Every week I host Love Soul –
…a radio show I launched four years ago.
The show is an enormous labour of love that I share with the world’s greatest producer, Ohio born and bred, Joe Johnson.
Our playlist? A cornucopia of vintage grooves from soul titans including Luther, Prince, Stevie, Chaka, Maxwell, Earth, Wind and Fire.
It’s not that the new stuff doesn’t thrill. There’s just not much of it. But then I heard, Won’t You Decide – a full-fat funk track by Melbourne band, Mondo Freaks. So, I surrendered to the algorithm and up came, JusteFunk, all honey-soaked vocals, rhythm and blues. Who was this slice of soulful perfection?!
Hm. All credits belonged to someone, or thing, called ia – ‘discovered’ in a hot hardrive somewhere stuffed with (increasingly stale) chips.
And the online chatter fires up,
“If you like it, what’s the difference?”
“This is the future. Music has been revived.”
And this abomination…
“It’s just as creative as practicing the guitar for thousands of hours and you get results a lot faster.”
Remember Milli Vanilli? This dreadlocked pop duo dominated in the late 80s with their moves, tunes and bike shorts. But when their fake vocals were revealed, out came the pitchforks.
But I guess gorging on bogus artists in 2025 is cool.
Well, I’d listen to lip synching humans in spandex over derivative, lazy, pre-programmed slop masquerading as soul – any day.
In the wise words of one Prince Rogers Nelson, “I like my funk concentrated”… not computer generated.
© Phyllis Foundis 2025