When James Brown penned his ‘Boogaloo’, things in life were pretty black, white and flared all over. As the world grew accustomed to the concept of jerky-knee-wiggling, fast forward a few decades of rhythm and a whole heap of blues, and we’re back to the business of embracing the Funk, to beat our funk.
There’s something charmingly crafty about cycling through the streets of Lewisham on a makeshift horse. With the wind in your helmet-hair and the vast expanse of a pandemic in your wake – small clusters of masked people breathe in the trails of guided-contemplation as Red Diesel, (aka Glenn Rawcliffe) and his ‘Feelitooelectricboogaloo’ saunter fantastically, across the airwaves.
Chock-full of methodical goodness, ‘Feelitooelectricboogaloo’ is that dubiously hearty middle-ground between having an existential breakdown, and contemplating over Pagan Magic. Distinctively DIY and Boogaloo all over – Hen Ogledd meets mystic-mundanity meets a heady crisis and we’ve all found ourselves strewn the dancefloor of a multi-instrumentalists desires.
Of the track Red Diesel says: “At the time when I was coming up with ideas for the video, me and my housemate Simon were reading a lot about magic, both in a historical context and a spiritual one.”
Whilst in practise, it’s not entirely unearthly to see isolation as a means to get really clued up on magic and build yourself a Monty Python style pantomime horse, Red Diesel’s spiritual ‘Flank Rider’ is undoubtedly a timely lesson in comedic grounding and an alluring aid to tackling the world outside.
As fellow ‘Nu-Funkstar’ Stephen Bruner himself put it: ‘It Is What It Is’ and what Red Diesel is, is pretty damn delightful. ‘Feelitooelectricboogaloo’ is as comforting as a faux-fur jacket adorned in a splattering of angel-cake coloured pastoral and definitely a special kind of ‘Funny Thing’.
Photo by Hattie Hambridge
