Tank and the Bangas

One Liner: Funky oddities that bounce between hip hop poetry and soul balladry
Wikipedia Genre: They have a Wikipedia page, but it doesn't have the usual blurb off to the side with details.  I'll go with funk and soul?
Spotify Says Similar To: Rebirth Brass Band (really??) and The Soul Rebels
Home: New Orleans

Poster Position: 18
Slot: Sunday at 11:45 am

Thoughts: The first sounds I heard on the first song were like woah.  Gimme that Missy Elliott sounding jam out right here, with "Quick," the most popular track currently sporting 82k streams on Spotify.

Hot damn.  That video went a different direction than I thought it would.  Oh damn, and now some dolt in the comments is complaining about a trigger warning.  Can we all just agree that if you go on the internet, you should be preemptively warned that disturbing shit is going to be seen or said at any time and you should beware?  And, the lady in the video dealt with the problem, like a boss.  That lady will bury your ass in garbage and then frame Bill Cosby for the murder.
Then, in a TOTALLY different vein, their most listened to track on Spotify is "Oh Heart," with 231k streams, that is like a Disney anthem with cutesy little synth and a happy sing-song delivery.

And the rest of this album is all over the place, with a lot of gentle balladry and soul going on here, nothing as hard as "Quick," which is the newest track from 2017.  But some of it is like poetry (see "WalMart" or "Human") more than rap, even if it isn't so explicitly like hip hop. From the internet, it sounds like the lead singer/rapper - Tarriona “Tank” Ball - was a spoken word poet already before the band, and I think Tarriona is a pretty kick ass name just on its own.  She's got a cool fire/gentleness combo that make this band even more interesting.

The band has a 2013 album (Think Tank) and a live album (2014's The Big Bang Theory), and most of those are more chill soul tunes than wicked rap bars.  
Oh, and the band won the Tiny Desk Concert contest, and you know I love me some Tiny Desk action.

Loogit that hipster flautist jamming in the background!  And their funky patterned buttons downs! I want to clown, but holy shit, this is real. Like one of the chilled ass tunes from Lauryn Hill that make you think in between the bangers.  This live rendition brings out the jazzy funk from the tracks in a way that you don't hear on the album version of these songs. That first track is "Boxes and Squares," and it just wraps you up in a warm hug but then demands your concentration to take in the rapid fire singing and lyrics.  

"You are like a box, Full of everything we're not, I'm tired of putting my stuff inside, My trust, my love, my hair, my shoes, You are like a square, Full of the words that's in the air, I've got a mouthful of questions, baby, You've got a box empty with my answers."

And she changes vocal tones and slides around in styles like she's 10 different ladies all making it happen together on stage.  I dig it.  Part of it, in the midst of "Quick" for example, sounds like the way Nicki Minaj changes persona in the midst of a track.  Look at the fun they are having at around 7:30 and just try to tell me that you don't smile a bit.  I want to go have fun like that with these cats!

Recommend?  Yes.