Thank you so much to everyone who came out and celebrated New Years Eve with "The Sweater Funk" Family.
Special thank you to our guest's Amalia & Opolopo who came all the way from Sweden to play our event. The duo rocked Som. Bar with their live Funk PA, hopefully returning to the states in the near future.
I must say, all you Funkster came out in full force as we celebrated the "New Year" like one big happy family. The douche bags and amateurs stayed away from this House Party as we went till 3am.
Pictures include, K.P.O.O interview, B.Bravo/ Teeko, Amalia & Opolopo photo shoot, Sweater Funk Sunday and of course New Years Eve night.
I had a blast hanging out with duo, showing them San Francisco's finest. Amalia & Peter are some of the nicest people I've met this year. Very humble and full of positive energy. I can already tell you that we'll be long time friends.
The crew is very fortunate to have friends who make custom songs for our events. Opolopo and Amalia created this FUNKY tune to give you a taste of what's to come.
Sweater Funk is incredibly honored to host one of our favorite artists representing some of the the best sounds of boogie and modern funk, OPOLOPO & AMALIA. This duo has been supplying heavy duty dancefloor filling modern funk to the underground dance community for a few years now. Sweater Funk has been rocking and supporting them at all of our events, to the point that almost all of our fans know the words to Opolopo's KILLER remix of Karl Frierson's "Tall Green Grass". We're excited to share them with the San Francisco funk scene at what will be their stateside debut this New Years Eve with the Sweater Funk crew at Som Bar!
OPOLOPO & AMALIA were put here to unite continents and connect the musical dots! Welcome to their universe where synthesizers and vocoders coexist with a voice that transcends time. Their music lifts you up on to a futurist realm where interplanetary FUNK & BOOGIE collide!
OPOLOPO is Yoruban for "plenty", a word that best exemplifies the diversity of this production wizard’s musical voyage! Whether it's funk, soul, disco, broken beat, or jazz, his compositions and productions are always uncompromising! Starting out with overdubbing on cassette decks with a Casio VL Tone toy keyboard in his early teens, to constructing soundscapes on synths, beat boxes and computers, OPOLOPO is one of Scandinavia’s most extraordinary producers. His dedication and commitment to music is ridiculous!!! Everyday, on the hour, you will find him tweaking a nob, laying down a bass line, EQing a snare, or simply studying more nerdy production techniques. Born in Zirc, Hungary he spent the early part of his creative development touring with a keyboardist father and obsessing over fusion and electronic records. Artists like Herbie Hancock, Roger Troutman, Chuckii Booker, Earth Wind & Fire, Quincy Jones, Isao Tomita, and Kraftwerk helped feed his ingenuity.
Equipped with keyboards, vocoder, and modern technology OPOLOPO tours as a 1 man band/dj, and with primary collaborator AMALIA. Amalia has a massive appetite for all things that make people dance and fly! Her versatile voice varying from a lamb to a lion ignited her spark for music as she sang up against windows, in garbage cans, down stair wells, and on the loo! Bouncing with it, playing with the reverberation in a room, AMALIA began creating her own melodies and interpretive dance moves as a child. Her source of inspiration being strong "Women of Soul"and a multitude of books filled with activism and art! Many moons and bands later, her deep desire to explore the planet forced her to move to Europe. Her musical connection with OPOLOPO was far too great to be ignored. The pair had been doing the internet shuffle for 2 years and developing a devoted underground following with their collaborations. Leaving Vancouver equipped with a mic, a Canadian Juno nomination for Best Contemporary Jazz Artist, and a Best Electronic Artist Award for her involvement in nujazz band Sekoya, she was soon touring Tokyo, Berlin, London, Warsaw and formulating with other music visionaries Atjazz, Domu, AD Bourke, Son Of Kick, Grems, Probe Dms, Altered Natives, & Afronaut of Bugz in the Attic.
With the release of AMALIA's highly anticipated debut album, "Art Slave" entirely produced by OPOLOPO and his very own "Voltage Controlled Feelings" out this year on Tokyo Dawn Records, 2011 has only strengthened OPOLOPO & AMALIA's cosmic union!
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San Francisco's Sweater Funk DJ crew have been the city's most dedicated purveyors of the funky subgenre known as BOOGIE for over 3 years. Their vision to bring boogie, strictly on vinyl originals, to the masses has earned them a diehard following who pack the basement of China Town's Li Po Lounge every Sunday. They've won SF Weekly's Best new club 2009, hosted Djs such as Dam-Funk, Steve Arrington (Slave), Daz-I-Kue, Peanut Butter Wolf, Kon & Amir, Onra, Monk One, Cool Chris, E Da Boss, Mayer Hawthorne, and have become a sister club to Dam-Funk's own Funkmosphere night in Los Angeles.
