#prog funk

I am increasingly focused on the music scene based in Genève, Switzerland, which is loosely centered around record store and label Les Disques Bongo Joe, and includes Sun Lounge favorites such as Androo and Pascal Viscardi. I’ve written a lot about the latter two artists, but have spilled less ink concerning some of the other great groovers and movers from this exciting musical community, so if you are interested in what has been going on here in a broader sense, I refer you to the amazing VAG (Various Artists Genève) compilation from 2019. For this review however, I’d like to focus on L’Eclair, a prog funk and psychedelic disco collective blending cinematic sonic adventure with pure dancefloor intoxication. Though originally a duo, over time L’Eclair expanded into a six+ piece jam collective, and across long players such as Polymood and Sauropoda, the group presented tripped out amalgamations of Afro-dance, cosmic rock, and proto-house that are as progressive as they are physical, with hypnotizing drum and bass grooves owing to 70s disco, funk, and world fusion working the body into feverish states of ecstasy while wah licks, fuzz leads, and psychotropic keyboard spirals entice the mind via exotic melodic mysticisms. As for the L’eclair’s newest EP нощта, released earlier this year on Les Disques Bongo Joe and Calico Discos, the group fold in all the aforementioned sounds and influences, while continuing to expand into ever newer realms of hallucinatory dancefloor magic. And perhaps best of all, the album is soaked in dub production trickery, as almost every sound flows in and out of delirious webs of ping-ponging slapback and reverberating space echo.

L’Eclair - нощта (Les Disques Bongo Joe / Calico Discos, 2020) “Cebando” features a stoned introduction of Holger Czukay-style thump bass and lackadaisical drum breaks, with cymbals splashing and the whole kit soaked in slapback. Wah guitars scratch out funkified riffs and organs and synths color the air in hues of jazz fusion until a sweltering sonic swell resolves the groove into sharper focus, with wah wah licks, prog-infused basslines, and tight breakbeats holding it down while solar flare keyboard accents flutter at the periphery. After spring reverb clicks and self-oscillating drones descend upon the mix, we flash into a sort of instrumental chorus, wherein the drums assume a horseback gallop as palm-muting guitars threaten to explode at the seams. And above it all, sci-fi synths call towards the stars, bringing vibes of both space opera and spaghetti western. After a breakdown into a psychosomatic haze comprised of dubwise delay abstractions and phasing clouds of ether, we snap back towards prog funk and fusion jam perfection, with cowbells adding hypnotizing polyrhythms and organs evoking fever visions of desert fantasy. Then, following another devolution into ponging Can bass, panned hand percussion, and haunted electronic screeching, we work towards one final cosmic western finale, with soaring synth leads immersed in reverb, guitars and bell tones creating dazzling webs of energy, and bass and drums locked into a hard hitting funk rhythm eruption. 

Seasick synth bass holds down a smokey lounge groove of phased drums and spring reverb splashes in “Atlantis,” while heatwave pads blur the vision. Palm-muting echo guitars refract through underwater colorations and create the vibe of a delirium dance on the ocean floor…a whooshing waltz through coral forests and billowing meadows of seagrass. Melodious guitar glimmers overlay the delayed six-string patterns and the basslines grow more bulbous and bottom heavy as they pull the body deeper into an oceanic dreamscape…their lulling effect only enhanced by smeared out shadowforms of sea shanty synth. The drumkit relaxes towards tapped hats and tight snare smacks while effected woodblocks and hand drums accent the groove, and there’s a tendency towards controlled eruptions of phaser-laced tom fill flamboyance. At some point, liquid wah guitars begin soundtracking a Hawaiian sundown, with several layers singing together and generating sunbeams of equatorial warmth...the vibe not unlike the more tropical fusions from Haruomi Hosono or Tatsuro Yamashita. Self-oscillating echo trails transform into laser beams while simultaneously evoking the strange songs of seagulls, and all through out the track, sharp drum cuts and flashy fill transitions break up the flow of calming balearica. 

The introduction of “Dallas” begins with synthesized pianos and whale song brass, while reggae guitar flashes and dramatic bass pulses portend a slow reggae skank. But it’s a fantastic bit of misdirection, for soon, the song explodes towards crate digger splendour, as energetic and downright raunchy drum breaks work the body. Guitar and bass lock together for dazzling spells of funk riff syncopation while hazy dub riffs ride on sunbeams. There is a sudden lurch towards stoned Sabbath-ian doom as molten fuzz guitars rain down over militant drum rolls and manic fills, and after breaking down into a mesmeric slop of hand drum and trapkit delay, we cut back towards the blazing fusion funk jam out. Now however, the basslines thump, growl, and barrel down even harder into the groove…all as a fiery drum performance backgrounds mysterious synthesizer solos and drunken chordscapes. Elsewhere, there is a completely fried explosion towards freakadelic guitar jamming, as distorted leads spit solar energy waves and layers of vibrato madness while occasionally devolving into a black hole reverb scream. Following a breathtaking pause, we cut back into the jam, with syncopated bass and six-string fireworks again dancing in tandem and drums reveling in muscular funk bombast. And towards the end, industrial synth fx and disturbing bird song modulations suffuse the stereo field while liberal applications of dub delay morph the mix into a prismatic tapestry of heavy groove psychedelia.

“Carousel” reaches towards the cosmic rock lineage of France, and specifically of Richard Pinhas, as tight disco beats work into a forward falling groove while synth arps at once anxious and playful descend over polyrhythmic hand drum layers. Dub chords wiggle into the stereo field and everything is kissed by the usual layers of slapback and reverb as we cut into a section of thumping krautfunk bass, cowbell, and echoing noise percolations. Once the groove proper resumes, it takes on a manic and angular energy, with reggae riffs mutating through alien fx layers and whooshing wah wahs, drums locking into an upbeat hypno-gallop, and fusion bassline shadowspells lurking beneath it all. There’s an unexpected drop into sitar-esque buzz and tribal hand drumming while pads hover like an extraterrestrial fog, but as double-time hi hats begin cutting through the murk alongside bass guitar growls, we soon find ourselves back in the world of sharp edged jamming and cold calculated polyrhythms, with buzzing sub bass acid lines adding further big bottom heft. Chord reflections and heatstroke riff cascades seem to emerge from all corners of the stereo field and understated synthesizers weave in and out of it all…these computronic fusion solos that are reduced to a galactic whisper. Towards the end, as that playful yet maddening Heldon-style arp resumes its starbeam dance, the band doubles down on dancefloor devastation by loosening up and abandoning the rigid textures of layered club minimalism for an all out cosmic funk attack…a brief and contained supernova of psychedelic sound wherein heavy basslines and breakbeats background the screams of interstellar solo synthesis. 

(Submarine Facemelt)