Wah-wah pedals galore, saxophone scales in the background, groovy drum shuffles and a super laid-back bass – we’re talking about funk this week.
I am fairly certain that the main reason for this Captain Cool recommendation was the brilliantly wacky band name and its tongue twister quality in combination with the name of their second full-length album. However, Pigeons Playing Ping Pong’s Psychology is 1 hour and 16 minutes worth of all different shades of funk and therefore worth a listen. From traditional, groove heavy jams to tropical beach tunes, from funk in the club with laser beam synthesisers to unexpectedly depressing funk ballads, there is nothing funk can’t do.
The band’s incredible confidence is present from the first note of the first song, musically and lyrically. F.U. is bold, brassy, groovy, with an incredible bass line and all the funk elements you could think of. There is no escaping the genre’s rhythmic quality, no way to not move along to the wonderful wah-wah-pedal-guitar solo. This track embraces the old school funk sounds without making it sound dated, providing an energetic interpretation instead. The same can be said about Time to Ride, simply a wonderful, heavily instrumental track that pairs a compressed lead voice with live background vocals, making for an interesting texture. The structure is simple, the sound is easy going but there is so much thought put into it: How can we play with the basics of our genre? How can we make them new and interesting? Maybe through the addition of an indie rock section towards the end? Why not?
Sunny Day and Schwanthem are the most interesting tracks from a musical perspective. The former starts of incredibly harsh, only to strip away the electric guitar, revealing a haziness of pulsating guitar notes and incredible echo on the vocals. Like vapour, the sound fills the space, drifting but not escaping, lingering for an impossibly long time. The lyrics are surprisingly depressing, reflecting on the inability to appreciate the brightness of a sunny day when your personal life doesn’t reflect the beauty of the weather. Psychedelic undertones freeze time, wonderfully contrasting the upbeat funk rhythms of the previous tracks. Schwanthem, the shortest and only completely instrumental piece on the record takes funk to a laser beam discotheque. The wah-wah pedal is back, paired with an incredibly catchy groove, simple and fun in its composition. A brilliant fusion of funk and disco, an update for the 21st century, repetitive but infectious.
My favourite track however has to be Julia with its infuriatingly catchy chorus. It’s a true gem, mixing incredibly cheesy beach noises with a tropical guitar riff and an exquisite drum shuffle. The brightness of the lead guitar, the doubling of the vocals, the simplicity of the instrumentation. Lyrically, this is song lives on the same basic level as The Turtles’ Elenore – Julia, I don’t wanna scold ya / Julia, I just wanna hold ya / If you’re down too / let me know – but that makes it all the more charming. Salsa-inspired scales are cascading downwards, brightening any grey December day with ease, ringing so carefree, liberated from any worry. It’s a wonderfully infectious mix, simply marvellous and guaranteed to make you move along.
Lastly, Horizon deserves a mention, unexpectedly ballady in its opening bars, stripped bare without the dominant funk rhythm. And although the drums enter a couple seconds in, they remain playful, almost sweet in their skipping beats, paired only with guitar and bass. I love the brightness of the solo guitar, how it manages to float above the rhythm section, dancing on its own in beautiful patterns. Disco notes creep in, subtly flavouring the track with a brilliant build-up, wonderfully contrasting the lightness of the opening bars with an eccentric electric guitar solo and gutsy groove. With a track this long (almost 10 minutes) one needs some movement, a sense of progression and travel. It’s a lovely exploration of the different colours funk can take on, returning the stunning opening brightness for the closing bars, coming full circle on this brilliant musical adventure.
1 hour and 16 minutes worth of funk later and I’m still filled with rhythm and a desire to dance through the kitchen. What Pigeons Playing Ping Pong have achieved with this record is quite remarkable: shining a light on the old school funk jams while also investigating the genre’s borders. There are so many different flavours on this record, so many different paths taken to reach funk perfection, so many different questions asked of a genre that keeps redefining itself on this album. Only one remains: Where does funk stop?
The Dad Anthology 