Episode 01: What makes Funk so Funky?
In a word, it is the “flam.” The Hal Leonard Pocket Music Dictionary defines a “flam” as:
A drum rudiment; a small grace note played softly before the written note with alternate sticking.
In composition, a flam occurs when one or multiple instruments have a rhythm in conflict with another instrument or instruments. This can be intentional or unintentional. In the past I have told composition student to “avoid flams” but over time I have revised this dictum to state instead “control flams.” In a style like funk, flams are at the very heart of the feel so you can’t and shouldn’t avoid them. However, it takes time and experience to develop an idea for what is a good flam an what is not. Consider the basic groove of a modern funky tune “Uptown Funk” – a flam is baked into the groove and further accented by various aspects of the melody.
Uptown Funk groove & melody.
In fact, the rhythmic flam becomes part of the groove when the guitar comes in with its 8th note-16th rest 16th note accompaniment pattern. These are “good” flams – they are stylistically a part of what makes the sound we call funk so funky.
There are some notable, intentional flams in the BOOMF! repertoire. Let’s look at the groove of the title track to our first album “Intergalactic Rainbow Ice-Cream Sandwich.” This flam is 8th-note based in contrast to the 16th-note based one in the previous example (the importance of 8th and 16th rhythms in funk will be discussed further in a bit) but it still involves the snare backbeat. In other words, the flam is baked into the groove.
Intergalactic Rainbow Ice-Cream Sandwich groove with flams.
Earlier in the intro there are more examples of intentional flams, these 16th-note based:
Intergalactic Rainbow Ice-Cream Sandwich intro with copious flams.
I could go on to list many more flam examples. But it is important to note that a clean, tight, and together hit – which you could consider the opposite of the flam - is ALSO a salient feature of funk. Maybe a better way to state the dictum would be: strive for a balance of clean hits and flams.
The importance of flams may have been a little overstated, so let’s regroup and finish up a list of some stylistic norms in funk music.
1. Flams
2. Intricacy
3. Groove
4. Slower tempi and 16th subdivision of the beat.
5. 16th vs. 8th hits & Syncopation
6. Bluesy Harmony
7. Lyrically “weird.”
This list is not meant to be exhaustive, but merely to offer a glimpse into why funk is funky. We could add, for example, a bullet point for “instrumentation” or even “timbre” and include lists of beloved sounds associated with funk like the wah-pedal electric guitar, or fuzzy sounding clavinets, or phat horn sections, screaming vocalists, etc. Suffice it to say, all of that is true, and can be heard on our tunes. Let’s deal with some of these other bullet points.
Intricacy
This could be filed under “flams” or “16th subdivision” or even “groove” but I think it deserves its own category because it is broadly conceptual. In a typical funk band, say one backing James Brown, you can hear a great deal of complexity in the dialogue between the groove and the horns. Most of this complexity lies in the many variations of rhythm possible with all 16 of those 16th notes that are in a bar of 4/4 time. In BOOMF! we have a unique combination of instruments which includes Tuba and bass trombone, and excludes bass. Of course, Tuba is our “bass” proxy and we use bass trombone to add a bit of edge to that sound when power is desired. Bass bone in our group also functions as a bari sax does in a rock or funk horn section – as an occasional partner to the bass (tuba) part and low voice counterpoint to the horns. But with regards to intricacy, bass trombone also assists in creating funky ostinato figures with the tuba – consider all of the delightful intricacy in the low brass on “Didgeredon’t”:
Didgeredon’t low brass intricate ostinato
As you can see, there are flams all over the place, which is why I suggested earlier that “intricacy” could be a sub-heading of “flam.” To that same point, both of these parts, tuba and bass trombone, are essential for the groove, which is one of the other categories.
Groove, Tempo, 16th Subdivision
Every style of music has a groove – repeating rhythms that fall into a pattern that feels good. In funk, it is important to distinguish between straight-16th feel and swing or shuffle-type 16th feel. For example, from our rep we have the straight 16th feels of “Phishy,” “Digeredon’t” and “Intergalactic;” also the straight 16th funky-latin feel of “Use Me” ala Wayne Wallace; and the swing 16th shuffle feel of “Corinna” ala New Orleans street band. Our version of “Little Wing” isn’t funk perse, but has funky moments. Interestingly, most of this one is swingy (3/4 with a triplet subdivision), with some intentionally straight-eighth rhythms that mix it up. What all of these tunes have in common is a slow tempo. Its gotta be slow in order to expose the intricate rhythms and the flams. Last note on groove: drummers are always trying to create a pocket that everyone else can sink their rhythms into. If everyone is feeling the groove the same way, and laying back the same way, finding that pocket, it can be magical.
