More Hammond-funk vicar? Yes, it’s time to welcome back the artists formerly known as Euro Cinema – a.k.a. The Funkstamatics – with new single The Reverend. Long aficionados of the sound once purveyed by Blue Note and Prestige Records back in the day, the band this time treat your ears to a chugging groove that harks back to their early days jamming in the studio with no overdubs and no FX. Well – no FX apart from those crowd sounds in the background of course. The Reverend is the second in a series of digital-only singles (following the antsy funk of Happy Acorn) that the band will release in the run-up to their fourth studio LP, which promises to take listeners on, “a musical journey from New York in the 60s to Minneapolis in the 80s and back.” The monkey’s all ears.
(Out 7 December on Funkstamatic Records)