4 Stars

Are you a funk-mad, sample-hungry programmer with a penchant for pictures of naked women wrapped in see-through plastic? Boy, have Zero-G got a sample CD for you!



Total Funk continues Zero-G's high-scoring Total series with a winning format of a two audio-CD set plus a third disc containing WAV files of the material. Disc one kicks off with drum loops, which those lucky enough to own any of the other Total discs will know Zero-G don't scrimp on -- either in terms of quantity or quality. Tempos start at 85bpm and rise incrementally to 125bpm, with anything between 30 and 60 loops in each tempo set. In total there are around 400 loops, ranging from crisp acoustic kits to grainy breakbeats, experimental sampled sounds and occasional analogue beatboxes. As they're culled from the extensive Zero-G back catalogue, there are a few elements here that some may have heard before, but enough of the material is fresh, musical, and hugely usable. It's a real cross-section of both '70s retro and 21st-century dancefloor-filling beats, obviously assembled by funk pros.



Disc Two covers pretty much everything else, casting its net wide over a huge range of appropriate funk instrumental licks, riffs and multisamples, without ever getting bogged down in too much detail. The 20 tracks of guitars feature a jaw-droppingly impressive assortment of short chugs and riffs, ranging from twang and strum to hard-core funk, and even including blues elements. The fun continues in the bass licks section, which, like the guitars, offers a useful set of handy track ideas listed with appropriate key signatures and organised into easy-to-use strict tempo sets. Also like the guitars, this section has a good spread of variation, including acoustic, electric and upright basses -- all expertly performed and recorded.



There follows a spade-load of stabs and brass riffs, followed by some groovy Rhodes chords and riffs which sizzle and twinkle with authenticity. The flute and sax sections are also well stocked with a series of fairly disparate and unconnected, but largely useful, samples. It's nice to see so many usable multisamples (Hammonds, Wurlitzers, clavinets, trumpets and vibraphones), too, on a release such as this.



Unfortunately, in scouring their back catalogue the Zero-G boys seem to have let their quality controls relax a little on occasion, offering us such flaccid and lukewarm sampling dross as James Brown-type vocal samples (which decade do they think we're in?) and some rather uninspired vocal snippets which we shall politely refer to as track fillers.



That said, Total Funk continues in the Total family tradition and offers quality, range, ease of use, value for money and, above all, musicality at almost every turn. We look forward to Total Classics, Total Analogue, Total Experimentation and any other Total title Zero-G care to throw at us.