The Official ACL Blog for like Eight People!
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One Liner: Dave Chapelle copying Prince and Rick James at the same time
Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia. He called it Unc Core or Unc Funk, I think it sounds like Dave Chapelle.
Home: Woodbridge, VA (I think)
Poster Position: Bottom Quarter - Line 25 Weekend Two Only Friday at 1:45
BMI Stage
Thoughts: I just pulled this one up on Spotify, clicked play on the first song, and then saw his photo on the cover of that top single. Absolutely looks like Dave Chappelle playing Prince and Rick James at the same time. And the song sort of sounds like dime store Prince too. Made me laugh out loud. There are more songs in here that also sound like dime store Prince - "I Don't Care About Your Man" being another prime example.
The year of Leon, with Kings of Leon, Leon Thomas, and this guy. Wikipedia thinks Leon Knight is an English football striker who has played for fifteen different clubs spanning five different countries. Meanwhile, this guy has an article in actual Newsweek. Who knew that Newsweek was still out there publishing articles? I did not. They call his music "Unc Core." Which is so very very cringe. He first got into music after sneaking around his father's music studio, and when his dad realized the boy's genuine interest, Knight started messing around and creating soul-heavy samples and beats. That being said, a lot of this has serious guitar heroics splashing around all over it. This is not just rap beats (although those are in here sometimes), and although the web says that he is part of a rap collective called 5enses.
This guy is in to some trippy shit too. "Hello" from his 2019 Virginity single (really a 6 song EP) sounds like a little kid found the mic and read a script written by Bjork while another kid walked on a synthesizer. Has 1,103 streams on Spotify, so a pretty niche moment, I suppose. Just one album, 2023's Can It Please Be Tomorrow? and a few singles after that. The confusing bit of many of the singles is that they are credited to someone else, with him just appearing on them. Ebony Beach Club, On the Radar, you know, super famous groups like that.
His top track, by a lot, is "Yes I Do," with someone called DE'WAYNE. 267k streams (and that Prince sound I mentioned above).
In the interview mentioned above, he said that before they shot that video, he went down to a little suit shop in NYC to get everyone hooked up with some sequins. Hotness. Oh, I kinda figured Leon was the taller/skinnier one, but that is DE'WAYNE. I also enjoy "Winnie the Pooh" because he sings about wearing only a shirt and eating out that honey jar. That is his second-biggest streamer with 68k.
I have a feeling that he is not supposed to be creating AI videos of the Winnie the Pooh friends twerking. Feels like the Disney folks may not love that.
You know, this guy is pretty fun. I can call him the dime store Prince all I want, but at least that is better than no Prince at all. He's out here having a good time and slaying the guitar while making good songs to boogie to. Go get 'em, Leon.
One Liner: 70's indebted funky dance pop, but sounds like the live show may just be EDM
Wikipedia Genre: Electropop, indietronica, nu-disco, funk, psychedelic pop, soul, alternative dance, indie pop
Home: Byron Bay, New South Wales, Australia
Poster Position: TOP Quarter - Line 3 Both Weekends. Sunday at 7:30
Miller Lite Stage
Thoughts: I have to say I am confused how this is up here on line 3. It is perfectly acceptable funkpopdiscosynth, but I would expect to have heard of the things that are up here on the third line. Sort of has a Jungle vibe, but a little further towards synth-y disco.
Four of the members went to the same school growing up, and started sliding in and out of musical projects together as young as thirteen years old. Wikipedia says that they experimented with everything from metal to bluegrass to folk before landing on white-guy-disco-funk as their final spot. Two of them were the acoustic folk duo named Louie and Patrick. Several of them were the roots music group The Sugar Spinners. Some of them formed the rock group Lifeline. They also formed something called Potato Potato. Some of these bands got radio play and festival lineup spots. But then in their final year of high school, Parcels formed, named after a sign maybe stolen from a train station, and the group then moved to Berlin.
Which seems like a weird move on it's own, and then this is the explanation as to why: "The band notes watching a video in high school of band The Whitest Boy Alive performing in a shop window in Mitte, Germany as influential to the move, saying that the "huge crowd on the street [...] was super cool". Sure. One show, by one completely non-memorable band, and you should just pick up stakes and move across the world to a place where you don't speak the language. Fine.
But it worked out. A French label liked their initial electronic EP, signed them, and then brought them to Paris for a show at a bar. Daft Punk happened to be in the audience, and they invited these dudes to the studio to collaborate. The band showed Daft Punk an early demo of "Overnight," and the robot fellas agreed to get to work with it. Wikipedia says it took more than a year, with many studio trips and months in the studio. Are you kidding me? It is an entirely generic disco pop nugget that has a little of "Get Lucky" guitar swing in it. 215.1 million streams.
That took a full year and many studio visits? I mean, its a nice little funky strut and all, but I feel like this could have been done in 30 minutes. They didn't even make a video for it. I feel like there has to be something more to this band, like one of the members is the son of the owner of Universal Music or something.
A couple singles and old EPs, followed by 2018's Parcels, 2021's Day/Night, and 2025's LOVED. Strangely, none of their biggest tunes are on any of those albums. Not sure what would make a band leave their biggest singles off of the next album, that doesn't seem to click for me. So, their biggest streamer is a 2018 single called "Tieduprightnow," with 321.2 million streams, that was not then put onto the 2018 debut album for some reason (and same with "Overnight"). Odd.
Again, a perfectly acceptable little funk nugget to groove along to. Also, I very much would like to go surf and hang out with those people on the beach. That looks very chill and fun. "Comedown" gets a little jammy, which I appreciate. I think I need to ask my girls about this band and see if I can figure out what is going on here. I like it well enough, I dig rock and funk and all of that, but this one is just striking me as odd.
But then, I fired up the more recent live album available on Spotify. I think this is going to end up being another EDM-ish group once they are on stage. Sounds very much like they are turning their disco funk into a rave. It is much, much worse than just the regular studio music. That is a bummer.
I asked the girls. 18 year old said she had never heard of it. The 15 year old never responded. Chef's kiss.
One Liner: Funky world grooves from local dudes Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, but indie world groove sweetasticness Home: Austin! Poster Position: Bottom Quarter - Line 22 Day: Sunday Weekend Two Only.
Beatbox Stage at 1:45.
