Funke & The Two Tone Baby
Album: Balance
Label: Self Released
Tracks: 10
Website: http://www.funkeandthetwotonebaby.co.uk

By all accounts, this "one-man mechanical alt-blues band" (Dan Turnbull) got a great reception on the Showcase Sessions recently, and here's his new (second) album, which shows why the guy's currently such a draw on the independent touring and festival circuit. It's not just his trademark expertise at juggling resources, keeping all the plates spinning in the air (voice, guitar, two mics and a briefcase full of effect and loop pedals!), but add to that his manically inventive lyrics that kinda defy description. Just go sample disc opener Not Enough Bonobo, which finds the Funke man quite literally going ape; or the jittery I'm Not Well, which portrays mental exhaustion; or Anarchy, where guest trombone vies with Funke's blues harmonica for supremacy; or the joy-in-misery elation of finale Medicine For The Soul.

Funke tap-dances over your grave as he relentlessly treads the boards of musical history to service his thoughts and feelings, and he can't help but drench you in his own sweat in the very process. The man's "foot-smashing dance grooves" may strictly be more edgy blues and rockabilly than funk or two-tone, and there's a kind of Jonathan Richman-meets-Rory Macleod-meets-Seasick Steve quirkiness to his musical adventures, but strangely enough, Balance actually turns out to be an appropriate word for the resulting sound, although he considers it to reflect the highs and lows of the previous year.

Unique as an artist Funke certainly is, a true maverick too, and yet there's a relaxed, knowing maturity about his creations that brings its own perhaps perverse sense of balance, sure worth the weight. Paradox lost? - or paradox found? You be the judge - but either way, you can't help but find this guy's music intensely addictive - compelling, super-energised and highly energising.

David Kidman