MP3 Freekbass - Body Over Mind

Turn of the century Funk: a collection of thick, nasty bass grooves with hip-hop, dance and rock influences.

13 MP3 Songs
URBAN/R&B: Funk, ROCK: Funk Rock



Details:
While surfing FreekBass' website (www.freekbass.com) in search for some interesting biography information concerning the band I came across two sentences.

The first one being: 'Freekbass pours thick, sub-harmonic effected frequencies into high energy songs for the urban sub-culture.'

The second one being a quotation by funkmeister and FreekBass' tutor Bootsy Collins: 'FreekBass is the new spritual warrior for the Funk'.

Of course this is all correct.

Who can possibly question Bootsy? I'm enjoying the new record 'Body Over Mind' for over a month now and I'm still not tired of having it in heavy rotation.

Now it's time for me to try to do this record some justice by giving it the kind of review it deserves: a very jubilant one! FreekBass is the name of the band and it's also the artistic name of the bassist/leadsinger, who is proud to be a protégé of the aforementioned legendary Bootsy Collins.

Needless to say that this cd is produced by Mr. Collins as well.

The other excellent musicians of FreekBass are: Beta-17 (a silver robot!) on keyboards, Sean McGary on guitars, Swift on drums and Joodi on the sax.

I hope to see these guys live one day.

The music of FreekBass can be described as low-down earthy, groove layered, nasty, digital future FUNK, you just gotta dance to! Just try to resist.

The title of the album explains this a little: don't think about it, just let your body do the funkin' for ya! That's at least how I interpret it.

And like George Clinton said once: 'The more one thinks about it, the harder it is to get the feel of the Funk'.

Buy this record, kick back, dig and let the vibes flow through! That's my advice to you The album starts off with an 'Intro', that makes you eager to hear FreekBass play.

Then suddenly, when the intro is over, Bootsy sings at his own typical way: 'Ow, I can't get enough of that FreekBass / In your face! / FreekBass!' and the next cut 'Hear Me Play' has kicked in! A lot of heavy bass pump up your stereo and you immediately know that it's going to be good.

I wanna hear this band play! It's just one of those songs you can't stop nodding your head to.

Nice vocoder and sax on the background too.

'Mission' has enough potential to become a huge clubhit.

It's extremely danceable and the horns are very well arranged.

The title track 'Body over Mind' is a hiphop-funk track, again with great keyboards and ditto bassplaying.

'Sense of Anxiety' has a keyboard riff that reminds you of Bernie Worrell, when he played with Parliament/Funkadelic back in the good old days.

Funky singing throughout the whole track.

'Connect' is a short futuristic intermezzo to blend into the best overall track of the album: 'FreekBass 2YK'.

This is the first single and it's so good that it makes you wish you had composed it yourself.

The bass really stands out (again) on this one and it has a stompin' distorted solo by FreekBass.

That dude can really, really play.

'Baby Baby' is a very infectious track featuring engaging keyboards.

'Thang' is another hiphop-funk track with great rapping and a nasty bassline.

This is also radio material, if you ask me.

The refrain stands out because of the good singing and there is a nice saxsolo, which is a bit too short.

The album's sole ballad is terrific.

Even Bootsy himself couldn't have done it any better! The cut lasts 7:39 minutes and has an orgasmic bass-solo.

'Peppermint Leather' is a forgettable piece of funkrock, although the guitarplaying is excellent.

'She's Already There' has some funky keyboardplaying and a nice refrain.

'Silver 17' is a mishmash that summarizes some of the best FreekBass songs that I've just described.

It's the groovy conclusion of an album that makes you feel how intensely the Funk is alive and kicking! FreekBass really ís the new spritual warrior for the Funk.

Enough said.

-Michiel van Overmeire