Khruangbin

One Liner: Funky instrumental goodness

Wikipedia Genre: None listed, I'll go with funk and soul and World.
Home:  Houston

Poster Position: 11
Day: Sunday at 4:00
Weekend One Only.

Thoughts: OK, this one is off the reservation, but its absolutely freaking cool.  Do you remember BadBadNotGood from last year?  If those dudes were trying to make funk instrumentals for rappers to use, I feel like these cats are trying to make funk instrumentals for spaghetti Westerns to use.  And I do not mean that as an insult in the slightest.  I'm truly digging what this band is laying down.

One of these tunes is familiar, I think KUTX must have been playing it recently or something.  It isn't the top track, but its still the one I want to present to you first, because it is flipping tight.  I need Killer Mike to lay a track down over the top of it yesterday.  This is "Maria Tambien," with just over 3 million streams.

By the way, that speaking stuff in that video doesn't belong - that is not in the real version of the track, but is for some reason included in the official video...  But the key to these tunes is that bass.  Hot damn, that bass is a reason to get up in the morning and face the day.  Gimme some more of that stuff.

The name though, I don't even understand how to say it.  Wikipedia says the following: "When asked to play their first gig, [bassist] Laura Lee, who was learning to speak Thai at the time, decided they should name themselves after her favorite word, "khruangbin," which means "engine fly" or "airplane" in Thai. Speer admits that, had they had the foresight to predict the band's success, they may not have chosen a name that was so difficult to pronounce. Though the band's name is notoriously challenging to say, it symbolizes the international set of influences that shaped the band's formation."  This video (with a very annoying screaming woman in it) shows how to pronounce it.  

Krung Bin.  Someone please make that lady shut up.  No need to scream at the top of your lungs while this guy is trying to explain the band name.  Criminy.

Two albums, 2015's The Universe Smiles Upon You and 2018's Con Todo El Mundo.  I like the newer album quite a bit more - the old one has more of a psych/surf vibe, where the 2018 album feels more solid and more funky.  The "Maria Tambien" song up above is from the new album, but their most popular track is from that older album, this is "White Gloves" with 8.8 million streams.

OK.  Not their best track by any means, but OK.

Also, how fucking cool do these cats look in this video.

That is the good shit right there.  That simple drumming to keep it moving.  The complex bass climbing and descending and bouncing around, and then the ringing, plucking, insistent guitar.  That first track is freaking goodness.  The video is 50 minutes long, so I get it if you're not going to go that far, but just check out the opener.  No, you need to see the second one too.  I want to make sweet love to this music.  Not like listen to it while I make love, I want to actually bone this music.

Also, the fact that the bassist and guitarist share a hairstyle is kind of messed up.  On her, looks great, especially when she breathes into the mike.  On him, scary Moorish molester man.

The fact that it is Weekend One only is a freaking travesty on a very high level.  Hopefully they are playing the same day as Greta Van Fleet and I can catch them with a single day pass.