By Bill Milkowski | Published March 2022
The fourth in a series of collaborations between organist Larry Goldings and the L.A. group Scary Pockets (guitarist Ryan Lerman and keyboardist Jack Conte, joined by a rotating roster of L.A. session musicians), IV features a bevy of special guests including guitar hero John Scofield, funk bassist extraordinaire MonoNeon and drummer Louis Cole, the Los Angeles-based human rhythm machine and co-founder of the alt pop/electro-funk band Knower.
This is incredibly tight yet organically syncopated stuff that breathes a lot more than, say, Snarky Puppy; more akin to neo-funksters like Garage a Trois, Will Bernard’s Freelance Subversives and Papa Grows Funk. The obvious role model here is old-school New Orleans funk kings The Meters. The slow chugging “Lurch” and “Cornish Hen” are right out of The Meters’ playbook, while “Meter’s Running,” with its chank-a-chank rhythm guitar line, is a nod to Meters classics like “Look-Ka Py Py,” “Cissy Strut” and “Funky Miracle.”
Goldings, who is outstanding in this funky milieu, shines on “Pony Up,” “Lurch,” the upbeat “Hi Ho Silverstein” and the punningly titled groover “Tacobell’s Canon.” Scofield digs in with bent-string abandon on loping fare like “Cornish Hen” and “Meter’s Running” as well as on the more upbeat “Professor Vicarious.” His solo lines on “Bruise Cruise,” “The Shiner” and “Tacobell’s Canon” take a more modernist turn, going well outside the harmony in quintessential Sco fashion. Good-timey grooves done up with consummate old-school feel.
IV: Disco Pills; Cornish Hen; Bruise Cruise; Lurch; Professor Vicarious; Pony Up; The Shiner; Meter’s Running; Hi Ho Silverstein; Tacobell’s Canon. (40:47)
Personnel: Larry Goldings, organ; MonoNeon, bass; Ryan Lerman, guitar; Jack Conte, Wurlitzer electric piano; John Scofield, guitar (2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 10); Tamir Barzilay, drums (1, 4, 6, 9); Lemar Carter, drums (2, 7, 8); Louis Cole, drums (3, 5, 10).
Ordering Info: scarypocketsfunk.com
