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[JuntaJoe]

Ok, it's no secret I love rock music.

What you may not know is that I always catch Soul Train every week. :shock:

Been doing it since the 70's.

Yes, you've heard me disparage rap music. I still hate it.

But Soul Train does also play R&B artists as well. And the cuties dancing never hurt my eyes either. :P

I do like Soul, R&B, Blues, and Jazz. I also like another predominately black music genre that has been almost non existant since the Isley Brothers gave it up.

That is funk rock. It's not like Jimmy Hendriks, Living Colour, Chuck Berry, or Lenny Kravitz. They are just rockers who happen to be black. No, this music has all the jamz of rock, but sneaks in a funky beat too. Great stuff, easy to enjoy and lots of fun. I use to laugh at my white bretheren when they would ask who was playing that great rock tune on my car tape player while out running the bars. I'd pop the tape out and laughed when they saw Isley on the label. But, but....I thought they were a disco band! Oh how I used to chuckle at that. It always shocked them to learn that Elvis wasn't the originator of rock music. Fatz Domino, Bo Didley, and Little Richard might take offense at that opinion.


Anywho......I was watching Jay Leno tonight and say them intruduce a girl singer named Nikka Costa singing cantneverdidnothing. Cute, good voice, irrelevant. I was her band that impressed me. The bass player twisting and slapping those strings. A great beat and serious guitar jamming. The singer is nice, but this band could use any American Idol reject and crank out a great tune.

I found her official website and perhaps they have some exerpts you can grab for free and see what kind of music I refer to.

If she keeps the band together then I'll buy her music.

http://www.nikkacosta.com/

[JuntaJoe]

Speak of the devil......


I saw this article only a few minutes ago! It's like deja vu all over again!


Nikki Costa brings in the funk on new album

May 26, 2005 4:45 PM EDT
ORLANDO, Fla. -


Nikka Costa, can'tneverdidnothin' (Virgin)

4 out of 5 stars


Sometimes, it doesn't take long to know what an album has to offer.

When Nikka Costa emits a quick, sassy squeal in the opening seconds of can'tneverdidnothin', it captures her style better than a million words.

"Till I Get to You" is the opening track on her followup to 2001's Everybody Got Their Something, an album that earned the daughter of record producer Don Costa comparisons to Prince and Tina Turner, accolades that she continues to earn on can'tneverdidnothin'.

These 11 songs are high-energy, 21st century funk with old-school roots: There's plenty of wah-wah guitars, horn punctuation, driving bass and fiery vocals. The distorted guitars on the title track approach the intensity of metal, but Costa's frenetic alto keeps things in the soul realm.

She turns the heat down to simmer on "Fooled Ya Baby," but the infectious, sing-along chorus still evolves into something meaner and louder by the final refrain.

The only moments when the album falters are when Costa slows down. Big ballads such as "I Gotta Know" don't match the stellar recordings of Alicia Keys that they seem to resemble. "Hey Love" and "Fatherless Child," a pair of understated ballads that close the album, unintentionally take the punch out of all that came before.

When Costa keeps the engine in overdrive, however, can'tneverdidnothin' is a fun ride.

Whether it's the Zeppelinesque guitars behind "On & On" or the sexy vocals on "Happy in the Morning," the album has a monster groove.

"Give me something I can work with here," Costa says in "Swing It Around," another lean funk workout: "I'm your gift, it's your birthday."

There's no shortage of good lines to back up the potent sound. "You think you're slick, but you could stand a lot of greasing," Costa advises in "Funkier Than a Mosquita's Tweeter," a driving jazz number that blends a brass section with propulsive congas.

Another lyric in the same song ("You got a mouth like a herd of bowl weevers") wouldn't fly on the Discovery Channel. It's funky, though.

In Costa's universe, everything is.

---

(c) 2005, The Orlando Sentinel (Fla.). Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service.

[ExarKun]

Funk rock can be subjective at times, I know people who would call Sublime or Rage Against The Machine, cause both bands incoorperate that into there styles. But in the end most music sites call Sublime Punk/Rock and Rage Rap Rock. Not quite sure.