Last Wednesday night, I was feeling kinda low, soul-sick and rung-out, definitely in need of a sonic pick-me-up to rocket launch me through the rest of the week and get me motivated for a long work-filled weekend ahead. [Text by Leilani, photos by Phil.]
And San Francisco's Monophonics turned up the heat from the very beginning of their set, the six instrumentalists a tight chugging machine doling out doses of retro-imbued heavy-grooving psychedelic soulful funk, with the looser salty-raspy howls and bluesy organ riffs of singer/keyboardist Kelly Finnigan adding a nice grittiness to their overall sound. Two-horn section Alex Baky (tenor & baritone sax) and Ryan Scott (trumpet) managed screaming climaxes along with more rhythmic bursts of brass and bright arrangements, guitarist Ian McDonald showed off his electric axe prowess with plenty of wet wah-wah guitar and effects, Myles O'Mahony laid down thick and fuzzy basslines, and all save for steady rhythm keeper Austin Bohlman chimed in with a punch of backing vocals to counter Finnigan's own impassioned delivery.
An early-in-the-set cover of War's "Slipping in the Darkness" really got the bodies moving, myself included, the small but still-impressive-for-a-Wednesday-night mass of us bobbing, swaying, shaking our moneymakers and generally getting down with our badass selves steadily and sweatily for the rest of the muggy night. There were plenty of other highlights, including several cuts off In Your Brain, their (just released today) full-length — "There’s a Riot Going On" with its heavy fuzzy unrelenting bassline and the hard-hitting urgency of "Sure Is Funky" among them — as well as the aggressive driving "Like Yesterday," the A-side off a 2011 '45 (video of that performance below), and another appropriate up-tempo cover, Curtis Mayfield's "Check Out Your Mind."
A quick shout-out to Orlando's Gerry Williams Band. Even though I only caught the tail end of their warm-up set, the full-scale 10-piece had firm control of the crowd when I arrived with their solid blues and gospel-drenched funk as led by the vocals and keywork of their Fedora-sporting namesake.
I released a build-up of negative toxins that night, danced with some great friends (one of them fresh from a two-year stint living like a nomad in Southern Asia, and he got down just a tad harder than the rest of us), and left New World feeling fresh, despite the sweat, like I could tackle anything that came my way. If they happen to roll through town again in the near (or far) future, you can bet I'll be dropping in for another round.
As I mentioned earlier, the San Fransisco sextet just released a new full-length LP today, In Your Brain, via Ubiquity Records, and it is a seriously high-quality cinematic feast of funkadelic gold. Click here to purchase a copy – you won't regret it, I promise. And check out a few videos from their New World performance below; click here to see other video from that night.
This article appears in May 10-16, 2012.