Once you’ve tired of childish things, sweary, boastful rap or the latest ‘hamburger song’ made up of all the bits of the other songs in the chart that are currently ‘shifting units’ and you feel you’re ready for a gourmet musical meal, then take a seat at the Snarky Puppy cafe and prepare to be well fed.[pullquote]Solid grooves, great hooks and stunning improvisation will tingle the tits and testicles of most actual musicians, from the tight as a gnats chuff (official musical term) rhythm section laying it down like they mean it on every track , to the face melting violin (yes violin, yes, face melting) solo on the track Mr. Montauk[/pullquote]
When one reads music journalists struggling to catagorise a band, it’s usually a sign of lazy journalism. I can catagorise this band in a heartbeat, they are in the genre that I like to call ‘any fucking good’ or AFG for short. What they play is actually jazz-fusion, don’t be scared of the J word, like all great jazz, it’s totally accessible and I guarantee your ‘funky face’ will be pulled, a lot. Rockers will be rocked by it, funksters will be funked, dance fans will will have their boogie buds, boogied and Hipsters? Well they can just fuck off. The fusion bit means it’s jazz mixed up with another genre, it used to mean just funk really, but with these guys it’s fused with Hip hop, soul, R n B, Dance, techno and house and heaps more.
Solid grooves, great hooks and stunning improvisation will tingle the tits and testicles of most actual musicians, from the tight as a gnats chuff (official musical term) rhythm section laying it down like they mean it on every track , to the face melting violin (yes violin, yes, face melting) solo on the track Mr. Montauk included below, they are not just impressive, they are damned entertaining too. This is one of those rare bands that can be held to the highest musical standards and not be found wanting. Naturally this means that they won’t spend their careers dodging panties being thrown at the stage and they will have to spend some of time talking to a ‘bedroom boy’ or similar anorak in the audience about the Mixolydian mode between sets. (This man is at every Jazz gig, he can’t play one song all the way through and views the playing of an instrument as too sacred a craft to actually go out and play before mere mortals, but hey, he knows all about it theoretically and can talk a good gig).
I want twenty somethings to totally give this band a listen, they will rock your world. It is unashamedly sophisticated music, you’ll hear more hip hop ideas and riffs in one track than you’ll hear on Jay Z’s entire lifetime output, it is that good and it is that groovy.
Some musicians and their genres are cool temporarily, but you know deep down in your bones that Jazz has been as cool as fuck since it started and always will be. We won’t say that about Kanye nor Bieber in ten years time when they’ll look a lot more like MC Hammer (silly pants) and Jimmy Osmond (nice hair, mums liked him).
If you’re a bright young thing hunting around for something musical to hang your expensively branded baseball cap onto then look no further. If you want to dip your toe into the lovely warm Jazz bath, then let it be with these guys. I want you youngsters to love them, to champion them as your very own. I want you to be the generation that dug Jazz in mainstream numbers. By liking this band, and I mean liking this band as an entire generation, you are gonna get so much respect from every preceding generation that we may even forgive you for all the complete shit you’ve been digging so far. Including all of that half arsed, ditsy, straight-to-the-elevator crap with a fucking ukelele on it.
For my contemporaries, I have no need to convince you, just listen, you’ll get it right away and you’ll also feel somewhat reassured that the future of Jazz is in very capable and gifted hands. Props to Rob from Phuket Sound System rentals for tipping me off about these guys.
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