Friday Night Funk Fest & BIODIESEL

This Friday night at Sullivan we have a pair of excellent sets lined up. The first is part four of our continuing Funk Fest series, featuring non-stop grooves from four excellent New York funk acts. Later that night, the party continues with the highly danceable, nearly unclassifiable electro-rock-jam-space-explorers BioDiesel.

The bi-monthly Funk Fest series features the best underground and up-and-coming funk bands we can find. This edition brings in a variety of exciting stuff. Sophistafunk hails from Syracuse, where they just won last year’s “Syracuse Big Break” contest. They’re currently on tour with Ithaca’s funk-rock Rozatones, who are touring behind a successful second album and on a Magic Hat sponsorship despite being still in college. Both of these bands played here last November to a great reaction, and we’re delighted to have them in the lineup.

Rounding out the bill are Grindcity, bringing their hip-hop fusion with a political mindset all the way from Philly, and NYC’s Lucky Chops Brass Band, who cite influences from Sonny Rollins to DJ Jazzy Jeff and bring a New Orleans funk sound to New York hip-hop and rock ‘n roll.

The Johnny Rabb-headed project BioDiesel fuses together computer-generated electronica with live drum ‘n’ bass and jam-rock into something unlike most music popularly available today. Rabb, one of the most highly-regarded drummers in the world, has worked in the realms of classic funk, electronica, and big-band jazz, and he brings everything he’s got to the table. The other partner in the band is the Brothers Past bassist Clay Parnell, a player with infinite chops but the good sense to stay groovy. The combination can yield almost any result. Whatever the outcome, the constant factor is long, grooving jams that are perfectly suited to a late-night party. We’re really excited to have these guys coming down, and you can expect this set to be a highly memorable one.

The Funk Fest starts at 7:30 pm, and tix are $10. Late show is at 11:30, and the cover for that set is $12 in advance or $15 at the door. You can get your tickets online here.

BY THE WAY—do you know any other great underground funk acts? Let us know via a comment! We may just in touch with them about the next Funk Fest.