Funki Porcini Musician Country: Great Britain

Biography of Funki Porcini

Funki Porcini, also known as James Braddell, is a musician whose music is a product of a eclectic and eventful life journey. He left England at the age of 19 to escape, as he describes it, "depression and snobbishness." Braddell had no idea about his musical career when he left England. After arriving in Los Angeles, he quickly spent all his money - $300 - on trivial things. However, Braddell soon settled in San Francisco, found means and bought himself a saxophone. He then connected with the band Snakefinger, which was at that time a leader of the unique and experimental industrial scene in the United States.

After returning to England and working on experimental projects, Braddell, still known as James Braddell at the time, left again and traveled to Germany, then settled in Italy for 10 years. In Europe, Braddell collaborated with experimental avant-garde projects such as Fatrix, SPK, Monte Cazaza & Mark Pauline (Survival Research Laboratories). However, Braddell now says, "I love jazz because of how it captivates you. I have been immersed in jazz my whole life. It was the first music that struck me when I was a child, I remember that my father loved jazz. I even think that it was thanks to my father that I started listening to jazz in my childhood. I remember listening to jazz when I was 7 years old and how this music amazed me. It was Duke Ellington's quartet, a recording from the early 60s. I acquired my first saxophone when I was 19, but in my youth I was involved in heavy industrial music with groups like The Residents, Snakefinger, and the Australian group SPK. I lived in the same apartment in New York with the musicians from the Surgical Penis Klinic for some time. It was madness. They decapitated a pig on stage."

Tired of "gray music and gray cities," James Braddell, now in Italy, starts in 1992 with another former industrial musician, the projects Purr and 9Lazy9. The second project, 9Lazy9, can be considered the most successful, and what they did in it is now considered the undeniable standards of Jazzy Funk, Jazzy Hip-Hop. 9Lazy9 performed in the most incredible places - from cappuccino bars in Italy to fishing boats in Southeast Asia and metal repair shops in Poland. However, it is noteworthy that for the past two years, Braddell has not mentioned his involvement in the 9Lazy9 project or even mentioned it in his interviews.

After 9Lazy9, Braddell becomes Porcini and demands to be called only that - Funki Porcini. In this capacity, he becomes the creator of his own unique style - Perv Beat, Sex Hop. However, music critics define his genre as an "Abstract Jazz" and he performs it with a group of live musicians. When Porcini released his first single ("Poseathon"/"It's a Long Road") on Ninja Tune in February 1995, the press immediately responded with enthusiastic reviews like "the first classic chill-out," "a mix of sweet sex with mellow funk," "not so much trip-hop as dreamy, sleepy drift-hop." But to further build the audience's anticipation, Ninja Tune decided to delay the release of the second single, "Dubble."

Together with his first-beat group of musicians, Porcini explores a style that is difficult to define. Is it jazz? Trip-hop? Some jungle elements, as we will hear later? The schizophrenic and crazy music of James Braddell - Funki Porcini - is jazz, dub, and hip-hop, although the second album, Love, Pussycats and Carwrecks, is far from the average idea of jazz hip-hop or even from where Funki started in 1995 on his debut album, Hed Phone Sex. It is more likely an electronic-acoustic synthesis in free forms, with doses of instruments that seem to be fighting each other, while beats and breaks explode like weapons only to disappear instantly. It can also be smoke-drenched jazz, performed in real-time and capable of suddenly blending with scratching and noise, where beats layer, collide, and confuse each other. In general, it is a crazy, strange world. More jazz than hip-hop, but with complete creative freedom and a complete denial of any rules.

In some tracks, you can hear Funki playing the wailing saxophone, creating a jazz frenzy that transitions into explosive space. In other works, dub reggae turns into soulful funk, and then the beats mutate into a sick jungle-like Squarepusher. Industrial beats in the style of Aphex Twin become hip-hop, then jazzy jungle, then funk, and an aggressive trumpet section ends with the sound it all began with. But there are also stunning minimalist works in ambient style, like "I'm Such A Small Thing." "I like the idea of incorporating hip-hop into a new type of jazz," says Funki Porcini in one of his interviews. "I love manipulating beats, even more than creating different things with them, like flipping them inside out and layering them on top of each other. When you work, you can find yourself in unusual states. I particularly enjoy those moments when you crank up the sound in the studio and you scream along with it! It's like riding on a motorcycle, sitting behind the person driving, sitting in the backseat. You have no control over anything, but you're speeding at 100 miles per hour towards damnation, and the sound is rolling waves somewhere off to the side. I think that's how I behave in music."