Thoughts: I wonder if a band can head off a copyright claim by just adding "the" to the start of their name? Weird that there are so many bands on the poster who do that - why go with The Point instead of just Point? Friday gets The Favors, and Saturday gets The Strokes, The Heavy Heavy, and The Backseat Lovers. Sunday gets these guys, The Dare, and The Bends. Why not just the item? Inquiring minds want to KNOW!
These guys a pretty great though. The easy comparison is Khruangbin, but that is also wrong because they do so much more than just that Afro-funk jam. Kind of a world-surfing jam of guitar and funk - and then somewhere in the middle I hit on a half-rap/half-funky-shit album that freaking bangs. But the main thrust of this is that sort of genre-blending groove where the guitars could be Mexican, Moroccan, or Californian.
Austin natives, Joe Roddy and Jack Montesinos started the band when they were still in high school. The met in jazz band at Lamar Middle School - go Scotties! - which is pretty dope. The Chronicle called them "homegrown prodigy rockers," and Roddy was on stage with a trumpet when he was only 12 years old. They claim to have named the band after a Harry Nilsson soundtrack for a cartoon named The Point. Which, sure? Roddy's dad is a rockabilly artist, but not one I am familiar with.
4 albums. 2020's Ihop seems to have been forgotten, and maybe for good reason. Much more of a straight-forward, lo-fi rock album without any of the cool that is grabbing my ear in their later tunes. Only one tune cracks 10k streams. But 2021's Phonkadelic? Also criminally under-streamed, but silly and good times for me. Like they borrowed DJ Screw's laptop and went to town without considering their normal instruments or path. "Frio River Anthem" reps the Frio fo real! Not really, but I like that they named it that. The horns in "Julios" are dope, and "This Is It" sounds like a slow-mo party. Silly, yes, but also fun to me.
Its the next two albums where they seem to find their stride and their sound and start making the good stuff. 2022's BERTO'S BANQUET and 2024's Maldito Animal have the goods. Top streamer overall is from that most recent disc - "Mrs. Kind Eyes." 176k streams.
A little reggae, a little groovy rock and roll. The song that they apparently open their concerts with is called "Maquina Pura," and has 38k streams. Not finding an easy YouTube of just that song, so here is a live version from recently at Howler Brothers. The first song is the one I am talking about.
I mean, how can you watch that and not be entertained? I feel like all three of those dudes are freaking on point. (see what I did there? DAD JOKE, BITCHES!). That whole jam session of four songs is super tasty. I'd love to see this in person. Weekend two onllllyyyyyyy!!! WHYYYYYYYYY!!!! I'll just have to find them at a little club or something then...
One Liner: Chill funky grooves from a pack of Kiwis
Wikipedia Genre: dance, synth-pop, indie pop, blue-eyed soul, alternative R&B, funk, nu-disco, nu-jazz
Home: Auckland, New Zealand
Poster Position: Second Quarter - Line 11 Weekend Two Only. Saturday.
T-Mobile Stage at 2:!5.
Thoughts: I swear that I am not trying to find only bands from the southern Hemisphere, but here we are again. This time, not Aussies, but Kiwis. I actually had to make sure the Wikipedia article I am reading was about the same band I have been listening to, because the article calls them an electronic music project, where it sounds much more like nu-jazz type tunes with instruments. Like a chilled out Jungle. Not so much like an EDM thing at all.
The group is made up of six dudes who were already part of the Auckland music scene prior to joining forces. One guy was in a psych-indie pop act called Cool Rainbows. One was the drummer for a pop punk band called Goodnight Nurse that had a gold-certified album. One was in a new wave band called Kids of 88. Another was in an EDM group called Kidz in Space and became an in-demand producer. They initially formed in 2015 after "a spontaneous holiday at a bach in Muriwai." At first, I thought that was a typo, and the writer had intended to say "beach," but instead a "bach" is small, often modest holiday home or beach house in New Zealand, also sometimes called a crib. For some time, the word was thought to have been a shortening of "bachelor pad," but it has also been linked to the Welsh word for small/little, which is bach. Random aside, but kind of cool. I need a bach, please.
Makes me think of these great little cabins at a place in Hunt, Texas called Casa Bonita. When I was a kid, one of my best friend's family had one of the cabins, and while it was nothing special, the riverfront access, fun activities on the common property in between the bachs, and the great sense of community among the folks who would go stay there for a week or so - completely amazing. From driving past there in recent years, it looks to have been changed and locked down so that it is not so publicly available and relaxed. But it was a really neat spot back in the day. [I wrote that last paragraph over a month ago, long before Casa Bonita was wiped from the face of the earth by the July 4th floods. I've seen video of it since, and the cabins are truly just gone. Obviously, losing some old buildings that bring me nostalgia is nothing compared to the loss of life and hurt for those Camp Mystic families. Just awful stuff. Anyway, back to the music!]
Five albums - 2018's Leisure, 2019's Twister, 2021's Sunsetter, 2023's Leisurevision, and 2025's upcoming release called Welcome to the Mood.
The biggest track is from the 2021 album. "Slipping Away" has 103.5 million streams and a funky, lax groove.
Pretty cool vibe. After meandering around in these tunes all day, still not clocking why people call them dance or synth-pop. Definitely feels like funky soul and jazzy indie. The other song with 100 million streams is from 2018's Leisure, their debut album. "Got It Bad." Just barely over 100 million.
Again, groovy, funky, swanky, action from a band of dudes playing real instruments. Not getting the synth thing here either. I guess there is like an organ playing clipped little notes in there, but not what I would call synth pop. Another groove though.
Just for comparison's sake though, here is their most recent single, which will be part of the new disc. "Sundown" with 2.1 million streams.
I wanna go hand out in the Lord of the Rings landscape with these bros in their sweet chunky sunglasses while we wait for Golum to try to come and steal our preciouses! This is more tasty stuff. Not sure about the vibe of watching them in a sweaty field with the sun beating down on me as they unspool delicious grooves across the park, but the appeal of the chill funk here is undeniable to me.
Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, but this is funk and soul and a little hip hop
Home: unknown, maybe Chicago?
Poster Position: Late Addition. Weekend Two Only. Friday at 1:40.
BMI Stage.
