There’s some music you simply listen to, whilst other sounds electrify your inner being and alter your very physiology, and funk collective The Big Ol’ Nasty Getdown fall very much in the second category. Featuring a whole cast of characters who’ve played with everyone from Prince to Pearl Jam to Lynyrd Skynyrd, these stars revolve around musician and curator John Heintz, and have produced a sprawling musical vista that features seven diverse tracks that are all linked by Heintz’s groove laden percussion. Full, lustrous, yet never cluttered, RepurposE Purpose Vol. 1 is a riotous cornucopia of sound and one that wraps the listener in a warm embrace.
When it comes to opening track ‘All Together Now’, there’s no mucking around; that opening motif appears with little warning and is all the more powerful for it. It’s as if a wormhole has opened up into another world and that big funky riff is inviting you to step over the threshold, but when the music is this good, why wouldn’t you? It sets the tone for the rest of the record and rolls perfectly, it’s all rounded corners and beautiful curves, and gives the impression that it could shape shift into new form at any moment. Certainly not made for somnambulists, ‘All Together Now’ attacks the heart and head simultaneously and demands you shake your tush; this isn’t music to play in the background at a wine and cheese evening, rather it’s designed to get the drink (and good vibes) flowing. Aided by a rich and velvety production, RepurposE Purpose moves from track to track like brand new engine oil and while each song has its own personality it hangs together as a cohesive whole. While it is perfectly feasible to dip in and out and enjoy each song individually, this is an album best devoured in one sitting to fully appreciate its push and pull.
Musicians are a fickle bunch by nature so putting various players together is no easy task. Mix those chemicals right and things will fizz and bubble nicely. However, get that fusion wrong and you can have a nuclear meltdown of Chernobyl proportions on your hands. What makes RepurposE Purpose Vol 1 all the more impressive is the mélange that’s occurred here; who’d have ever thought members of Lynyrd Skynyrd (Peter Keys), Suicidal Tendencies (Ra Diaz) and 24-7 Spyz (Jimi Hazel) would ever have played in the same line-up? Not me! Yet they do, and turn ‘Spirit Stone’ into a prime slab of funk rock heaven. Furthermore, each song has a different blend of musicians and you can only marvel at the way they coalesce into a unified form.
As the world continues to be plagued by war and pestilence, RepurposE Purpose Vol 1 is a musical balm sent to soothe our troubled times. As fragmentation continues to reign, this EP has a unifying aspect; rockers will get tangled up in the guitar lines, stoners will fall head over heels in love with its mazy aesthetic, soul boys will dig those James Brown affectations, whilst funk heads will sail on that silky sound. And let’s face it; who doesn’t love an infectious groove? RepurposE Purpose Vol 1 serves up a plethora, and for that we should all be grateful.
- RepurposE Purpose Vol 1 is distributed by Org Music and is available now (from here).
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Track List:
- All Together Now
- Body Magic
- 420 Ocean Drive
- Spirit Stain
- Ten Hits
- Body Magic (Instrumental)
- Spirit Stain (Instrumental)