16th vs 8th hits & Syncopation
I covered a bit on 16ths in the last paragraph. To rephrase, 16th notes and a slow tempo provide the appropriate landscape for funk music. But this also gives a composer the opportunity introduce the occasional 8th note rhythm for surprise and variation. In the second section of the head of “Phishy” there is a nod to Tower of Power’s “What is Hip,” but you will note that the drummer is instructed to “keep groovin” instead of setting up the hits as in the T.O.P. tune:
Phishy 16th vs 8th rhythms; bluesy harmony
Notably, after these 16th hits on the “a” of 2 and 4 (“1-e-&-a, 2-e-&-a,” etc) the next hits are on 8th subdivisions going into letter B and continuing through the next bar. In fact, all through the tune the varying syncopations on 8ths and 16ths are explored. This provides much needed variety and surprise moments that are the mana of interesting funk tunes.
Bluesy Harmony
The blues form figures into many funk tunes, including most of the tunes on our “Intergalactic” album. An important and characteristic aspect of the blues form is the dominant IV7 chord. The flat-7 of the dominant IV is the flat-3 of the I7 chord, an important note indeed for the blues sound! One commonly encountered chord in blues harmony is the dom7(#9) - as in the opening chords of Blood Sweat & Tears’ “Spinning Wheel” for example – arguably, this chord IS the sound of the blues. It contains that basic element of bitonality we are all now familiar with, the juxtaposition of the MA3 and the mi3 (#9). This juxtaposition is perhaps the embodiment of anguish or pain, that oh-so important feeling that exists in many blues tunes. But there’s something about expressing that pain that feels good. This is the paradox of the blues and maybe the reason that it connects with so many people.
If that dom7(#9) is on the tonic chord and includes the #11, then you have ALL the blue notes of the blues scale represented: b3, b5, b7. If you look at that previous example, the dom7(#9) chord occurs 4 times in that small space! Of course, they are all varieties. The tonic one in Bb includes the natural 13 which gives it an extra bit of stank. It has more bite because of the two major 7th intervals that exist in the voicing, one between D and C#, and the other between Ab and G. One of the F7 chords indicates #9 and #5, commonly associated with Altered Dominant. As for the other chords in BOOMF!’s lexicon, they are informed by R&B, gospel, and jazz, the Gbma9 and Eb/F (an analogue for F7sus) are prime instances in the previous example.
Weird?
Lastly, funky means just that – different, quirky, strange…..intentionally weird. I must confess now that I borrowed the concept of the album name “Intergalactic Rainbow Ice-Cream Sandwich” from a sketch by comedians Key & Peele. In it they were spoofing funk bands like Parliament, who wore crazy outfits and occasionally sang about nonsense stuff. Their point was something like this: you combine a mode of transportation with a food and throw in outer space or something and you’ve got a great song – to quote some the sketch lyrics “deep fried Detroit soda train.” This idea struck a chord with me and inspired the album name, though I definitely won’t be dressing like they were in the sketch. Additionally, I was thinking of the lyrics of other funk bands like Tower of Power. They are sometimes silly, or quirky, or about weird subjects, or metaphorical (Squib cakes; Only So Much Oil; Monster on a Leash). But the true source of all this is really in the psychedelic rock music of the 60’s. This was the first time that lyrics of songs really got trippy, poetic, and deep. Thank you Dylan, Morrison, Hendrix, Lennon, and all the rest. The tune “Intergalactic Rainbow Ice-Cream Sandwich” is about addiction, whether it is drugs, or love, or whatever your heart desires, and its couched in psychedelic lyrics, funky rhythms, bluesy chords, and a whole lotta in-your-face brass.
Hope you’ve enjoyed this little exploration of funk music and our particular brand of it. Check out the videos posted here (make link) and order a physical copy of our album(make link) directly from us. To get a digital copy, go to cdbaby.com (make link).
BOOMF!