Thoughts: ooooh baby, I like me some funky stuff. This sounds like they keep grabbing other vocalists to come in and add something over the top of what they have going, but I still dig it. A website called "onestowatch.com" claims this: "A collective with the “funky spirit of Parliament, yet room to experiment like the Gorillaz,” Vanilla is Black has come to dismantle apathy, elicit groove, and redefine the industry by honoring what it used to be and catapulting it ions beyond." I assume they mean eons? I doubt they are trying to catapult past some molecules...
Three guys - Chuck Inglish, Kevin Roosevelt, and Kenneth Wright. Kevin and Chuck apparently ran into each other at a taco spot, both telling the other that they were looking to try to put together a band, and this thing was born. I wish they named the taco spot. Apparently Chuck Inglish is a rapper with solo projects and also was part of the Cool Kids (a duo with Sir Michael Rocks). He is from Michigan but moved to Chicago at some point. Wait, Kevin Roosevelt is Keb Mo's name. Is this Keb' Mo'? I am guessing not since none of the articles mention that. Would be weird tho. Also, the reason for the band name? Because vanilla is actually black. Woooooaaaaaahhhhhh.
Just one album, 2024's U.Aint.Neva.Lied, with nine songs of funky shizz. The top song features 6lack (and I've mentioned this before, but I still can't say that in my mind as anything but SLACK. Which I know is 100% wrong every time, and then I say it that way in my head again). "Baby Boy" with 162k streams.
Feel that funk all up in your soul, baby. I like it. Second most streamed is "Mezcal," and it actually has a real video. 78k streams.
Smooth and funky and groovy for sure. That bass line is sick. And who needs SLACK in there? The main guy does a bang up job of singing that one - almost a Weeknd sound. I'd for sure go catch this, if it wasn't the first show on Sunday of Second Weekend!
One Liner: Funky African-tinged rock and roll flavor from some local fellas
Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, but they call themselves Afropsych
Home: Austin
Poster Position: 20 Weekend Two Only. Sunday at 1:40.
BMI Stage.
Thoughts: This is an Austin band with vocals from Kalu James, a Nigerian immigrant, and guitar wizardry from Jonathan "JT" Holt. Solid action for a band who has gotten to open for the Black Keys and Parliament/Funkadelic, among others. James immigrated to the US at age 18, and moved to Austin at age 25, where he teamed up with Holt to combine the West African influences with some bluesy psych rock style. Both sides are really strong.
Two albums with a big gap in the middle - 2017's Time Undone and 2023's Garden of Eden. The biggest streamer is off of that first album - "Too Low to Get High" has just over 2 million streams.
Starts up like something the Black Keys would make, or at least Dan Auerbach would produce. That song jams. Understated and building it up at the start, and then you feel him reaching out to take it bigger. But the guitar tone has a yummy fuzziness and warm tone. Good stuff.
Funny thing, I was just listening along and in my head I was like, "man, this guy sort of sounds like David Shaw and the Revivalists, what track is this so that I can make note of that" aaaaaaand the algorithm had switched me over to David Shaw. Funny. But the comparisons I have more often while listening here are TV On the Radio, and then every once in a while he sounds like Peter Gabriel.
The second-biggest track is from the newer album, the title track, which has 664k streams.
I really dig the guitar sound at the start of that one. I'd say that overall, this is a really fun sound and would likely be fun to see on stage. Every once in a while, the groove edges towards the edge of the rails, it feels like they are sloppy sometimes. Maybe sloppy isn't the right word, but in general it is fun stuff.
Wikipedia Genre: Modern soul, neo soul, funk nu disco, dance Home: London Poster Position: 3 Both Weekends.
Saturday at 7:10.
Miller Lite Stage.
Thoughts: Last here in 2018. I didn't see it despite enjoying my preview, but they were up against Greta Van Fleet, and I don't miss those guys. This is an impressive spot on the lineup, for a band who has been around for a decade and yet never really made a ton of noise.
I clearly remember their big hit. Long ago, I found out about them by reviewing their one album, 2014's Jungle. Here is the big hit from it, "Busy Earnin'." 169.6 million streams (52.3 million back in 2018, FYI).
That is a bunch of people getting down to the neo soul funk! A couple cool things from their Wikipedia page, the two dudes who founded the group (Tom McFarland and Josh Lloyd-Watson) have tried to avoid being seen as the leaders, but instead just part of the collective. I dig that. They have been friends since they were nine years old and neighbors. Second, they have pushed for the songs to remain organic and based on real instruments, instead of just computers and synthetic instrumentation. Also dig that. That first album was shortlisted for the Mercury Prize but did not win. Something called Young Fathers - Dead was the winner that year. Which, OF COURSE! Also on that first album, "Time" has a great funkiness and bounce to it. After that album, they have released three more - 2018's For Ever, 2021's Loving in Stereo, and 2023's Volcano. Their biggest streamer overall came from that new disc, "Back on 74," with 251.7 million streams.
Tasty track there too - old school groove. And a heck of a dance party for the video. Some of these tunes make me think of when Daft Punk tried to re-do disco funk. Other times it sounds like MGMT. But pretty much all the time, except for some of the sterile remixes in their catalog, it sounds like a good time.
I've heard great things about their live show, both from the Internet and from one friend, so let's see what they look like on stage.
Looks and sounds like a pretty damn fun dance party. This type of neo soul may not be the type of music I aim for on a daily basis, but for a live show good time? May be the best kind of thing there is. I think I'm in.
Wikipedia Genre: psychedelic rock, surf rock, funk, instrumental rock, dub, rock
Home: Houston
Poster Position: Headliner! Both Weekends. Saturday at 6:20 (sure, makes total sense for them to be before non-headliners from the 3rd row).
AmEx Stage.
Thoughts: Last here in 2018, and at the time I remember them feeling like a revelation - like, there was nothing like this going on anywhere I feel like. Now, these are multiple other copies of them on this same poster. But still, while back in 2018 I thought these folks were off the reservation, I still found it absolutely freaking cool. It is 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.
By now, much of their catalog is familiar, and local radio stations like KUTX and Sun keep them in the roatation. This isn't the top track, but its still the one I want to present to you first, because it is flipping tight and the one I recall being the biggest one first. I need Killer Mike to lay a track down over the top of it yesterday. This is "Maria Tambien," with just over 53.4 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. Four albums, 2015's The Universe Smiles Upon You, 2018's Con Todo El Mundo, 2020's Mordechai, and 2024's A LA SALA. There are also some other EPs and remixes and collaborations in there, but those are the four official releases. Oh, and lots of official live albums. I like the second album quite a bit more - the first 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 streaming track is from that first album, this is "People Everywhere (Still Alive)" with 116.2 million streams.
