Calypso King & the Soul Investigators Bring the Funk on Soul Strike

Soul Strike Calypso King & the Soul Investigators (Soul Fire) Like previous Soul Fire funk devils JD & the Evil's Dynamite Band (reviewed here in May), Calypso King & the Soul Investigators are an instrumental band, in itself a very rare feat in this ultra-mouthy era. Other than jazz bands and complex indie-rock fusionoids like Tortoise, what other musicians today have the good sense to simply let the music do the talking? In the case of the Soul Investigators, there is a joyous sense of boundless rhythmic energy that can perhaps only be experienced without the distraction of a vocalist, because these guys build grooves that can stand on their own merits and in fact become more titanic and "heavy" as a result of their un-furbished beauty.

A perfect example is the opener, "Gator Funk, pt. 1," which makes its impact immediately with harrumphing bass and greasy organ. There's also some prototypical Jimmy Nolen-style chicken-scratch guitar, and a fully syncopated rhythm that sets the mood for the whole album. Fast or slow, it doesn't matter, Calypso King serves up the funk. Check out the humping up-tempo vamp "Mo' Calypso Strut," which features intense rhythmic jousting on the part of all parties involved?parties who, as a matter of fact, remain nameless, as did the participants on the aforementioned JD & the Evil's Dynamite Band album. Something tells me this isn't a ploy by the label owners to deprive the poor faceless musicians of their day in the sun?it seems more likely it's a mutual decision on everyone's part to give the albums that extra-added "authenticity." After all, Booker T & the MGs and James Brown albums didn't have credits either, because musicians like this realize it's not important who's playing what, the only thing that's important is that the groove is tight. The end must justify the means, and on Soul Strike it always does.

Once again, this is a pretty humble attitude to take in this self-serving day and age of loudmouth morons in baggy pants talking about their dicks. There's a kind of muscular confidence to these grooves, on par with the visionary genius of someone like a David Ware or Matthew Shipp in the jazz world, that says the Soul Investigators know they are every bit the musical uppers of just about anybody else currently working in the funk/soul/rap/hiphop community and therefore they don't have to front as much?don't need the front man at all, in fact.

"Investigator's Groove" is a slower, organ-laden exercise that would undoubtedly work wonders toward getting going whatever it is you're trying to get going. Same for "Struggling My Way," which is as righteously funkified as the grooves laid down on albums by great pre-disco mongers like BT Express, not to mention the JBs. While the Investigators' labelmates JD & the Evil's seemed to be exploring the psych-funk region of early Funkadelic, these guys are better suited for a drunken roadshack hoedown than an acid freakout. And don't think that Soul Fire is entirely devoid of vocal talents?soulman Lee Fields' new album will come out later this year.