Music has the influence to transport listeners to a different time and place. Philonius Phunk loves to bind that control with a wide-ranging audience of music lovers and musicians alike. Philonius is a music producer, singer/songwriter, and rapper that brings the noise with elements of old and new school hip-hop and R&B collaged with sounds from the golden age of video gaming. With outlandish drum patterns, lush string synths and curated 16-bit tones, the Ohio native’s music draws influence from musicians like The Neptunes, J Dilla, and Flying Lotus. He selects samples from a plethora of VGM tracks and arranges them into new sounding works of art. Ever since Philonius engaged into the nerdcore music movement, his sound has been dedicated to affecting the crowd with funky and sonically synchronized grooves and boldly unique lyrics. His writing style derives from artists such as Tyler The Creator, Snoop Dogg, and Gucci Mane. From the early days of button mashing on a Nintendo while playing classic funk records, Philonius Phunk knew that a life in music was set in stone.
In 2016, Philonius released his debut compilation, “PhunkoLand.” filled with tremendous nerdcore emcees lacing rhymes over video game remixed beats. His project was well received from bloggers and got noticed by upcoming indie artists such as A-Game and BirdyMusic. In 2017, taking initiative to collaborate, the three artists, plus rappers D-Hud and Kennyb Showtime, released the single, “Man On A Mission,” which was acknowledged by underground hip-hop magazines such as The Grynd Report (Atlanta) and The Street Motivation (Los Angeles). Since then, Philonius has produced singles and projects with many diverse artists in the U.S. such as Niko Is and T. Amor and many others.
Along with Phunk’s rising solo music career, he joined up with Florida based artists, Lord Xzae, Terrible Toad King, SwagSwitcha, SirenSeraph, and Modest Mind to form the nerdcore music super group, Symphonic Pheenix Force, or S.P.F. for short. S.P.F. delivers rhymes and beats inspired by comics, anime, and video games intertwined with witty punch lines. They released two projects: 2019’s “Art of Fusion” and their latest EP, “Imperium.” They have shared the stage with the likes of Mega Ran, Whitney Peyton, MC Lars, Schaffer The Darklord, and Richie Branson just to name a few. S.P.F. has also performed at events such as Ruff N Puff at SuperCon, MagFest, PAX South, Filk Musc Track at DragonCon and more. S.P.F. surpasses the norms of hip-hop and brings bizarre originality and cleverness to all audiences.
When there is freetime outside of music, Phunk likes to play video games, read comic books and spend time with his family. Recently, Philonius Phunk has teamed up with BirdyMusic for their latest single, “I Gotta Do It” that is from their forthcoming EP, “Chosens Ones.” Phunk is also creating a tribute remix album to one of his influecnces, The Neptunes, entitled, “NPTN1” releasing later this year, exclusively on Bandcamp . Catch up with Philonius Phunk on all social media platforms and streaming services (@philoniusphunk).
Catch Philonius on the outdoor stage, Friday at 5:15 p.m. and again on Saturday at 4:15 p.m.
