[video=youtube;E_BP2-jIUCQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_BP2-jIUCQ[/video]
[U][B]What is space funk?[/B][/U]
If you try to google it, most likely you'll just get the first song in the mix above. While that is in itself a fine example of this particular variety of funk music, you still won't find any decent internet resources that describe the style in detail.
Most people don't even consider this to be its own genre, probably because it draws from and overlaps with other genres from the 1970's, such as jazz fusion, progressive rock, soul, disco, proto-electronica and some times even easy listening.
Space funk has lived on mostly as samples for hip-hop producers and is in my experience rarely appreciated as is.
Basically, space funk combines the grooves of funk music with the lush atmospheres and composition tools of space music. The sound is centered around the late to mid 70's and employs instrumentation common from that period. Song structures can vary quite a bit and songs often last longer than the average pop tune. Improvisation and soloing is also common, but the groove of the rhythm section is still the most important element.
[U][B]Space funk instrumentation[/B][/U]
[B]Drums & percussion[/B]
The base rhythm is almost always provided by a live drumkit. It wasn't practical to use a drum machine at the time, though the Roland CR-78 was sometimes used for additional percussion. The later albums of Michael Andre Lewis A.K.A Mandré is an exception, since he was an early adopter of the Roland TR-808 due to being a product tester for them. The rhythms themselves are either syncopated backbeat-based patterns, or four on the floor disco.
Space funk produced in later years that draws from hip-hop might opt to use sampled breakbeats in place of drums.
Additional percussion in the form of congas, bongos, shakers, tambourines, cowbells and such is also common.
[B]Bass[/B]
Electric basses and synth basses are used interchangably. Electric bassists play the bassline with the techniques you would expect (fingerstyle or slapping and popping). Synth basslines may employ good use of the pitch bend wheel, and are typically played on analog mono synths such as the Minimoog and the ARP Odyssey.
[B]Guitars[/B]
Actually less prominent than you would think, because a lot of the space funk composers were keyboardists and preferred to use keyboards for chordal roles. Guitarists often have solo roles though, and if they're in the rhythm section they will play either muted, syncopated riffs, disco-style "chicken scratch" chords (wah pedal is optional) or they lie in the background and provide sound effects using delay units and assorted pedals.
[B]Keyboards & synths[/B]
A space funk composition often has several keyboard tracks. Acoustic piano, Rhodes, Wurlitzer, clavinet and Hammond organ were all popular for chords, atmosphere, rhythm as well as melodies and solos.
The synthesizer is arguably the main element of the "space" part of the sound. String synthesizers such as the ARP Solina were very popular for pads before fully featured polyphonic synths became viable. Beyond that, monosynths were used for leads, the already mentioned bass and effects. Synths were often run through reverb and tape delay. The Roland RE-201 Space Echo could become an instrument in its own right by cranking the feedback and twiddling the delay time knob.
James Vincent's 1976 album [I]Space Traveler[/I] is a notable exception for its minimal use of synths. There is a synth bass on some tracks, but its other roles is filled in by other keyboards, guitars, strings and vocals.
[B]Wind instruments[/B]
A horn section that plays strategically placed stabs is a staple of funk music, but it's not as common in space funk. Brass and woodwinds play mostly melodies and solos when they do appear.
[B]String section[/B]
They were used if it could be afforded, as an alternative to synth pads. They may also play staccato riffs in the discoid variety of space funk.
[B]Vocals[/B]
Fairly rare. Even if an album is composed and produced by a vocalist he or she might not sing on all the tracks. Lyrics can be about anything, but space travel metaphors and sci-fi themes remain popular. Other popular themes include love & lovemakin', dancing, peace & human unity as well as more abstract, psychedelic themes.
[U][B]Examples, space funk varietes (or sub-genres if you wanna call it that):[/B][/U]
[B]Laid-back space funk, the park your spaceship and chill out variety[/B]
[URL="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SFt7JHwJeg"]Kool & The Gang - Summer Madness[/URL]
[URL="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nKxncEFwqE"]Roy Ayers - Everybody Loves the Sunshine[/URL]
[URL="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIwDLN2X6Rs"]Electronic System - Skylab[/URL]
[URL="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ao5uiWUzMx4"]Brian Bennett - Solstice[/URL]
[URL="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdWWAodmrAU"]Space Craft's Men - Crossing[/URL]
[B]Progressive space funk, long compositions and varying intensity[/B]
[URL="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvrwP2B7YGQ"]Dexter Wansel - Voyager[/URL]
[URL="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0q91162VwuI"]Mandré - Solar Flight (Opus I)[/URL]
[URL="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MD2qCQ8x218"]Herbie Hancock - Spiraling Prism[/URL]
[B]Discoid space funk, [URL="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_disco"]can't really call it space disco cuz' that's already a thing and it's completely different[/URL][/B]
[URL="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D644Ik4VL3k"]Helmuth Brandenburg - Ele Toldoth[/URL]
[URL="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePZBWmylHL4"]Alan Hawkshaw - The Speed of Sound[/URL]
[URL="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0ng21K6lcw"]Brian Bennett - Chain Reaction[/URL]
[URL="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLLVNIosch0"]Manzel - The Party[/URL]
[B]Just plain old space funk of no particular variety[/b]
[URL="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MH_-D1M9DqY"]John Keating - I Feel The Earth Move[/URL]
[URL="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rEx5LOwyO0"]Puccio Roelens - Northern Lights[/URL]
[URL="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3X5kqk9hy0"]James Vincent - Song for Jayme[/URL]
[URL="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLWKSkcoEwI"]James Vincent - Drifting Into Love[/URL]
[URL="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfFJ5jZxyWY"]Dexter Wansel - Theme from the Planets[/URL]
[URL="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTdC4IB4L0A"]Dexter Wansel - Life on Mars[/URL]
[URL="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFFsG2ufcjs"]Mandré - Third World Calling (Opus II)[/URL]
[B]Modern space funk[/B]
[URL="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYlP7C_hYhc"]Todd Terje - Preben Goes to Acapulco[/URL]
[URL="https://soundcloud.com/captain-supernova/imaginary-voyage"]Captain Supernova - Imaginary Voyage[/URL]
[URL="https://soundcloud.com/takahashijones/shokakuexpress"]Takahashi Jones - Shokaku Express[/URL]
[B]BONUS ROUND! Jazz-funk and disco arrangements of sci-fi fiction theme songs[/B]
[URL="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_v1J-kGxXds"]Maynard Ferguson - Theme From Star Trek[/URL]
[URL="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgWPaIRsd3w"]Maynard Ferguson - Theme From Star Wars[/URL]
[URL="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cuhPbhzMzQ"]Eumir Deodato - Also Sprach Zarathustra[/URL]
(Okay that is actually a classical piece but 2001: A Space Oddity made it a theme so w/e)
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