New York crowds are notoriously hard to please. It’s a byproduct of the dynamism of the city, and works as both a blessing and a curse; on any given night there will be at least three things worth going to, so as an artist you have to work hard, if not harder, than you would in any other place. But once you win us over, oh how we will reward you. And in Dam-Funk’s particular case, we will even pop, lock and break for you (as exhibited by five dudes taking up at least one third of the dance floor with their crazy moves).
Los Angeles boogie man Dam-Funk has been rip snorting his way around the world ever since the release of his album Toeachizown last year. This was the second time New York was privileged enough to catch his glittering funk in a few months. This time around, the crowd was less dense, but still as enthusiastic as ever, as Dam-Funk brought out his three-piece band to create his works of funked up goodness. We particularly appreciated that there was one dude dedicated exclusively to duties on tambourine and the African hand percussion instrument, Cabasa. Attention to detail, folks – we’re all about it.
Dam-Funk was just as passionate as we had ever seen, noodling about on his keytar with cool prowess. He would let one hand drop from his instrument and then throw up the ‘funk sign,’ which funnily enough is very similar to that of the the ‘rock sign.’ Perhaps he took his cues from their correlation, and at one point growled into the mic a la rock steez. But if you’ve ever heard of Dam-Funk, you know that he’s about funk exclusively, and the sound drenched in synths (key man Computer Jay was bouncing around between approximately three) made us sure not to confuse the two.
So basically, in a nutshell, this is what you need to know about his performance on Saturday night:
* Dam-Funk took us to a cosmic place.
* This astral travel involved dirty, dirty keys.
* As well as wanting to “Killdatmuthafucka,” he also wanted to thank us for “stepping into my life.”
* The fedora is a fashion item that perhaps needs to die a quick and painless death
* All in all, Dam-Funk killed it. As per usual.
Tags: Bowery Ballroom, Dam-Funk, Music, New York
