Ripe

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!