"Opolopo and Amalia together is like FIRE!!!!! I have to wear my oven mits to play their tunes!" - Daz-I-Kue
"Somewhere between Dam-Funk, Tangerine Dream and french monster Jean Michel Jarre. A killer in its genre!" - DJ Lefto
"One word---DAMN!" - King Britt
"Always challenging, constantly surprising and definitely one of the leaders of the euro new school. louder!!! “ - Mark de Clive-Lowe
“First Lady Of Modern Funk. Badass!” - Kristi Lomax (KPFK LA)
"Every time I hear music from Opolopo, my spirit lifts a little more. Technically and musically gifted, his risk taking grows with his confidence on every release. An undoubtedly necessary warrior in the new underground resistance to the norm." - Domu
"FUNK BOMB! Too sexy! All the sweat, dirt and sexiness real funk deserves to have." - Motherfunk Berlin FM
"Somewhere between Dam-Funk, Tangerine Dream and french monster Jean Michel Jarre. A killer in its genre!" - DJ Lefto
"DOPE astro boogie superfly tron shit!!!" - Kidkanevil
"AMALIA channels a young Chaka roller skating with Opolopo on Saturn's rings." - Exchange Bureau Detroit
"Dope! Respect!" - Onra
We are incredibly honored to host one of our favorite artists representing some of the the best sounds of Boogie & Modern Funk... OPOLOPO & AMALIA. Based outta Sweden, this duo will be making their stateside debut this New Years Eve with the SWEATER FUNK crew...
OPOLOPO & AMALIA were put here to unite continents and connect the musical dots! Welcome to their universe where synthesizers and vocoders coexist with a voice that transcends time. Their music lifts you up on to a futurist realm where interplanetary FUNK & BOOGIE collide!
Starting out with overdubbing on cassette decks with a Casio VL Tone toy keyboard in his early teens, to constructing soundscapes on synths, beat boxes and computers, Peter Major aka OPOLOPO is one of Scandinavia’s most extraordinary producers. A necessary warrior in the underground resistance to the norm.
Equipped with keyboards, vocoder, and modern technology OPOLOPO plays from London to Tokyo, as a one man band and with primary collaborator AMALIA.
"The First Lady of Modern Funk!" has a massive appetite for all tings that make people dance and fly! Her spark for muze began as she sang up against windows, in garbage cans, down stair wells, and on the loo! Bouncing with it, playing with the reverberation in a room, AMALIA began creating her own melodies and interpretive dance moves as a child. Her source of inspiration being her father's extensive soul record collection and a multitude of books filled with activism and art! She eagerly asked her family if she could enroll into writing and music classes, only to find her explosive energy could not be schooled at a "conventional" school.
Many moons and bands later, her deep desire to explore the planet forced her to move to Europe. Her musical connection with OPOLOPO was far too great to be ignored...
~~~~~
San Francisco's Sweater Funk DJ crew have been the city's most dedicated purveyors of the funky subgenre known as BOOGIE for over 3 years. Their vision to bring boogie, strictly on vinyl originals, to the masses has earned them a diehard following who pack the basement of China Town's Li Po Lounge every Sunday. They've won SF Weekly's Best new club 2009, hosted Djs such as Dam-Funk, Steve Arrington (Slave), Daz-I-Kue, Peanut Butter Wolf, Kon & Amir, Onra, Monk One, Cool Chris, E Da Boss, Mayer Hawthorne, and have become a sister club to Dam-Funk's own Funkmosphere night in Los Angeles.
The lovely and Talented "Amalia" Aka "Tokyo Dawns - First Lady" has a brand new album titled "Art Slave" and I highly recommend you pick this up. The album is all across the board but maintains a futuristic soul sound. There is a heavy 90s feel crossing genres like New Jack, to late 80s & 90s Pop Dance & House sounds. For all you Bass heads, Amalia did not forget about you including the track titled "Zebra Butt-A-Fly" & "Freeze That remix" which is a nod to the futuristic hip hop/dubstep sound. Heavy... You can preview and purchase the album HERE.
Also Big up Peter "Opolopo" who produced the album. If you have not already heard or picked up his project "Voltage Controlled Feelings" we encourage you to BUY this RIGHT NOW!!!!
On a side note, I recently had 45 minute discussion the other day with Amalia on "Gino Vanelli". This was one of the best conversations I could ever have. Here I am across the pond talking music, "Gino Vanelli" of all artist in the world with Amalia. I must say we connected right away. I also found out Amalia has Bay Area roots with family in Daly City - Small world. We already discussed the idea of doing a show together if she tours to the states. Hold tight - TBA.
Enjoy this free track from the album - I'm a huge of Atjazz and was pleased to find this remix on the album.
