Sep 17, 2010

CSC Funk Band - Live at WFMU on Marty McSorely's show



Information

Minimalist Funk. Repetition experiments. Improvisation exercises. Family fun. All star band killing it featuring Colin L(usaisamonster), Matt Mottel (talibam), Matt Clarke (Ostinato), Jimmy Thomson (Gwar), Jesse Lent (Monte Vista), Jonny Matteo(La Fundacion), Dave Kadden(Invisible Circle), Wes Buckley (Dick Heaven), a horn section. bongos. solos. psychadelic. We adapt and rearrange repetitous funk songs, keeping it dirty. We do originals. We even do a Dead cover. No rules, but it started and stays funky.

From their myspace page!!!

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When flipping though singles in the new bin how do you not pick up a 45 for a band that has got 4 alternate names on it? CSC Funk Band, aka CSC Racket, aka Newtown Creek Playboys, aka Thrift Store Find, aka Fuck The Funk Band. Whatever they want to call it their Bad Banana Bread single has been burning holes in my playlists ever since.

By any name CSC is the real deal, a sweet spaced out, minimalist, heavy psyche funk collective rolling nine deep, compiled by Colin Langenus from USA is a Monster and Matt Motel from Talibam! which features many of the finest from the Brooklyn underground. Including Dave Kadden (Invisible Circle) playing an effected obo that will send your brain into opium-drenched wanderings though your wildest Ethiopique dreams. Plus Jimmy Thomson (GWAR) on percussion, keeping time that will blow your mind, moving in and out of sick boogaloo breaks and head bobbing struts that are so good they make you want to smack a sucka.

We have been hearing all kinds of great throw back funk and soul coming out of Brooklyn for minute now. While the Dap-Tone/Truth and Soul crowd go after the funk with style, class and sick matching outfits, CSC forgets all that and takes the George Clinton approach (+ more acid) and just wants to get funked up, taking a riff, finding their groove and pounding your jaded DIY loft dwelling ass into dance floor submission. And that’s where my like turned to love, while I was being forced into an epileptic dance fit at Market Hotel (R.I.P.) on an Todd P bill where CSC was opening for Awesome Color and Tyvek. After speaking to Colin for a minute and exchanging some emails with Jimmy I was stoaked to be able to bring them up to the WFMU studios for a live set. Big thanks to Jason Sigal recording the session.

Source

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"Funk" has long been a four-letter word in Brooklyn's noise-punk loft scene. To survive, hyper-aware BK dance bands either adopted stiff no wave personas, used aggro-synth terrorism, squelched out deconstructed stumblebump, or just signed to DFA, where disco gets a pass. But funk? Shit, better think about bringing that veggie-oil van back down to Bonnaroo, hippie. The brand-spanking new CSC Funk Band--the brainchild of former Usaisamonster mega-riffer Colin Langenus and Talibam! keyboard splatter-artist Matt Mottel--is unapologetically funk (it says so right in the name), and the band is set to bring booty-moving, head-nodding grooves to the Todd P universe. Boasting a nine(!)-piece lineup, the CSC features members from a variety of bands obscure and otherwise (drummer Jimmy Thomson once did duty as GWAR's Hans Orifice) and a sound that's tight, lively, and sharp. Langenus likes to draw the connection between funk and minimalist composition (i.e., repetition, repetition, repetition). But don't be surprised if dudes just devolve into a regular ol' awesome party band within a few weeks. "Bad Banana Bread" is definitely (and defiantly) more James Brown then James Murphy, and more acid-fried Funkadelic than either, given Langenus's ripping leads and Dave Kadden's completely bonkers, Ethiopiques-tinged oboe solo.

Source

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An interview


Tell me about how "Bad Banana Bread" came about...

A funk version of "Paradise City" with a bunch of riffs that sound like late Hendrix throwaways--which is my shit! We wanted to see if we could actually make a concise song... another experiment.

Why did you want to form a funk band as your next project?

I wanted to do something opposite from Usaisamonster. Something with lots of people, lots of repetition and jammy. And I wanted to work on my soloing.

Colin called me up as I was high as fuck driving to the Grand Canyon in late December 2008 and said he wanted me to play with him and it to be funky. I was all about it. Nothing like the Arizona desert to get you primed for jams.

Why do you think Brooklyn is so scared of funk?

Not sure why Brooklyn is stiff. Maybe it's the water or the over-aware record-head vibe.... But our band is loose and free. Relaxed makes it work.
Langenus: I'm old as fuck and live in Greenpoint. If they want to come to the gig, rad. If not I'll be there anyways....

What are the similarities you find between funk and minimalist music?

Minimalism and funk have the same tendencies to find the pocket and go with it. Currently I am in Paris about to play a gig hanging with Rhys Chatham and he says that one of the great minimalist composers of all time is George Clinton. So there you go.

I thought it was fun to try and explain funk as an avant-garde music, which it can be considered, but who gives a shit. I guess when we started we were so repetitious, ridiculously so on purpose, trying to be exaggeratedly minimalist, but now we're kinda a tight funk band with changes and everything.

What's your favorite place to eat in Brooklyn?

Polonia on Manhattan and Bedford

I miss Luncheonette Fountain off Nassau Ave and McGolrick Park... Lately I wound up a bunch at M Shanghai and the Chinese food is killer! It took six years to check it out, but worth it.

Source




Tracklist

01. Caneca (03:10)
02. Bad Banana Bread (05:04)
03. Funk Shoppe (11:50)
04. A Troll's Soirée (03:13)
05. Little Business (11:21)


The live album can be downloaded for free at freemusicarchive.org!!! Thank you!!!

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