Tasty funky little nugget of goodness. Just let that one rip and feel the groove.
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. They are apparently just wigs. It is wild that they are from Houston - doesn't feel like it matches, until you think about how ethnically diverse and weird Houston really is. Sure, it is the Energy Capital of the World of whatever, but it is also a major melting pot of cultures and languages and ethnicities. Well, Mark Speer (guitar and vocals) and DJ Johnson (drums, keyboard, vocals) met playing in a gospel band at a Methodist Church in Houston, and over drinks realized that they both shared a deep love for music. In 2007, Speer met Laura Lee Ochoa (bass guitar and vocals) and he taught her the bass, and then she joined the band Yppah, where Speer was already the guitarist. After a tour, they were motivated to keep it going and started the new band. And it worked out swimmingly. "The New York Times wrote that Khruangbin's sound was so distinct and popular that "there now exists an entire subgenre of music broadly known as 'Khruangbin vibes.'"
Let's go a little more into the music itself. 2020's Mordechai had the unfortunate fate of many pandemic releases. More very fun, cool, funky, eclectic tracks - some instrumental and some with words - that could frequently act as a very good rap background if someone cool was so inclined. "Father Bird, Mother Bird" has the sound of one of those cool BadBadNotGood tracks that Ghostface Killah used to rap over on that Sour Soul disc. Love this track - smooth as silk and fully laid back. The top track is a great one - "Time (You and I)" with 73.1 million streams (impressive!).
Got that tight wacka wacka action from the guitar, some funky bass machinations, and overall a damn good groove. I just put it in a playlist for my sister the other day - I think it matches her very well. Also, that video is amazing.
Then they hooked up for two EPs with fellow ACL posterboy Leon Bridges, to make the fantabulous 2020 EP - Texas Sun - that is super yummy. Texas Sun came out just right before the pandemic, and something about it just nailed a vibe that we needed in my household at the time. The kids would roll their eyes at this tune by now, because of how much we played it, but it is freaking beautiful. "Texas Sun," with 259.7 million streams (by the way, up from 246.7 million in the last month when I wrote the Leon Bridges review).
The combo of that voice with those groovy, funky, intertwining instruments, is just rad. Seems really bad to have distilled the sun into that little ball and then just look at it with your wife. Your ophthalmologist will be sad. Also, while I'm not sure, I am pretty certain that at least one of those shots in the video was out in or near Alpine, Texas, and I love Alpine, Texas. Maybe it's just more El Paso. And then, in 2022, the Khrungbridges fired out Texas Moon. Not anything on there as good as this, but still solid.
In 2022 they released a disc with the African singer Vieux Farka Toure called Ali. When it was released, I was joking to myself, in the car, that KUTX's playlist is just Khruangbin in different iterations. By themselves, with Leon Bridges, with Toure, probably with like Megan Thee Stallion and Dolly Parton. But this one has a completely different style than the collaborations with someone like Leon. Toure is a Malian guitarist, the son of another famous Malian guitarist Ali Farka Toure (thus the album name, because this is a set of his dad's tunes). And so, the funky worldliness of Khruangbin gets a boost from the African sounds of Toure to make a really nice combination. It is a chill gem of long grooves and relaxed funk. The top track is "Diarabi", which has been on the radio a lot around here. It has 12.5 million streams.
Would be dope as hell with a cool rapper freestyling over the top of that. No clue what he is saying in the lyrics, but the smoothness of the overall track is cool as hell. Now just set Kendrick loose over the top to talk about his childhood and we're cooking with gas. Good disc.
Finally, you get 2024's A LA SALA. You'd never know that this wasn't the same album they put out in 2020. Not that I know the hustle, they found a lane and they are sticking to it, but it is exactly more of the same. Maybe a little more chill, if that is possible, with less of the upbeat numbers as last time. Great vibe music - although if I am being honest, a few times through this one and my brain has wandered and wished I could put some music on. Which is not a great sign. 3 songs crack 10 million, with "May Ninth" being top of the pile at 20.4 million.
Not sure if I like the singing ones or the pure instrumentals, but either way, they really use the smeary little vocals like they were just another instrument in the quiver. Yeah, good vibe here, something nice to hear at a restaurant while you chat. Otherwise, this final feature is a little less than exciting for me. I want more of the Leon Bridges combo action I think.
Oddly, they have a track on the new Childish Gambino album that is just a straight Khruangbin song. No rap. Nothing other than these guys just doing one of their usual funk jams. Strange.
But yeah, I'd go vibe along with this. I very well might end up doing that, being that Saturday's headliners are otherwise underwhelming.
Wikipedia Genre: no Wikipedia, psych rock funk stuff they borrowed
Home: Columbia
Poster Position: 15 Both Weekends Saturday at 3:05.
Tito's Tent.
Thoughts: Hold on, man. You're doing a Khruangbin copy on the same day as Khruangbin? What are we doing here? For real. I've been going for an hour or so and this is just poor mans Khruangbin and similarly difficult to spell. Is this a gathering of the Khrungalos?
They are Columbian and claim to fuse elements of "Middle Eastern Music, Disco, House, Funk, Psychedelia, Indie Rock, Surf and Cumbia into a cohesive whole." It is cool sounding, but not sure how they get to just copy one of the headliners on their day and not get punched in the mouth. The formed during the pandemic and have started churning out music, but I can't really find just a ton about them.
Three albums - 2020's MACROCOSM, 2022's Cause & Effect, and 2023's Third Vibration. Top streamer is off of that first disc - "Johanna's Dream" with 3.1 million streams.
I mean, yeah. That is cool. Just seems really weird to have this sound done by another band right now. I know it shouldn't - lots of rock bands sound similar, punk bands, rappers, pop stars, whatever. But this vibe just feels singular right now and so it seems weird to hear a copycat. Second most streamed is from a 2021 EP called Eclipse Solar, and the name of the song is "Eclipse" with 1.4 million streams.
Now we go a little more modern disco boogie on that one. Not as good, in my opinion. 1k views of that video and zero comments? That seems really odd. Whatever. Also, it just, like, ends. Ah, that is because on the EP it transitions right into the next tune.
