Instant Funk

At my local spot, they know me by name.

"Hey, Andrew, how's it going?"

"Good, Tim, how are you?"

That's about the extent of the exchange, before I put my head down and flip through the new arrival bins.

Earlier this week, the bins yielded nothing, but then I saw something interesting on the counter, face up.

"What's that?"

Tim said, "Oh that's too beat up to sell."

I reached over and grabbed it: Instant Funk.

"You can have it if you want. I can't sell that. Take it home, see if you can get it to play."

I brought it home, put it on the platter, and after the first listen through, and numerous skips, Esther kept talking about "smashing it over her knee."

Undeterred, I kept it, and a few days later I ran it through the Spin-Clean. Esther's my record dryer when I'm cleaning, and she said the same thing, "keep it for when the kids aren't around, and you want to get some anger out." Then she made a smashing motion with her hands, complete with a vocal sound effect.

I came home today and put it back on the platter, post-clean. It still skipped, but far less, and I don't think I'm going to end up smashing it.

INSTANT FUNK - tight, tight record. Grooving, funking. I was dancing around the kitchen by myself.

The opening track shines brighter than the rest, and damn if it didn't spawn, in one way or another, three great 90s tracks: De La's "Saturdays," Tupac's "Got My Mind Made Up," and Lucy Pearl's "La La La."

Check it out:

#DeLaSoul #InstantFunk