"Wound Up" is old school hip-hop with new age swag filled with mystique and moodiness. The rap performances share the same clarity of hip-hop classics, as well as the lyrical substance of earlier eras. Diverse elements combine to show off the group's crafty blend of hip-hop and soul-pop sensibility.

Composition by Hector Alexander Fontanet and Tyler G Coy. Lyrics by Nick Emiliozzi, Parry L Kitt, Wayne J Price and Corey I Davis. Music by Phantom Phunk and Pandapaws. Produced by Hector Fontanet and Tyler G Coy. Recorded and mixed at Harmonic Factory Studio, Tampa, FL. Mastered by Steve Corrao at Sage Audio. Copyright 2021.

Fame Magazine

Exuding the achingly cool vibe of 90’s hip hop, the compelling quartet fuse together alternating styles, hopping from soul pop to old school rhythms while still maintaining a steady melody. The use of trumpet and plucky guitars adds a rich texture to the song, whilst the witty lyrics and chorus take centre stage.

Fame Magazine

Exuding the achingly cool vibe of 90’s hip hop, the compelling quartet fuse together alternating styles, hopping from soul pop to old school rhythms while still maintaining a steady melody. The use of trumpet and plucky guitars adds a rich texture to the song, whilst the witty lyrics and chorus take centre stage.

FMS

This latest track is about, “working through the tension that surrounds us,” something every one of us can relate to. Though in keeping with old-school hip-hop’s impressive lineage, Phantom Phunk’s music is hard to pin down, with elements from Indie as well as all Urban genres incorporated in.

xunemag.com

Wound Up has all the elements to make it a hip-hop banger. Forming in 2016 as a rock band, Phantom Phunk have evolved their sound to become more eclectic. The fusion between funk-filled guitar work and soulful vocal melodies blend spectacularly against the hip-hop beat and rapping style. It has the atmosphere of a group that has found their sound and are running away with it.

As you can probably tell, Wound Up has something in there for everyone. Its coolness oozes from the magical synth underbelly and is bolstered by the impressive arrangement of the rest of the instruments/vocals. It feels like you are listening to a Jurassic 5 track in places, as the jazz subtleties creep into the mix of pure, funkified hip-hop fluidity. Wound Up is the latest in a string of releases, so be sure to check out the rest too!

Graveyard, corvette, fangs, cane and a plague doctor… Phantom Phunk’s new track “Zone” is a horrific outer body experience. The song features a minor key groove set to the tempo of a vampire who is back like he never left. Howls and cackles clatter amid the background while eerie guitar tones drag across the dark and desolate space within the beat. A lurking bass rumbles below while soaring vocals exchange with MC style lyrics to fit the theme. The overall vibe is calm, yet disturbing. As it stands, “Zone” is quite possibly the soundtrack for Halloween 2020… which appears to have been a year-long event.

Composition by Parry L Kitt, Nick Emiliozzi and Hector Alexander Fontanet. Lyrics by Parry L Kitt and Wayne J Price. Music by Phantom Phunk. Produced by Hector Fontanet. Recorded and mixed at Harmonic Factory Studio, Tampa, FL. Mastered by Steve Corrao at Sage Audio. Copyright 2020.

Coming out in the summer days following the spring time quarantine, ‘A Week Ago’ brings a refreshing feel of light airiness with it. The guitar line opens the song in a jolly and slightly quirky fashion, setting the tone for the track. As the beat enters, it carries the thematic set of harmonies, “oooh-ing” over the rhythm like a cool breeze washing away the hot sun. Notions of realness spliced with clever metaphors give the verse a lyrical weight that balances out the light nature of the song. The song opens up at the hook, which sweeps you into its world of aimless joy. Plot twists occur following the chorus which gives this track the right amount of nooks and crannies to keep the listener’s attention focused but still relaxed. ‘A Week Ago’ is one of those windows-down summer jams that make you shamelessly sing into your Slurpy straw every time it’s on.