Sincerely doubt I would go watch this. It is not bad, by any means. Don't get me wrong. Just feels wrong for it to even exist for me.
Wikipedia Genre: Electro-funk, nu-disco, synth-pop, dance-rock
Home: Montreal
Poster Position: 3 (7) Weekend One Only. Saturday.
Thoughts: Last here in 2014, and they are just silly, good fun. It’s like a Lonely Islands joke that is not a joke at all. Two hairy dudes making disco techno funk dance music. Sounds kind of like the new (well, 2013) Daft Punk stuff or 80’s funk Gap Band/Cameo type stuff. Kind of fun. I want to jump up and down and rhythmically thrust my pelvis. Seriously. Listen to this right now and try to not smile and try to be still. "Jealous (I Ain't With It)," with 71.3 million streams.
Has some Katy Perry bass line crossover. Super derivative of what has come before them and all, but come on! This would probably be a freaking blast to see live. I’m going to need to work out some before October to be prepared. Amazingly, all of their music is like this – this is not a one song move in homage to their favorite 80’s funk band. This is legit. "Fancy Footwork," with 19.8 million streams.
For some reason, this song makes me think of Napoleon Dynamite - I know this was not what he jammed to at the assembly, but I think it would have fit in just right in that scene. Uh, hey Pedro, like check out my fancy footwork, okay?
Spotify lists their first album as being from 1983, but that cannot be true. Wikipedia says they formed in 2002, so that must be a typo. Since that 2002 formation, they've put out 8 studio albums - 2004's She's in Control, 2007's Fancy Footwork, 2010's Business Casual, 2014's White Women, 2018's Head Over Heels, 2020's Quarantine Casanova, 2021's Bend the Rules, and 2023's CLUSTERFUNK. The quarantine album is funny because the song names are perfect - "Clorox Wipe," "6 Feet Away," "Stay in Bed (And Do Nothing)," "Cabin Fever," etc. Very Lonely Island vibes on that one, singing about falling in love from six feet away and not being able to hear each other because of masks.
The group is from Montreal - two high school friends (David "Dave 1" Macklovitch and Patrick "P-Thugg" Gemayel) - who have called their group "the only successful Arab/Jewish partnership since the dawn of human culture." They started making music together at 15 - mainly hip hop production - but then angled towards disco club greatness.
Let's do one of the newest tracks to see if anything has changed over the years. The new album feels a little more like Parliament/Funkadelic at times, but then throws off the Chic vibes too. The top track is called "Everyone Moves to LA," with 815k streams.
I'd go watch this - silly and fun and pleasurable.
One Liner: Funky Cuban making very enjoyable tunes (I just wish I could understand them!)
Wikipedia Genre: Funk, electronic, Latin, R&B Home: Cuba Poster Position: 15 Weekend One Only. Saturday.
Thoughts: I had heard one of these songs on the radio - he's got a few tracks that feature George Clinton and are pretty fun. But most of these are full-Spanish tracks which saps some of the fun from them just because I have no clue what is being said. On the other hand, the joyful, funky pleasure of these tunes is hard to deny.
Real name is Erik Alejandro Iglesias Rodriguez, and he is from Cuba. He had originally planned on becoming a doctor, like several members of his family, and even went to medical school for two years, before dropping out to pursue music. He started using this name in 2016, as a reference to the "cimarrons," who were escaped slaves who formed their own communities in Cuba in the colonial era. Since then, he's been getting noticed a lot, with The New Yorker comparing him to James Brown and both Rolling Stone and NPR naming his last album an album of the year.
Two albums - 2017's Terapia and 2021's El Alimento. By the time of the second album, he has some good collaborators - Lupe Fiasco, George Clinton, Ceelo Green. The top track is the one with Fiasco, so I'll give you that first. "Rompelo," with 1.6 million streams.
Man, it would be really cool if he was rapping that in English so that I could understand what he has going on. It is a very fun track and you can feel his joy and energy coming out. "Rompelo" apparently means "break it," so this is essentially Limp Bizkit for the Spanish speaking world. Good verse from Lupe Fiasco as well. Kind of feels like something Silk Sonic could have done. Great fun.
I think you need to hear the George Clinton track too. Everything on this newer album is definitely better and more polished that the first album, anyway.
I had tickets to see Clinton a year or two ago (was that before the pandemic? Weird) and had to skip it, but I really wish I could have seen that weirdo do his thing. Fun track too. "Estoy Pa' Eso" is some P-Funk biting dumpstafunk. I think the whole album - it goes between funk and more traditional Cuban music, but all of it is fun.
His top streamer overall if "Parar el Tiempo" from the first album, with 4.4 million streams.
Nothing exciting in there, likely because I have no clue what they are singing about and the song itself is not anything particularly interesting. Slow start, and then a light groove for the rest. Not terrible, but not nearly as fun as those other two up above.
One Liner: One of the greatest rock bands ever (IMO), and boasts the prime time funk of Flea.
Wikipedia Genre: Funk rock, alternative rock, funk metal, rap rock Home: Los Angeles, CA Poster Position: 1 Both Weekends. Sunday. Thoughts: I freaking love the Red Hot Chili Peppers. I've heard people griping because they were here a few years ago and they are old and blah blah blah. They are one of the most exciting bands I can think of to fill my eardrums, and live they usually bring the house. I've seen them four times now, and although they rarely play anything older than Blood Sugar Sex Magic anymore, that doesn't mean that they won't dip deep into the catalog this time. Please? Maybe? As I've done in the past with some of the major headliners, I'll go through the RHCP catalog and list them in order of badassery. Before I get to it, I wanted to mention that if you dig the Chilis, you should definitely go read the autobiography that Anthony Kiedis put out a few years ago called Scar Tissue. It is a crazy ass look into his personal history, from a wild childhood (including humping his Dad's girlfriend) to drug binges (including stuff that should have killed him repeatedly) to groupie love, as well as some cool insight into how and why he wrote some of the greatest songs the band has ever made. It also helped to understand a little bit about the tortured history of the guitarist position in the band. Short history:
Hillel Slovak. Founding member, with the band up to Uplift Mofo in 1987 (with a small break or three), died of heroin overdose.
Jack Sherman. Helped out in the early days when Slovak left the band to move forward with another band called What Is This? Was pretty much just on the first album.
