came up in my algorithm and it's a lot of fun.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8GbpZN071M

There's still a bit of a feeling of it being an eternal intro, like the "star of the show" is going to appear any minute but never does.

Interesting to compare them to Stuff, a band I suspect they would admit they owe more to than any other band
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZcTP3-ARFQ

At 6:06, similar uptempo groove on Signed Sealed Delivered, but there's something less uptight about it. I guess that's partly Vulfpeck's schtick to be uptight funk. But it's also interesting that, as the Vulfpeck tune goes on, they increasingly fall into the same trap I feel like a lot of "funk bands" fall into where they increasingly just double the rhythms on different instruments (sometimes triple) instead of playing off each other. Whereas you never hear the bass, guitar, drums, and piano all playing exactly the same rhythm in Stuff.

the new album by matthew e white strikes me as vulfpeck-y in some ineffable way. maybe it’s what it would sound like if there were a vulfpeck for todd rundgren

Wow he's really going in reviewing his record reviews on Twitter, always a flattering look

lol yikes, what a petty piece of crap!