Press About DRUGS (Rx)
Rx of the P-Funk
Mateel Center Arts & Music Festival 6/07/09
Everybody was up and dancing. Everyone from the oldest
hippie to the littlest kid sang the chorus of “She always lifts me up
when I'm deep down in the dumps” when the band broke it down... Rx was
playing with even more of an edge to their unique psychedelic funk rock sound..
The whole crowd was on its feet dancing and swaying to the music... I can say
without any hesitation put on by far the best show I've ever seen DRUGS do.
Cal
Trask review for MYFUNK
INROCKUPTIBLES
DRUGS: The Prescription for MIs-America... The meeting of a combative funk and
a laid-back psychedelicism. A Prescription for Mis-America lives up to its title.
You know some of the doctors in this excellent cross-generational group: three
of them held long-time positions at the private psychiatric clinic of P. Funk,
from Funkedelic to Parliament. It's the most experienced that produce the best
soul. Moreover, they obviously took the medicine chest when they left. Thus,
we have Drugs. Rooted in Woodstock: this sound is not new. Sobered up and mellowed
out by the haze and the homeboys, their P-Funk has decided to make love here,
not war. Drugs, as their name indicates, distorts perceptions and scrambles
reality. We are at a Grateful Dead concert. No, a rave by Tranquility Bass.
Or a show organized by N.E.R.D. It's a party in any case, where sounds and eras
mix willy-nilly with the gleeful yet grave indecency, which will forever be
the hallmark of soul-music -- whether produced manually or by machine. This
soul is too slick and embellished to belong to the age of Sly Stone and Alex
Gopher, and much too supple and loose to be stuck in the retro rut of Prince.
Under the influence of Drugs, we continues to dream: we believe that an album
so exceptionally smooth and cool comes from the Neptunes. Or is sung by Beck.
Or rapped by Mos Def. Who is the idiot who sings Drugs Don't Work? (Benjamin
Montour)
Le Monde
The Prescription for Mis-America Dedicated to the resurrection of the psychedelic
soul sound from the end of the1960s, this American group has assembled a collection
of distortion pedals, analogue keyboards, spangled costumes, and falsetto vocals.
It's hard to know how to take pieces which straddle the line between homage
and parody. Certain titles on the album such as ("Mis-America," "I
Wonder If," "Cold Hearted World"), reinvest the throbbing sounds
inspired by Sly Stone, Curtis Mayfield, Stevie Wonder, and Isaac Hayes with
class and humor, managing to recall their style without plagiarizing it. Not
surprising when it is known that behind Drugs hide Clip Payne (vocals) Gary
"Starchild" Shider (guitar), and Lige Curry (bass), all members of
the Funkadelic, Parliament, and P Funk All Stars galaxy. CD Kraked, Distributed
by Discograph
Drugs: Good for You
Open Mag Pillars of the historic monument P-Funk, (a contraction of Parliament
and Funkadelic), Americans Gary "Starchild" Shider (vocals/guitar),Lige
Curry (bass) and Clip Payne (vocals/keyboard), are back in action and coming
to us direct from Woodstock. Collaborating with these veterans are Robert "Chicken"
Burke (drums, vocals), Joey Eppard (guitar/vocals), who have played on the albums
of Alex Gopher and Cosmo Vitelli, and Adam Widoff (guitar) part of Lenny Kravitz's
first group. These living legends are still provocative enough to give the finger
to American puritanical attitudes; the name of their group couldn't be more
explicit. They made their first French appearance at Transmusicales 2001. A
mesmerizing performance was made even more tantalizing in retrospect by repeated
delays in the release of their first album, which finally ended up on Kraked,
a new French label, created by Loic Dury, the producer of Nova and figure of
the 90s hip hop scene. Here's the general information! For the uninitiated,
Drugs will quickly make you a surfer of the vintage wave. We will allow them
their opportunism, so well do they get into that authentic groove which belongs
only to the Blacks, that psychedelic old skool soul of which they are the legitimate
trustees. A special word to all addicts of scorching instrumentals, chrome guitars,
and oscillating basses, and a notification for all those who crave raspy soul
voices: you by will not be disappointed by these dealers of big sound. A word
of warning all the same: to take The Prescription for Mis-America ready your
senses; take out your favorite Hendrix tune and the last Outkast album, fill
your ears with a few grams of Sly Stone or the Grateful Dead, and enjoy Drugs
without moderation. Drugs will give you a taste of true rhythm n blues and they
will accompany you on your trip to the sources of this sound. The landing will
be soft.
Bring Back the Funk: Parliament Funkadelic Lives On
The Parliament/Funkadelic legacy lives on with the formation of two spin off
bands 420 Funk Mob and DRUGS..........Arranged with filtered vocals, psychedelic
melodies, gut-wrenching rhythms, wah-wah pedals, thick bass lines and Clips
coarse dense tone, the 420 Funk Mob and DRUGS sound like a medley between some
spunky Grateful Dead and a Jimi Hendrix style jam session........
University
of Miami Hurricane
The Clinton that did Inhale
Last Thursday night, over 500 people gathered for a sold-out funk festival at
the Haunt, put on by Parliament-Funkadelic off-shoots DRUGS, Kidd Funkadelic,
and 420 FM with special guest George Clinton. Throughout the night, concert-goers
packed shoulder to shoulder and shook the small, hot, upstate-backward space
of the Haunt as they got down to each of the three conglomerate bands' slightly
different take on the classic P-Funk style.......
Dave
Gilman Cornell Daily Sun
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