“A Week Ago” is one of those windows-down summer jams that you can shamelessly sing into your steering wheel as you slurp lemonade and drive off into the sunset.

Composition by Nick Emiliozzi and Hector Alexander Fontanet. Lyrics by Nick Emiliozzi, Parry L Kitt, Wayne J Price and Rachel Pomare-Davis. Music by Phantom Phunk. Produced by Hector Fontanet, Nick Emiliozzi, Parry Kitt and Wayne Price. Recorded and mixed at Harmonic Factory Studio Tampa, FL. Mastered by Steve Corrao at Sage Audio. Copyright 2020.

Static Dive

“A Week Ago” is Phantom Phunk’s brand new single and it sets the perfect summertime vibe with a chill mix of organic and electronic elements grooving over a cool old-school downtempo beat. From a laid back rap verse to the, “I just wanna float away” chorus, the song dreams of escaping the noise of the day and our modern world.

Dancing About Architecture

Breaking the rules and blurring the lines is what Phantom Phunk does best, and here they add a sense of blissful confusion to the proceedings and the result is a song which is both slightly off kilter and bang on the money! 

Daily Music Roll

With the fascinating forte of mixing ambiguous beats in multi-layered musical compositions written by the genius songwriters/musicians, popularly known as Phantom Phunk in Tampa, has brought us a gift of their divine musicality. It is the new song “A Week Ago” that bends to hip hop music in the middle of the verses and makes subtle progress with the edgy pop notes in the hooks. It suggests the surreal emotional conflicts that we hide are the reasons that bend us down in tough times and swing us to the edge of disappointment.

Tongue Tied is one of those pieces that feel like art when you hear it. Despite the track’s contemporary taste, it strays away from the FM repertoire—catching a vibe that has bob as well introspection. The soundscape straddles the lands of sci-fi and fantasy, dwelling in some futuristic space where magic and science converge. The stacks of pulsing synths set the scene while the drums kick the beat into over-vibe. The vocals carry a certain tone of indifference, like a passenger immune to the adventure of interstellar travel. A subtle layer of vocoder reinforces the feel, bestowing a cyborg like aura to the singer. The lyrical melody however, paints a vignette of very human emotion. Melancholy and desire intertwine within the singer’s outlook as they struggle to disentangle circumstance from choice.

The song comes from a moment of desire, when you connect with someone but can't be with them because life has taken you both somewhere different. And try as you may to swim against the currents of circumstance, your past choices keep you from forging a future with someone you want to be with.

Composition by Hector Alexander Fontanet, Nick Emiliozzi and Parry Kitt. Lyrics by Wayne J Price, Parry L Kitt and Hector Alexander Fontanet. Music by Phantom Phunk. Produced by Hector Fontanet. Recorded and mixed at Harmonic Factory Studio, Tampa, FL. Mastered by Steve Corrao at Sage Audio. Copyright 2020.

NOVA MUSIC blog

“Developing a brilliant and luxuriant multi-layered sound, the core group Phantom Phunk strikes back with a work that sounds like a sort of psychedelic journey, lush with synth sounds and moved by a rhythmic push-and-pull”. “It is an ecstatic listening experience of exquisite workmanship, made dynamic by the way melodic parts alternate with rapped flowing sections, all within a spatially composed, balanced and well thought out sound spectrum”.

Dancing About Architecture

Tongue Tied sees them in a slightly chilled mood, dreamy soul vibes tethered down just enough to keep things from becoming too drifty and transient by after hours clubland beats and gentle and exotic, otherworldly electronica. It is spacious and unsecond-guess-able …that’s a word, I checked…it blends half-urgent raps with blissed out vocals, it sways and sashays rather than grooves and it conjures a joyous, carefree feeling like little that you have heard before.

