Dam Funk - ToEachIzOwn (2009)

Artist: Dam-Funk
Album: ToEachIzOwn
Format: Double Disc CD release
Genre: Syntesized Funk, R&B
Release Date: 2009
Qualities: Synthesizers, Drum Machines, FUNK
Mood: Chill, Nighttime, Romantic, Driving
RIYL: Prince, Electro-boogie music

Rating: *****

(this review borrows from my Favorites of the Year (2009) post because I felt like I said things pretty well the first time)

It's extremely ambitious to make your first release a double album, but synth-funk wizard Dam-Funk (pronounced "dame") did just that, successfully. It is a refreshing release and one of 2009's best. What Dam does here is to enter into what I might consider Post-Modernist music. Just like a Post-Modern visual artist, he doesn't necessarily do something entirely new, trailblazing, or genre defying; he simply utilizes techniques/concepts already developed, rearranges them, and combines them to achieve his own vision. And within this vision comes uniqueness. Dam-Funk revives the blatant use of synth and so called "dated" sounds to show that it isn't just OK to use them, but actually that they could in fact have many advantages over modern production.
The first CD features songs with Dam-Funk's vocals, whether they be highly distorted or not. This tends to make the songs lean to a little more of an R&B aesthetic (as seen on the wonderful "One Less Day" and "I Wanna Thank You"). So a listener looking for a romantic soundtrack would probably choose the first disc over the harder hitting instrumental second one. The second disc is great to drive to, with the g-funk styled "Hood Pass Intact" and the short but bopping theme song "Toeachizown". The album does lull a bit at points (as most of even the best doubles do), such as on "Brookside Park", which, at over nine minutes long, could be cut to four. Because of the solidity of material overall, and the difference between discs (although they are still both very similar listening experiences) the album retains listener attention regardless (even if they choose to listen to only one of the CDs each sitting). Very highly recommended.

Disc 1 (vocal):

1. Let's Take Off (Far Away) ***
2. Come On Outside ***
3. Mirrors ****
4. One Less Day *****!
5. Brookside Park **
6. The Sky is Ours ****
7. (My Funk Goes) On & On ****
8. Searchin' 4 Funk's Future ***
9. Love Is Here 2Nite (I Can Feel It) ****
10. I Wanna Thank You For (Stepping Into My Life) *****
11. Fantasy ****
12. Keep Lookin 2 the Sky ****

Disc 2 (instrumental):

1. Toeachizown (D-F's theme) *****!
2. 10 West ****
3. The Move Suite *****
4. Flying V Ride ****
5. Burn Straight Thru U *****
6. Rollin' ***
7. Hood Pass Intact *****!
8. Killdat aka Killdatmuthafu*ka ****
9. I Gots 2 Be Done Wit' U ***
10. LAtrifying *****
11. Spacecapades **
12. In Flight ***