The Bay Area funkster Daron “Darondo” Pulliam recorded six songs on three singles in the early 1970s, hosted a children’s television programme, and then disappeared. More than 30 years later he has been tracked down by the funk scholar Justin Torres, who persuaded him to return to the studio to complete three unfinished and previously unreleased songs.
Like every funk artist, Darondo followed James Brown’s lead — and there is no hiding his debt to the funk pioneer Sly Stone — but these nine tracks have an atmosphere and a power all their own. Built on a bass that sounds less like a stringed instrument than someone walloping submerged tyres with a mallet, songs such as Legs and the title track have an urgent, feverish intensity. The disc is not an easy listen for ears attuned to digital perfection: the brass is wonky, the singing occasionally off-key. But it feels vibrant, real and alive.
(Luv N’ Haight)