ORGONE Throws Down December Funk At The Independent In SF

On a crisp December night, the Bay Area faithful descended upon The Independent for a high-octane ritual of rhythm and soul. Fresh off their global odyssey as the rhythmic engine for Say She She, Orgōne returned to SF to remind us why they remain heavyweight champions of West Coast funk.

The air in the Divisadero corridor was thick with anticipation as guitarist/producer Sergio Rios led his trusty hombres onto the stage, immediately uncorking a lava-like flow of disco-funk barnburners from their latest LP, Chimera.  Anchored by Rios’s jagged, feedback-dripping guitar stabs and Dan Hastie’s hypnotic keyboard wizardry, the band functioned as a single, air-tight organism. The rhythm section—a relentless march of “lockstep” percussion—turned the floor into a swirling, “trance-like” village of motion.

ORGONE videos courtesy of BISS LIST

A triple-threat vocal assault led by the “soulful alchemist” Mermans “Mofaya” Mosengo, Jamie Allensworth, and the game-changing harmonies of Terin Ector bridged the gap between gritty soul and heady psychedelia.

The set peaked with a torrid, extended version of “Earhole,” where Rios pushed his vintage steez into the darkest reaches of psych-rock, followed by a smoking encore of “Don’t Stop” that had the intimate crowd “shaking what their mamas gave ‘em” until the house lights flickered.

Bay Area-based electro-funk phenoms Smoked Out Soul opened up the evening’s festivities with a fantastic frame. The crew had a loud, throaty section of hardcore fans in the house to bear witness to their big opportunity to a packed Independent.

SMOKED OUT SOUL videos by BISS List

words: B.Getz

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