Joe MacPhail hails from Durham (the one in North Carolina). He propagates a sort of laptop mellow funk that pretty much eschews any bass. Imagine one of your favorite slow jams and then drop out the bass. Just Joe and his keyboard and some ancillary electronic percussion. It's odd, but strangely beguiling.

Sunsp.t Jo-Fi 2 (self-released)

To be clear, these songs work because of what is left out. As simple funk jams, these songs are intriguing, but not particularly engaging. It's the lack of guitar and bass that really makes these pieces stand out. And the music works better on its own. MacPhail's voice is as restrained as his sound, and thus is both perfect for his vision and not especially memorable.

Even more minimalist than the laptop pop of the early 2000s, the implied funk takes these songs in even stranger directions than, say, Emperor Penguin. The restrained sound is almost passive aggressive. It dares the ears to imagine what might have been.

Totally unique. MacPhail's playing is expressive and funky (not the easiest thing on what sounds like an electric piano), and his songs are slyly inventive. There's really nothing out there like this. Fall through the holes into bliss.

Jon Worley