It has to be funky.
Demo Tape Session und
Tape Face Poster #3 with IMP DA DIMP.
IMP DA DIMP and I in creative flow – from initial sketches to the final print run at the letterpress studio.
A day spent between tape, type and tone.
What does it take for music to really groove? A good band? Good instruments? Good technology? Yes, of course. But according to Adam Rafferty, the New York bandleader of the Austro-international funk formation IMP DA DIMP, one crucial thing is still missing: it has to be funky. Period.
As simple as this sentence sounds, our day together was multifaceted – and there is so much behind this seemingly banal sentence, which ultimately became the title of their Tape Face Posters . A day spent among wooden letters, four-color suits, philosophical talk, and a demo tape that vibrated more than the recording.
I love the Demo Tape Sessions because they embody everything that is important to me:
Creative activities with people, in workshops and design processes – and collaboration with the team and artists at LITTLE BIG BEAT STUDIOS.
Poster Session – four colors, one line
On the morning before their session, we met up at my letterpress-studio. I had already prepped the poster, but as always, the real magic happened in the last step—when we printed together, chatted, laughed, and got really into it.
A single line became a work of art: Four faces, created from a demo tape, drawn in one movement, running back into the cassette—like a visual funk loop. Printed in four colors: yellow, red, cyan, and a light purple—the colors in which the four musicians later appeared on stage.
the result? Funky. Colorful. Full of groove. And, of course, with a headline that sticks: “It has to be funky.”
No Covers. No Excuses.
IMP DA DIMP is not a band that runs after others. No covers, no compromises. The collective around Adam writes its own songs—with attitude, with heart, and with the ambition not only to play funk, but to embody it.
They want you to dance. Not just with your feet, but with your head, your gut, and your whole being. “It's healthy,” says Adam. And he means that holistically. Music that heals. Music that connects. Music that puts the ego in the background.
«The ego is the enemy of music.»
– Dizzy Gillespie
The Funk Awakens – Live at LITTLE BIG BEAT
And then: the stage. January 31, 2025, Demo Tape Session #3.
The air vibrated even before the first note was played. What followed was a festival of groove. Tight, unique, playful—but never arbitrary. Every beat was spot on, every note resonated.
Not just music – a funkadelic invitation.
Thank you all, Adam, Flo, Philipp und Felipe, for a day full of groove, laughs, depth, and color.
Thanks to everyone who makes this platform possible—especially VP Bank, Sennheiser, RTM Industries and the team at LITTLE BIG BEAT STUDIOS.
Funk meets Fürstentum: IMP DA DIMP dance their way across Vaduz. Heads turn, people stop in their tracks.
Impressions of the Demo Tape Session with IMP DA DIMP, January 31, 2025