Dumpstaphunk celebrated the release of their long overdue debut LP Everybody Want Sum the only way they know how…by laying it down and dirty with their dance-friendly double bass funk and R & B at their home venue (Tipitina’s Uptown) in front of an electrified and sweaty packed house. Ivan & Co. played the new album in its entirety for the first set and by the looks of the crowd, no one seemed to mind seeing the band playing the new stuff. At set break, the city’s finest D.J. Soul Sister (WWOZ 90.7 FM) and birthday girl spun some of the chewy fat funk sounds from the Jackson 5 era on the turntables and the crowd lapped it up almost as much as they did for the Friday night’s feature attraction. If you’re gonna be attending this year’s Voodoo Experience, I recommend checking out one of Soul Sister’s nightly performances with her Booty Patrol, it’s a sight to see.

Generally, it is Tipitina’s protocol for about half the crowd to file out at set break when a local artist is playing (granted, set break in New Orleans usually comes at about 12:30-1 a.m.), but the great majority of the crowd stuck it out (and some of the females danced on-stage) in support of the local hero and were handsomely rewarded with an extended set of the band’s heavy hitters amongst countless WHO DAT! chants and a mean bass-off between Tony Hall and Nick Daniels (similar to this) that didn’t wrap up ’til well after 2 a.m. The band’s take on The Meters classic “Africa” closed it out and traded shouts of “New Orleans” for “Africa”. Dumpstaphunk made a lot of casual fans believers on Friday and here’s hoping the new album is a springboard to bigger things for the band. It’s time for the world at large to embrace the local sounds of the Big Easy beyond Weezy and artists featured on Treme (not that I don’t love Weezy, Shorty, Kermit, etc…). One of the hottest shows I’ve been to in a good while.

The self-released album was sporadically recorded over the last several years and the band is reportedly already working on a sophomore effort. The record has the wild and familiarly brilliant fusion of soul, rock, R&B, psychedelia, and funk that has made the Neville family a New Orleans institution for nearly a half-century. If you have a pulse you will enjoy this record, check it out.

Photos by Jeffrey Dupuis