John Frusciante. The best of the group (for my money) who was on Mother's Milk, Blood Sugar, Californication, By the Way, and Stadium Arcadium. Took a break in the mid-90's before leaving for good. But then not actually being gone for good, because he is back now.
Dave Navarro. The Jane's Addiction guitarist who filled in for Frusciante in the mid-90's, but actually did a great job with the band on One Hot Minute.
Josh Klinghoffer. Most recent guy, who had been with a bunch of minor bands and then had been playing with the Peppers on their Stadium Arcadium tour as a backing guitarist, but when Frusciante quit again, he just stepped in. I feel kinda bad for the dude now, because he just got kicked to the curb once Frusciante came back.
And since I've pimped for the Kiedis autobiography, I have to mention that I was not able to finish Acid for the Children, Flea's book. I think Flea is freaking amazing, but the book is just so weird that I found it offputting. Like, instead of telling stories in a normal narrative fashion, it is very freeform and off-the-wall. Maybe I'll finish it someday. Anyway, on to the albums.
1. Blood Sugar Sex Magik (1991).
A formative album for me. My sister, Sharon, had put me on to the band with Mother's Milk, which I also love, but this one hit me right when it mattered most, right at the right time in my music formation, to find the coolest bass player in the world mixed with freaky, funky, weird lyrics. I was weird in high school. I guess I am still weird, being that I write a billion words about music that only like 8 people read, but back then I was in band and theatre and lacrosse and these dudes were a great complement to the more straight-forward rock of grunge but they were infinitely weirder, which was very appealing. So, this album was a massive hit, and it very well might be everyone's favorite Chili's album, but even beyond the "Give it Away" and "Under the Bridge" hit tunes, I don't understand how the opening track ("Power of Equality") can't make you just want to jump up and freak. Or the semi-scary sexual storytelling of "Apache Rose Peacock" and "Sir Psycho Sexy." Or the feels of "Breaking the Girl." Or the total abandon of "The Greeting Song." Flea is the reason that this band is the best thing ever, and he is prominently featured and makes this whole album the best thing. Like, what other band makes things like "Mellowship Slinky in B Major" with their bassist just weaving around like that? Love it. I've got the album art on the wall in my office right at this moment. 2. Mother's Milk (1989).
The interview snippets in the midst of that video above for "Good Time Boys" are fantastic. Easy call for the second best album for me, as if BSSM had never existed, this would have always been the best Chili's album ever. This is where they finally honed the wild punk style of the first few albums into the right combination of punk and funk and rock and freak. Their cover of Stevie Wonder's "Higher Ground" is the best stuff, but "Subway to Venus" and "Knock Me Down" are both awesome. The cover of "Fire," nonstop blast of flames that it is, also rocks out. "Pretty Little Ditty" was sampled by that shitty "Butterfly" song from that shitty band Crazy Town, which despite both that band and song being crap, was kind of cool (although the version of that song on the copy of Mother's Milk that you can stream on Spotify is wrong, it is not the same version as was included on my CD of this album from 30 years ago). And even though I think the Lakers suck, I still can't hate on the fact that these guys made an awesome homage song for their team and released it like a regular track to the album. No one does stuff like that anymore. Most of this album just jams out and is fun as hell. Do it. 3. Californication (1999).
Without looking, I would have bet that this was their most commercially successful album, with several legit hits. From reviewing Wikipedia, it looks like that is questionable. Blood Sugar sold the most U.S. copies at 7 million (Californication comes in right behind that at 6 million), and while this one charted well, it did not do as well as Stadium Arcadium which hit number 1 in every market tracked on Wikipedia, as did the new one Unlimited Love. But, where this album won the race is in worldwide sales, as it apparently sold more than 16 million worldwide, versus 13.8 for BSSM or 7.6 million for Stadium. But this one boasts more hits than the others, with "Scar Tissue," "Around the World," "Otherside," "Californication" and "Road Trippin'" all charting well. From what I remember about last time they came to ACL, they leaned hard on this album and Stadium Arcadium, so I might expect to hear some of those hits again. The chorus of "Scar Tissue" is one of my favorites from them - the longing tone of voice and guitar going along under "with the birds I share this lonely view," it just works out perfectly for the feel of the song. There are a ton of official videos for this album, so if you feel like going down that wormhole, you can get a bunch of them on YouTube. I'll just give you the one above for the title track (although that video does not age well with those jenky video game graphics). And with this album, even beyond the hits, you've got great rockers like "Get On Top." When trying to consider where to rank albums, my instinct was that this one should go lower, but its just too good. 4. One Hot Minute (1995).
I'm already in a bind here, because honestly I could have put any of the next few into this slot. But I gotta put them in order, so I'm giving this one the slight edge. This is the one album with Dave Navarro, so from what I've heard they rarely (if ever) play any of the songs from this one live, so we never get to check out the genius of "Walkabout" or "Pea" in person. I think it also helps that I listened to this album a million times during college when I had a lot of spare time to appreciate tunes, so this one has a happy memory space for me. Even the late tunes on the album like "Shallow Be Thy Game" jam out. This is why I listen to the Chilis, to get my funk out and jam. 5. The Uplift Mofo Party Plan (1987).
That video features quite a few boobs and a lot of Flea's bare butt, so fair warning here. The greatness of this album is the raw fury and my nostalgia for how I felt at age 15 (or whatever) yelling along to "Special Secret Song Inside" ("I want to party on your puuuuuuuusssssay") or "No Chump Love Sucker" ("How could I ever Have kissed that bitch, So what if she's GOT BIG TITS!!!"). For young Jack, those lines were highly fun to furtively boast, sotto voce, in my bedroom alone, or full voiced in my car. This was also probably my first real exposure to a Dylan song with "Subterranean Homesick Blues." This one just has the most frantic tracks, I think, with "Love Trilogy," and "Skinny Sweaty Man," and "Me and My Friends." I have some good memories of this disc in high school, cruising around in my friend's Bronco II and jamming this thing. 6. By the Way (2002)
This one was up at #4 for a while in early drafts of this post, but after listening to all the albums a few more times, I think I get sucked in to the two fantastic tunes on here and think the entire album is better than it is. Namely, "Can't Stop" is one of the best tunes that the Chilis have ever put together (#3 currently on their popular songs listing on Spotify, with 775.4 million streams). "By the Way" is great, "Dosed" is really good too. But the album has a lot of tunes that I'd call filler. On that weird ass video up above, I'm hearing hand claps in the chorus that I've never heard in listening to that song a million times. That is strange. I'm not saying this album is bad or anything, in fact it is really good, but it just can't beat out those ones up above. 7. Unlimited Love (2022).
