The Rita Collective “Forty-One Seconds” Allora Records ritacollective.com The Rita Collective creates music that is impossible to classify. Start with the instrumentation: group leader Dean Keller plays bass clarinet; Kristen Shiner McGuire, marimba; Kyle Vock, bass; and Matt Bevan-Perkins, percussion. On their debut album, they’re joined on one cut by Mark Collins on flugelhorn. The […]
funk
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Playing outside the box
A little over a decade ago, Charlie Lindner was making a good living at Hasbro, the toy company in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. He was applying the knowledge from his college degree in Packaging Science, making the containers for G.I. Joes and Nerf Balls more cost-efficient. Lindner studied the subject at Rochester Institute of Technology, working […]
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Ambassadors to the rabbit hole
Sometimes a band gets caught up in its own secular spirituality and winds up crowding the vibe. It’s a delicate balance between message and music. Syracuse’s Sophistafunk puts forth a heavy groove that rivals pants-less fun, but there is also a seriousness in the minimalist attack, a sense of responsibility for the privilege of […]
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Fun-kaay
Keyboard extraordinaire Tony Gallicchio was minding his own business, playing the funk with his band Funknut, when an opportunity arose. The Rochester-based reggae super group Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad was looking for a replacement keyboard player. Gallicchio took a shot and landed the gig. The thick, funkified sound that he brought got tempered with the […]
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Funknut
Funknut is already the big band it will never be. Don’t get me wrong; the Funknut sound is big and soulful, nestled somewhere between Curtis and Sly and a persistent jazzy jam. This is the cry of a trio that can’t even get past trio as far as keeping permanent guns in its ranks. When […]
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MUSIC FEATURE: Danielle Ponder
At the forefront of funk-soul-rock act Black August’s infectious groove was Danielle Ponder, a fireball of soul, of consciousness, of action. The Rochester band was at its best, playing great shows, drawing big crowds, when it surprisingly opted for a fade to black. Ponder was in law school at Northeastern University in Boston for three […]
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The Mighty High and Dry
In addition to having arguably one of the cooler band names in all of Smugtown, The Mighty High and Dry is the sum of some impressive parts. Members of this elite ensemble have flexed in the wall-o-brash brass that was The Po’ Boys Brass Band and the funky-as-it-gets boogie of Street Level. Compared to those […]
