Vulfpeck

One Liner: Funky weirdos who have gotten better over time
Wikipedia Genre: Funk
Spotify Says Similar To: The Suffers and Pimps of Joytime
Home: Ann Arbor, MI

Poster Position: 9
Slot: ?

Thoughts:  I knew I remembered this band from somewhere, these are the guys who created a silent album named Sleepify, and then encouraged people to go put the album on repeat while they slept at night, generating $20,000 in royalties from Spotify over a two month period before it was yanked from the service.  The songs were named stuff like "Z" and "Zzzz."  They then took those funds and did a free-admission tour.  I knew I recalled their band name from somewhere.  But none of this music seems familiar at all.

So, I've made it through their Spotify catalog and can easily say that I like the newer album quite a bit better than their original stuff.  2011's Mit Peck is all funk instrumentals and is pretty snappy at times.  2012's Vollmilch is all instrumentals and while it is pretty funky, I found myself wanting to stop listening to it.  Then 2013's My First Car keeps that funk side but adds in some soulful singing that sounds pretty damn solid.  2014's Fugue State has both instrumentals and lyrical songs, and one of them ("Sky Mall") has some bass picking so fast it almost sounds unreal.  All of those are more like EP size, it is only the most recent two that are more like full-length albums, 2015's Thrill of the Arts and 2016's The Beautiful Game.  That new album is definitely the best of the bunch, keeping the funky feeling but adding in singers and a feel almost like the Brand New Heavies.  Their most popular track is from the 2015 album and is called "Back Pocket."

I mean, I want to be a cynical ass about that video, but in all honesty, those two little dancing machines are freaking adorable.  If you need cheering up, go get some of that action right there.  That is the happy business we all need more of.  So that song clocks in at 7.4 million streams.  The second most popular track comes from the 2013 EP and shows off that soulful funky stuff I was talking about, here is "Wait for the Moment," with 6.6 million streams.

That bassline is some slinky and slow "If You Want Me To Stay" shit right there.  And then their most popular track from the new album is called "Animal Spirit," and as of now it just has barely over 2 million streams.

The one that got me thinking Brand New Heavies is also on that new album, a track called "Conscious Club."  They have a cool sound and a good number of fun and funky tracks.  I think they'd actually be pretty fun to see in person, although to be perfectly honest, I've grown tired of hearing it all day long.  I wanted to report that I am loving every second of it, as a funk band is normally right up my alley, so I think I might try to go see them play live but leave them alone on the listening at home...

Will I Go See Them Play?  Probably yes.