I'm unapologetic about loving the Chilis. I know they have some unfortunate songs on their catalog (although I have to say that when "Party on Your P***y" came out I was like 11 and that shit was deeply funny to me) but overall their aesthetic of funk and groove and rock and goofiness ties deeply into what I want all of my music to be. And also, they got their best guitarist back! So I was pumped about this release. And while the bass is funky and slappy, and the guitar solos are meandering and jagged (in all the right ways), and the drumming is as tight as ever, the lyrics are sooooooooo dumb. Like, a song called "Aquatic Mouth Dance" is just not what I needed to try to defend this thing (but that bass solo in there is tight). The lead single, "Black Summer," sounds great, but it makes zero sense (and that is even while setting aside the weird accent that Anthony uses). The second track - "Here Ever After" - is one of those that seems like it is just free thought association. "I don't know 'cause I got big temper,
Stick close to my rainbow side, Candy corn and that dancing leopard, That’s all, folks, that's all" or "I don't know, but it’s finally just one more mile, Peaches are sold and all givin' up on that Humpty style." Mmmmmkay. Maybe that means something to Anthony, but it just sounds like he's scatting random words over the otherwise good bump and tumble tune. Other random lines pop up all throughout - "superstars don't do the dishes!" or "I just want to lick your face!" or "the smile of a knife is seldom befriending" or "platypus are a few."
BUT - I honestly don't care. I like a lot of music where the lyrics are dumb as crap. I've written before about Greta Van Fleet having dumb lyrics, or the Foo Fighters just shoving a bunch of trite sayings together and calling it good. In the end, I love Flea's bass and I like Anthony's weird sing-rap meandering and I like Frusciante's spacy slashing and I even like Will Ferrell's no-nonsense drumming. I'm here for the groove, man. And you definitely get that groove in "Black Summer" or "The Great Apes" or "She's a Lover" or loads of other tunes on here. "Poster Child" totally sounds like something that could have been on Blood Sugar. The bass is funky and the guitar has that slinky, freaky, pedal-tweaked sound that makes this sound like I need to listen to it in a convertible while cruising a strip. "The Heavy Wing" for sure sounds like a Chilis song that I had heard before this album came out. It could have used a trim for sure - 17 songs for 73 minutes is pretty damn long - but I'm still digging the groove. Y'all know me. I'm in.
8. The Getaway (2016).
Reviewed this one back in 2016, and its only grown on me since. I keep hearing "Go Robot" on the radio and its such a cool track, funk bass flailing and then some disco-fied Duran Duran sounding synth breakdowns. I think this album may crawl up the hierarchy of albums over time, but this is where it falls for me for now. I love the opening of the album, with the title track, where I can see Flea making that hissing cymbal sound with his mouth while contorting his face around the mike with each hiss. "Dark Necessities" is also a good tune, although I've tried to parse the lyrics out and have no clue what the hell is going on there. I talked about "Dreams of a Samurai" before, with its Radiohead-leaning sound, and I still like that one too. 8. Stadium Arcadium (2006).
(I'm sorry Noah!)
My big beef with this one is just with the filler stuff. If they would have cut down the album into a single disc of the strongest songs, this one could be really great, like top four, but instead when you listen you get two hours and thirty-one freaking minutes of tunes. It's just bloated. That being said, "Snow (Hey Oh)" and "Tell Me Baby" especially that second one, are awesome. Give me more of the nonsense spewing lyrics over the funk roll. "chilichilibittysomething about nittygritty life can be a little shitty something Boston and Kansas City jibba jabba pennies!" "Dani California" is good too, but overplayed enough to have less punch for me now. And I like "Slow Cheetah" too. Weird that this album is already 16 years old - seems newish to me. Hell, even the silly ass "Hump de Bump" is pretty fun - "nothin' but a two beach comber!" - that nimble bass is freaking awesome. So I gave you that one up above. AND, that video is top notch with some fly dancing, homeless trumpet guys, Chris Rock, Craig Robinson, and a terrible looking grill on Kiedis. But on the first disc, after about "Torture Me," the majority of those songs just stop holding my interest and kind of fart away into the wind. Same with most of the second disc, just unnecessary. But, Spotify has a 30 minute long spoken commentary about the album that is kind of cool. The character Dani California ends up being from both the songs "Californication" and "By the Way," which is a weird thing to decide, but such it is. Frusciante apparently crafted his guitars based on the original Wu Tang album's vocal rhythms, which is also weird. The interesting thing about their commentary is that the first half is only them talking about the best songs - "Snow," "Tell Me Baby," "Dani," and "Stadium," before they start to get into the lesser tunes. Although Flea says that "Wet Sand" is a top five song for him. And there is a part at about 19:20 when you can hear Kiedis getting all excited about Flea talking about how the guitar and bass made an organic thing like a tree. Anyway, "Tell Me Baby" is a jam. 9. Freaky Styley (1985)
So, Freaky Styley is pretty low on my totem pole, I suppose, but it has some tunes on it that I remember with great nostalgia. I went to youth camp with a bunch of girls from a Houston Catholic school (and had massive crushes on like 40 of them at any given time), so "Catholic School Girls Rule" was a favorite. The best tune on here is the cover of "If You Want Me to Stay," which is still so freaking perfect. It's chilled, but they do it perfectly. And then "Yertle the Turtle" is a classic that I find myself singing to myself at random times. "Yertle the Turtle oh marvelous me, for I am ruler of all that I see." But this album is from the time when Kiedis is still doing a lot of the rap-style singing and the band is significantly more raw and unfinished sounding. 10. I'm With You (2011).
