Dumpstaphunk has a few simple missions on its second full-length CD: To make a modern album steeped in the funk tradition; to show the strengths of its new lineup (with drummer and sometime-singer Nikki Glaspie) and high-profile friends; and, oh yeah, to change the world. Other than that it’s a pretty modest record.
From the opening “Dancing to the Truth,” it’s clear that this is a message album—but fear not, the message is mostly the same communal one that George Clinton offered on One Nation Under a Groove (and Clinton’s influence doesn’t end there: The addition of strong female voices—Glaspie and on one track, Ani DiFranco—allows for layered vocals out of P-Funk’s trickbag). While live Dumpstaphunk is all about groove, this disc gives equal weight to Ivan Neville’s songwriting: “Take Time”, “They Don’t Care” and “Water” all return to the message of self-reliance and personal responsibility that he’s put forward in the past. The lyrics reference his cleaned-up lifestyle, but stay positive enough to (usually) avoid slipping into preachiness. In that sense it’s a close cousin to the last Neville Brothers album, Walking in the Shadow of Life, on which Ivan played a major part.
But Dirty Word is still a band album, the work of a band that’s gigged itself into fighting shape. The production doesn’t turn twin bassists Nick Daniels and Tony Hall into one giant bass: Listen through headphones and you can pick up all the interwoven bass parts that can get lost in concert. Glaspie’s importance to the band is hard to miss; her vocal on “If I’m in Luck” (cut by Betty Davis in the ’70s, and revived here with Flea on even more bass) makes for the band’s toughest rocker yet. And as a non-New Orleans native, she throws a different spin on the rhythms: The finale “Raise the House” is a carnival extravaganza with Art Neville, Trombone Shorty and the entire Rebirth Brass Band; and it’s Glaspie’s drum part—navigating a grey area between funk, second line and rock backbeat—that holds the party together. Ian Neville is the one member you don’t always notice, a rarity for a lead guitarist in a funk band: he plays what the songs call for, and that’s what distinguishes Dumpstaphunk from lesser funkateers: For them, songwriting isn’t a dirty word.
