Boiling Frogs - Headphone Echoes: Funk Vol 4 — Precision, Power, and the Engine Room. Tower of Power and the Discipline of GroovePlug in, tune out, and feel the machinery hum.This one was a labor of love for me. I'm a white Cuban funkster from way back when, and these guys are my heroes.
Most people talk about funk like it’s loose.
Wild.
Pure feel.
But the tightest funk was engineered.
In this installment of the
Headphone Echoes series, I break down how 1970s bands transformed groove into a disciplined machine. Horn charts locked in. Bass and drums hitting like pistons. Arrangements so sharp they felt inevitable.
At the center is
Tower of Power, the Oakland powerhouse that proved precision doesn’t weaken funk — it amplifies it.
This article is part of a larger series tracing the evolution of funk from raw street energy to fully realized musical architecture. Motown discipline. Buddah hooks. Philly expansion. Casablanca spectacle. Now the engine room.
If you care about how great music is built — not just how it sounds — this one’s for you.
Read it at Boiling Frogs