Honestly, in just re-listening to this album, I think its better than I remember. But the "hit" from it, "The Adventures of Ran Dance Maggie," is pretty weak, so mentally I think that the whole thing is weaker than it really is. I say that, but then the stream counts on the album show that it really never got off the ground in comparison to other recent RHCP albums. The Getaway's top song has over 354 million streams and the three tracks with the lowest streams are still averaging over 20 million streams. On the other hand, this album's top song only has 118 million streams and it has six songs with streams under 15 million. And its been around for much longer. But giving it another shot right now, its actually super funky and deserves more attention. If I were to make a guess as to why it hasn't been more on my radar, I think it is the same malaise that has affected almost all albums that have come out in the past five years - if I didn't buy it and just streamed it, then I probably jammed it a few times and then moved on to the next new album. Which sucks, but is kind of reality. I'll keep working this one into my brain for a while here. 11. Red Hot Chili Peppers (1984).
That video is amazing for several reasons. First, Alan Thicke joking with these morons. Second, how freaking young are these dudes! Third, Kiedis sounds like the worst lead singer ever in the history of the world. Thank God he figured out how to sing (and rap with some semblance of tune). This album definitely doesn't deserve to be the "worst" of the group, but if I'm being honest about it, most of this album is just not that great. The best track, the reason that this whole thing worked out, is "Get Up and Jump." I hear them trying to come up with the top-notch funky punk that comes out later, but most of this album has more in common with the terrible rap-nu-metal from the mid-90's than the best stuff the Chili's have to offer. But you can hear cool bits and pieces that will come together later. The guitar licks on "Buckle Down." The frenetic bass flow on "Get Up and Jump." The silliness on half of the tunes. "Mommy Where's Daddy" always used to make me grin - "give daddy a kiss, girl, awwww Dad." But, with all the good stuff these guys put out after this, no need (in my opinion) to go this far back into the catalog. So there you have it. No reviews of the EPs or singles ("Soul to Squeeze" from the Coneheads soundtrack or "Love Rollercoaster" from Beavis & Butthead), and no mention of how amazing their version of Hendrix songs are - "Castles Made of Sand" was always a good one.
There is also something out there I had never known about before, a group of B-Sides from I'm With You that was called I'm Beside You. Spotify doesn't provide it as a full album, but as a series of singles with neato artsy covers. "Hometown Gypsy" has a fun country-ness to it. "Pink as Floyd" comes on slowly, but then sounds cool. Glad I found those for some new action! While this could change dramatically by the time October rolls around, a look at their current set-lists shows that we are likely to get another set that is light on the old school classics, with their most recent five European shows looking like this:
3-Jul
5-Jul
8-Jul
9-Jul
12-Jul
Intro Jam
Intro Jam
Intro Jam
Intro Jam
Intro Jam
Around the World
Can't Stop
Around the World
Can't Stop
Around the World
Dani California
Dani California
Dani California
Dani California
Dani California
Charlie
I Like Dirt
Universally Speaking
Scar Tissue
The Zephyr Song
The Zephyr Song
Scar Tissue
Charlie
These Are the Ways
Aquatic Mouth Dance
These Are the Ways
These Are the Ways
These Are the Ways
I Like Dirt
Snow ((Hey Oh))
Your Song (Elton John)
Snow ((Hey Oh))
Snow ((Hey Oh))
Snow ((Hey Oh))
These Are the Ways
Snow ((Hey Oh))
Nobody Weird Like Me
Aquatic Mouth Dance
Here Ever After
Throw Away Your Television
Aquatic Mouth Dance
Here Ever After
Suck My Kiss
Hard to Concentrate
Otherside
Wet Sand
Don't Forget Me
Hey
Tell Me Baby
Nobody Weird Like Me
She's a Lover
The Heavy Wing
Otherside
She's a Lover
Whatchu Thinkin'
Right on Time
Tell Me Baby
Whatchu Thinkin'
Right on Time
Black Summer
Black Summer
Black Summer
Pea
The Heavy Wing
Soul to Squeeze
Californication
Californication
Soul to Squeeze
Black Summer
The Heavy Wing
Give It Away
It's Only Natural
Black Summer
Californication
Californication
Under the Bridge
Give It Away
Californication
What Is Soul? (Funkadelic)
Give It Away
By the Way
I Could Have Lied
Give It Away
Give It Away
Sir Psycho Sexy
By the Way
Under the Bridge
I Could Have Lied
They're Red Hot
By the Way
By the Way
By the Way
So, the only old tunes are: Give It Away, Under the Bridge (only twice!), Nobody Weird Like Me (twice), I Could Have Lied (twice), Suck My Kiss (once), Sir Psycho Sexy (once). Play Higher Ground, man!
I suspect that an ACL show will lean heavy on the hits and not dive out into the ether of the catalog, but here's to hoping that they go deep into Mother's and BSSM.
One Liner: Jammy funk pop rock that feels vitally danceable
Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, but this is jazzy jam funk rock Home: Boston Poster Position: 16 Weekend Two Only. Saturday.
Thoughts: Well, Wikipedia has a lot of articles about things named Ripe, but nothing about this band. Interestingly, four bands have made albums named Ripe, and I have never heard of any of them. Banderas, Ben Lee, Field Trip, or Slug. All of those have Ripe in the catalog, but none are this band. There are also towns named Ripe in both Italy and England. And one website claims that there are also two other bands named Ripe - a shoegaze band from Australia and a power metal band from Copenhagen.
But this is a a Boston band that plays a funky, jazzy, jammy sort of rock. And their top song rings a bell, it must be getting radio play here in Austin. Seven students at the Berklee College of Music formed the band in 2011, including a trumpet guy and trombone guy, and released their first EP in 2013. The only real album was 2018's Joy in the Wild Unknown. Since then, it has just been a handful of singles. A full listen to the catalog definitely makes this feel like a jam band, even when all of the songs aren't definitely jammy. And I know that can be a bad tag to some folks, but moments like the guitar solo in "Ex-Life" made me stop what I was doing to bliss out for a bit, so I think this could be a fun show.
That top song is their new single, "Settling," which only has a million streams as of right now.
Comes on like a Jack Johnson tune, and then the chorus sounds like a Bob Schneider joint. But it also sounds freaking awesome. Like, a purely fun song that requires some immediate dance moves. No jam band flavor in this one at all - just a tight ass pop rock gem. Seriously makes me want to cry it's so great.
The top streamer is a track from that one album, "Downward," with 7.7 million streams.
Dangit, I promise they have songs that sound jammy. Both of the tracks I have presented to you so far just sound like pop funk dance tunes. "First Time Feeling" is also a fun song. These guys are a good time.
I need to go see it. Loving it so very much. But weekend two only!?! C'mon man!
