Blogarhythms

A few hours ago I got together with Emeyesi to record a new episode of our weekly podcast series. A good deal of our between-song banter dealt with the Republican National Convention (which we’d been watching) and the GOP’s platform (which apparently consists of being old, being white, being rich, lying, wearing cowboy hats and pandering at every opportunity) both of which were mocked mercilessly. But the later it got, the hungrier we both got, and the discussion turned to our mutual desire for food.

To be perfectly honest, I’m still hungry right now. I need a snacky.  And I want chocolate dammit!

Perhaps then it’s my unsatisfied sweet-tooth that drew me to the music of Japanese throwback instrumental Funk ensemble Mountain Mocha Kilimanjaro this morning? I mean, the words “mocha” and “mountain” would have to conjure images of some gooey, calorie-laden chocolate desert of one kind or another, right? Either that or something a little more pornographic I suppose… But we shan’t go into that discussion here. Any way you choose to look at it the six-man MMK crew makes music that’s as indulgent a treat to listen to as any amount of ice cream, cake and hot fudge is to eat.

Their self-titled debut full-length — out now on vinyl and compact disc courtesy of the P-Vine label — is a masterwork of vintage-sounding lo-fidelity Funk worthy of having the Josie label stamped on one side and the People label on the other. I mention those two labels specifically because bands like The Meters and the extended J.B.’s family are the touchstones of Mountain Mocha Kilimanjaro’s sound. The basic recipe for most tracks — like “Time Has Come,” “The Changes” and “Big Pig Affair” for example — consists of gritty drums with lots of sizzling cymbal crashes and an abundance of snare rolls & fills cooking under greasy fried chicken guitar licks, syrupy ginger-flavoured (because the bassist’s name is Yusuke “Ginger” Kondo) basslines and a wash of gullet-gurgling organs.

I told you, I was hungry.

So hungry in fact that I totally forgot the horns! The personnel list on their MySpace page only lists two horn-players, Naohito “Temjin” Yomoda on trumpet and Kunimitsu “Carlos” Ohashi on tenor saxophone. But on the superfast, superbad, Godfather of Soul-esque joints like “Yellow Soul Force,” “Baggy Pants” and “Don’t Touch, Just Watch Me” (which boasts a ridiculous rolling drumbreak courtesy of Satoshi “Tiger” Okano) they lead the band’s heart-racing attack, charging your ears like a whole battalion of brassmen rather than the mere pair that they are.

Mountain Mocha Kilimanjaro “Don’t Touch, Just Watch Me”

Tunes like “The Bunch,” “Black Dog, Black Cat, Black Bird” (where keyboardist Yuki “Mzo” Mizoguchi switches from organ to piano) and “Eastwood Magic City” take on more of Stax Records brand of southern-fried Funk after the manner of fallen legend Isaac Hayes and Booker T. & The M.G.’s respectively. While “Why Am I Standing Here?,” on which a squealy synth comes into play, sounds like something from the Average White Band’s catalog.

Oh, and a special nod of appreciation has to go to guitarist Naokazu “Bobsan” Kobayashi for exhibiting shades of Dennis Coffey in his plucky, chicken-scratchy, wah-wah-infused performance throughout the disc.

Whether you’re a crate-digging collector of vintage Funk and Soul or just a casual fan of the retro-Funk renaissance sound of labels like Truth & Soul and Daptone Records you need a copy of Mountain Mocha Kilimanjaro’s debut disc. Kinda like how I need a cupcake or somethin’…