Daily Music Roll

Making a genius multi-layered sound entitled ‘Tongue Tied’ in the studio based in Tampa, Phantom Phunk again has bewitched the gen-x audience with a diverse mix of musical harmonies. The ecstatic instrumentation serves the notion of a futuristic fantasy with profound lyrics put down by Wayne J Price, Parry L Kitt, and Hector Alexander, leaving a slight trace of their worldliness. It shares a vulnerable story of a desire for connection and isolation that makes us truly human.

by Phantom Phunk

Phantom Phunk’s latest release, “Day by Day” kick starts the new decade with the throttle on full. The group flexes their exploratory arrangement style, delivering a fullness delicately balanced by simplicity and extravagance. At the center of it all is a trotting piano line that hovers around both ears, floating with nonchalance as the beat busts through. As the hook drops, the vocals take the wheel and guide the song through a disorienting lyrical stack. The track then leads into a series of rap sections that swerve between animated rapture and personal introspection. The culmination of soundscape and lyrical delivery give the sensation of a high speed car chase that rubs against the rails of Hip-Hop and indie—performing a narrow escape from its genre only to enter some otherworldly musical ether.

Even though it has all the elements of a hip-hop song, Day by Day is in its own lane.

Composition by Hector Alexander Fontanet, lyrics by Wayne J Price, Parry L Kitt and Michael T Stephens. Music by Phantom Phunk. Produced by Hector Alexander, Andrew Hansen and Aaron Ruiz. Recorded and mixed at Harmonic Factory Studio, Tampa, FL. Copyright 2020.

Skopemag.com - Jimmy Rae

"I like to refer to this song as “Trip Hop” because the single has that sort of trippy feel to it but with plenty of pep in the step and Phantom fuel in the tank. “Day By Day” offers a catchy hook and what I like to call a quick, 1, 2 punch that ends in a KO. I would say Phantom Phunk did deliver a knock out on this new release because the energy and originality factor is off the charts!"

Dancing About Architecture - Dave Franklin

"So whilst you can identify hip-hop lyricism, soulful vibes, funky grooves, pop melodies and any number of cool retro-references in their music, you have never heard them put together quite like this before. And that is the art of it isn’t it? Day By Day is the sound of progress and evolution but it is also the sound of modernity and forward-thinking. Why create sonic chimera’s that no-one want’s to hear when you can reweave all those pleasing patterns of the past into a cool new musical design?"

Nova Music Blog

“Day By Day” shows all the vibrant, eclectic and histrionic creative vision of Phantom Phunk. Through this peculiar, unique and transversal piece, they offer us a musical richness that on the surface level may sometimes seem cacophonic, but hides another layer underneath, one built on a smart management of the elements saturating the sound spectrum. “Day By Day” is undoubtedly something different from everyday pap.

About Phantom Phunk

Phantom Phunk is a songwriting project based out of Tampa studio Harmonic Factory. Using their studio space, the core group of writers manufactures sounds and beats that span beyond genre. With collaborative intent, their songs feature guest vocalists and producers to expand their musical ideas—a process which has culminated a diverse body of work since their debut in 2016. Each release from the project showcases a different lead vocalist and documents a different chapter of development for the group. This musical ambiguity allows them to roam between genre styles ranging from psychedelic rock to cloud rap. The blend of alt-rock and hip-hop gives the group a progressive sound comparable to the Gorillaz & Outkast.

Catacombs

by Phantom Phunk

“Catacombs” falls into the Phantom Phunk theme of eerie but upbeat. Like a long, shadowy hallway, the opening synth captures your curiosity and invites you into the unfamiliar. The chorus immediately ensues, flexing a heavy sub bass and rich vocal layering. The verses remain dynamic and feature different vocalists throughout the piece in a way that feels orchestrated but still spontaneous. The track plays out like a story with each chapter distinct from the last—each part leading you to the chorus like a labyrinth whose turns take you back to the place you began. The lyrics convey a certain kind of permanence—something that is irreversible and inevitable alike.

Composition by Hector Fontanet. Lyrics by CloudMaster Price and KobeFreshOuttaHighschool. Music by Phantom Phunk. Produced by Hector Fontanet, Andrew Hansen and Aaron Ruiz. Recorded and mixed at Harmonic Factory Studio, Tampa, FL. Copyright 2019.