Funk

Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid- to late 1960s when African American musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of soul music, jazz, and rhythm and blues (R&B). Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground. Funk songs are often based on an extended vamp on a single chord, distinguishing them from R&B and soul songs, which are built on complex chord progressions. Funk uses the same extended chords found in bebop jazz, such as minor chords with added sevenths and elevenths, or dominant seventh chords with altered ninths.

Like much African-inspired music, funk typically consists of a complex groove with rhythm instruments such as electric guitar, electric bass, Hammond organ, and drums playing interlocking rhythms. Funk bands sometimes have a horn section of several saxophones, trumpets, and in some cases, a trombone, which plays rhythmic "hits". Funk originated in the mid-1960s, with James Brown's development of a signature groove that emphasized the downbeat—with heavy emphasis on the first beat of every measure, funky bass lines, drum patterns, and syncopated guitar riffs. Other musical groups, including Sly & the Family Stone and Parliament-Funkadelic, soon began to adopt and develop Brown's innovations. While much of the written history of funk focuses on men, there have been notable funk women, including Chaka Khan, Labelle, Brides of Funkenstein, Klymaxx, Mother's Finest, and Betty Davis.

As If (album)

As If is the sixth studio album by American dance-punk group !!!, released on October 16, 2015 on Warp Records.

Singles

Three official singles have been released from As If: "All U Writers", a 5 1/2 minute (5 minutes on the album) long song featuring vocals from Teresa Eggers, released 28 April 2015. "Freedom '15", a groovy leviathan of a disco track, released 30 July 2015, and features vocals from Yolanda Harris Dancy and Taletha Manor. A lyric video for "Freedom '15" was uploaded 20 August 2015. The third single from the album, "Bam City", was released 30 September 2015, with an accompanying music video. "Ooo", a grooving love song, was released with an accompanying music video on November 16, 2015.

Promotional singles

One promotional single has been released from the As If: "Sick Ass Moon", an "R&B-tinted house track", released with "Freedom '15" on 30 July 2015.

Critical Reception

In a positive review for Exclaim!, Daniel Sylvester called the album "one of the most enjoyable, if schizophrenic, dance albums of the year."

Funk (Glee)

"Funk" is the twenty-first episode of the American television series Glee. The episode was written by series creator Ian Brennan and directed by Elodie Keene. It premiered on the Fox network on June 1, 2010 and was watched by 9 million viewers. In "Funk", New Directions is intimidated by rival glee club Vocal Adrenaline. Jesse St. James (Jonathan Groff) defects back to Vocal Adrenaline, and New Directions explores funk music, knowing it is their rival club's weakness. The episode features cover versions of six songs, all of which were released as singles, available for download, and two of which are included on the soundtrack album Glee: The Music, Volume 3 Showstoppers.

The episode received mixed reviews from critics. Lisa Respers France of CNN and Blair Baldwin of Zap2it both received the episode positively. Todd VanDerWerff of The A.V. Club, Entertainment Weekly's Tim Stack and James Poniewozic of Time highlighted continuity issues with the show, while VanDerWerff and Henrik Batallones of BuddyTV deemed "Funk" a set-up episode for the season finale. Bobby Hankinson of the Houston Chronicle gave a more positive review, but still found "Funk" lacking compared to previous episodes, a sentiment shared by Aly Semigran of MTV.