"I worked on the second album, Love, Pussycats and Carwrecks, for about six months in a regular studio - nothing extraordinary, just exactly what I needed. Each machine in the studio was connected to a central computer. I sat behind a large electronic keyboard, played, then recorded it into the computer, and worked with it. I recorded live instruments and selected parts from them. When I worked, the television was usually on, and I would write down phrases from different programs that expressed my mood and even something from the music or sounds, like "ding-ding" or elevator sounds. Once I got shocked by electricity and almost died - I was hit with 240 volts and couldn't disconnect the power. When I regained consciousness a bit, I turned on the TV and they were talking about a thunderstorm and how a lightning struck a woman. That's how the track "I'm Such A Small Thing" was born. That woman said it in that TV program, "I'm such a small thing and the sky is so big." Funki Porcini's debut album immediately established him as a lover of perv beat - twisted, jagged, distorted beats and jazz saxophone. In his second album, Porcini went in a jungle direction. "The first album had a strong sexual element. The slow hip-hop rhythms were very sensual. The first album had a lot about love, sentimentality, and defeats. The second album is similar but has tracks that resemble a crazy ride. I have been in many car accidents, and I have been lucky, I survived. Most of them happened when I was riding a motorcycle, which I love very much. My riding style has changed a lot, especially during the 10 years I lived in Italy. It's like a game, and I found that the older you are, the more you can trust your instincts. There are days when you realize that you can do something, and other days when you realize that you can't. If you don't pay attention to this, there can be problems."

In tracks like "Last Song" and "12 Points Off Your Licence," the sound, which may be perceived as a mockery by some junglists, is a mishmash of broken beats. The chaos in "Carwreck" is interrupted only by questions and answers: "Everything all right? No, everything's all wrong." Sudden time signature changes from 4/4 to 5/4 can be heard. Changes everywhere and no rules. "And I don't want to be considered a junglist," says Porcini.

Porcini is also involved in remixing. "For example, right now I'm listening to Neneh Cherry's material because I was asked to remix her new songs. I haven't done anything for her yet, but I'll try." He is well-known for his remix of Mike Flowers.

"I think techno is very boring music, this 4/4 beat itself is boring," says Funki Porcini. "The best dance music is jazz or hip-hop. Everything else is just the same 4/4. Hip-hop originated from jazz, and jazz is natural dance music. And what I do allows even more room." Porcini DJs a lot. He is a member of the Ninja Crew, the production-mixing-DJ team of the Ninja Tune label, which tours the world with live performances. Until recently, the Ninja Crew held regular Stealth parties in a British club, and Funki Porcini was considered one of the most active members. It is worth noting that the success of the Ninja Crew is due to the fact that its main figures, the duo Coldcut, created their own interactive computer program that allows a team of 3-5 producers and mixers to create music in real-time, for example, on dance floors. When Porcini is mentioned as a DJ, it means exactly this kind of production, namely producing music in real-time and in a real, non-studio setting.

Funki Porcini also does a lot of remixing. "Right now, for example, I'm listening to Neneh Cherry's material because I was asked to remix her new songs. I haven't done anything for her yet, but I'll try." He is well-known for his remix of Mike Flowers.

"I am not a very good DJ, but I play a lot," says Funki Porcini about himself. "I participate in all the summer festivals in Europe. But it's time to stop - it's too exhausting. For example, you're working on something in the studio, and then you have to go DJ, and it's unnecessary. I would prefer to focus only on studio work." Porcini indeed DJs a lot. He is a member of the Ninja Crew, the production-mixing-DJ team of the Ninja Tune label, which tours the world with live performances. Until recently, the Ninja Crew held regular Stealth parties in a British club, and Funki Porcini was considered one of the most active members. It is worth noting that the success of the Ninja Crew is due to the fact that its main figures, the duo Coldcut, created their own interactive computer program that allows a team of 3-5 producers and mixers to create music in real-time, for example, on dance floors. When Porcini is mentioned as a DJ, it means exactly this kind of production, namely producing music in real-time and in a real, non-studio setting.

Electronic

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