Dâm-Funk

Known professionally as the self-proclaimed “modern funk” creator Dâm-Funk, Damon Riddick functions as a one-man ensemble, record producer, and club DJ. Crafting his own material from adolescence onward, he entered studio session work during the 1990s before emerging fully in the subsequent decade as a singular voice in underground R&B through the five-disc Toeachizown set issued in 2009 on Stones Throw. Although his next major statement arrived six years later with the more collaborative triple album Invite the Light in 2015, his catalog remains equally distinguished by an array of solo and joint releases involving an expansive roster of associates that encompasses Steve Arrington, Snoop Dogg, Nite Jewel, Ariel Pink, and Christine and the Queens. Serving first as a driving force in funk’s post-2000 evolution, Riddick has also pursued atmospheric soundscapes via a trilogy of Private Life albums issued under his middle name Garrett. In addition, he has acknowledged deep house roots through projects such as the 2021 album Above the Fray while exploring video game music with the 2023 release Dâm-Funk Presents the Music of Grand Theft Auto Online Original Score.

An only child raised in Pasadena, California, Damon Garrett Riddick absorbed an eclectic mix of sounds throughout his youth, among them heavy progressive rock, synth pop, and funk. He gravitated most strongly toward synthesizers and began committing original tracks to tape while still in high school. Shortly after graduation he became a regular presence in Los Angeles studios, beginning with the new jack swing outfit Double Action Theatre, overseen by producer and mentor Leon Sylvers III (the Sylvers, Solar Records). For most of the ensuing decade his session contributions appeared predominantly on rap releases, including AllFrumTha I’s self-titled album, Master P’s I Got the Hook Up, and MC Eiht’s Tha8t’z Gangsta, the last of which listed his production and instrumental work under the name Dam.funk.

Riddick stepped into the spotlight as Dâm-Funk in 2007 with a remix of Baron Zen’s cover of the Gap Band’s “Burn Rubber,” thereby initiating a partnership with Peanut Butter Wolf’s Stones Throw imprint. Within weeks he also appeared on the label’s 2K8: BBall Zombie War compilation for 2KSports. In 2008 he issued the 12-inch “Burgundy City,” which crystallized his approach: largely instrumental synth-funk that applied a contemporary, idiosyncratic lens to late-’70s and early-’80s funk and post-disco figures such as Junie Morrison (Ohio Players, Parliament, solo), Roger Troutman (Zapp, solo), Mtume (the band), and Prince. Riddick openly acknowledged these touchstones; as host of his Los Angeles-area club night Funkmosphere he routinely identified the records he played, deliberately departing from the prevailing DJ custom of secrecy. After accumulating hours of home-recorded material in his garage studio, he assembled Toeachizown, a five-volume LP series rolled out across 2009 and later condensed into a two-CD edition that October. By then he had also attracted indie-rock attention with his remix of Animal Collective’s “Summertime Clothes” and self-released a 7-inch as Wavelength. Previously unheard recordings dating from 1988 to 1992 were gathered in 2010 for the Stones Throw album Adolescent Funk.

Although several years elapsed before a proper follow-up to his debut album, Riddick remained active with remixes, EPs, and singles—including a version of Donnie and Joe Emerson’s “Baby” cut with Ariel Pink and the track “I Don’t Wanna Be a Star!”—alongside numerous collaborations. Toward the close of 2013 alone he released full-length projects with funk veteran Steve Arrington and rapper Snoop Dogg (recording as Snoopzilla), titled Higher and 7 Days of Funk respectively. In 2015 he supported another longtime influence, Todd Rundgren, on a spring U.S. tour promoting the album Global. As those dates concluded that June, the instrumental four-track EP STFU appeared as a preview of his second album. Invite the Light, a warm triple LP, surfaced that September featuring contributions from Junie Morrison, Leon Sylvers III, Jody Watley, Flea, Q-Tip, and Snoop among others. Less than nine months later the !K7 label issued Riddick’s first commercially available DJ mix as part of its DJ-Kicks series.

While attention lingered on DJ-Kicks, Riddick reactivated his Glydezone label with the self-titled Nite-Funk EP recorded alongside Nite Jewel. That release, the Architecture EP, and a 12-inch collaboration with the left-field U.K. duo Ekkah all surfaced before the end of 2016. Over the next two years his studio activity yielded two ambient Private Life albums credited to Garrett (with vinyl editions pressed by Music from Memory), the EPs Architecture II and Fresh Air (the latter a joint effort with DJ Spinna), and a 12-inch pressing of European Nights (previously available only as a gig-only CD-R). He also appeared on Christine and the Queens’ “Girlfriend” and Mac Miller’s “What’s the Use?” The seven-track STFU II followed in 2019 as Riddick maintained his worldwide role as a touring funk ambassador. Private Life III arrived at the close of 2020.

In 2021 Riddick issued Destination: Known/Paradise, comprising two tracks each averaging fifteen minutes, together with an EP for the Spanish deep house label Saft titled Architecture III. Above the Fray, an uplifting collection of synth-funk and house, emerged on his own Glydezone Recordings. In 2023 he guested on David Zylberman’s single “Welcome to L.A.” and released the holiday track “Tis the Season.” He also put out Dâm-Funk Presents the Music of Grand Theft Auto Online Original Score, which includes joint tracks with Soulwax, Oh No, HEALTH, Show Me the Body, and additional artists.