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Get
up, stand up, it's election time again...
With
election fever in the air, whether it be on the western side of the pond,
or indeed right here in the UK, The Gaurdian said of this band “FK5
are bursting with life... imagine if Public Enemy were a go-go-band, if
Sly & the Family Stone made an album with Prince Paul at the controls,
if Curtis Mayfield joined forces with a Bomb Squad stoned on 70s reefer,
if Afrika Bambaataa had managed to coax one final tour of studio duty
out of Norman Whitfield (RIP)... a veritable hands-in-the-air dance-fest
of a record”
While it
certainly won’t win them a slot at the Republican Convention, the
debut album from Washington D.C. electronic funk band, Fort Knox
Five, justifies the hype born of their singles, shows, and high
profile remixes.
Sounding like a cosmic by product of George Clinton,
Sly & The Family Stone, and Public Enemy,
RADIO FREE D.C. draws on their hometown’s rich
musical heritage of funk, soul, punk and hip-hop. The set - released via
Fort Knox Recordings - will be the first electronic album distributed
by legendary D.C. punk label Dischord Records’ Dischord
Direct; it features D.C.’s leading players within underground
music including Asheru (Unspoken Heard), Mustafa
Akbar, Rootz & Zeebo (See-I), Sleepy
Wonder and Ian Svenonius (Nation of Ulysses/The Make
Up).
An authentic voice from the new funk phenomenon, Fort Knox Five
aka Sid Barcelona, Jon Horvath, Rob
Myers and Steve Raskin, first came together
to form Fort Knox Recordings. The label was established
to release genre-defying, party-rocking music, interweaving live instrumentation
with funked-up electronic beats - what has now become known as the “Fort
Knox Sound”.
In addition to their productions and live shows, Fort Knox Five
are in-demand remixers and producers, working with artists ranging from
Afrika Bambaataa to Bittersweet, Kraak
& Smaak to Tito Puente and most recently
Bob Marley & the Wailers (sanctioned by the Marley
estate, a rare honour). The Fort Knox Five are internationally renowned
DJs and were selected by Gwen Stefani for her “Harajuku
Lovers” tour with Black Eyed Peas.
Intercut by RFDC (“Radio Free D.C.”)
interludes, the 12-track RADIO FREE D.C. opens with Asheru’s
intelligent rhymes in the party jam ‘Insight’.
The album’s unifying anthem ‘Funk 4 Peace’
follows next, featuring long-time FK5 collaborator Mustafa Akbar,
who also appears on the tracks ‘The Party Pushers’,
‘The Spirit Of ’75’ and ‘Uptown
Tricks’. The album goes on to showcase FK5’s indie
rock roots with a heavy dose of funk and soul, as they proclaim step-by-step
instructions on ‘How to Start a Band’ featuring
Ian Svenonius from DC Hardcore’s Nation
of Ulysses and The Make Up. Rootz
and Zeebo from See-I and mic-specialist
Sleepy Wonder round out the album’s collaborators,
appearing on ‘Killa Sound Boy’, ‘The
Wonder Strikes Again’ and ‘Not Gonna Take
It’, helping FORT KNOX FIVE venture deep
into the heart of DC’s Jamaican Underground.
website
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