Electric Kif is one of the leading funk fusion foursomes of the early 21st century and, I believe, have the gravitas to be among those bands that are listened to for decades, as their predecessors, Weather Report and Return to Forever have been. That’s a lofty statement, for sure, but the textures and contours of their tunes merit such praise and ReThink is a marvelous addition to their portfolio as the sixth studio album.
Buy or Stream ReThink
(click on image)
The band has been around for nearly 15 years and in the current configuration for more than 10. They’ve refined their sound while touring regularly including such festivals as GroundUP Music Festival, Suwannee Hulaween, Suwanee Rising and North Beach Music Festival. Coming up in March 2025, they’ll perform at the inaugural Suwannee Amp Jam.
Each of the band members is a vaunted touring musician bringing back additional experience to grow the collective. For this album, ReThink, they’ve put together a collection of intricate tunes that ease the listener along unexplored pathways and open the mind to new adventures. On ReThink, they’ve added Adam Robl, who brings an added dimension with an eclectic mix of strings, keyboards and unusual instruments including the ondes Martenot, to spice up the mix.
Have a read and a listen to this terrific album, track by track.
Track By Track
The Tumble starts with Jason (keys) and Armando (drums) on setting the tone before Eric develops the dreamlike sequence on guitar. Digo has the two bass solos for the bridges including the second one that ends the tune.
Asking For Trouble has a harder, edgy open with Armando and Eric alone at the start of the video. The video is pretty cool highlighting the players at the moment but I don’t know how Armando is playing the drums backwards. The main theme is Led Zeppelin-like with those power chords.
Square Grouper is a vehicle for Eric’s guitar voice at the start, then develops into a steamroller of a chorus from the band. It sounds like a lot more than four players. Jason takes a funky synth solo midway and it segues into a massive fireball before Eric takes the lead again.
Rain Mantra is a beautiful midtempo tune with both Eric and Jason taking lead roles. There’s a bit of not quite discernable news broadcast in the background and I presume Adam Robl of various instruments bringing in those oscillating sounds.
95 Civic whirrs like an old car starting up…perhaps the car in the title. It has several winding down synth notes but comes back purring. Digo puts a nice imprint bass line down for the main melody to travel on.
ReThink, the title track, has the listener enter a hypnotic portal through an iron gate with some muffled lyrics and airy string effects. Adam adds some cello to the mysterious Middle Eastern sounding tune. The plunky piano and swirling strings add to the drama.
Figurine Army takes off at high speed with a punch drum and bass backbone. Jason, Eric and Adam play some shooting star or comet laser beams. The cluster gets more dense and intense. There’s a bit of cryptic messaging, “We dig your concept, we dig your process?” Then one of the celestial objects sounds like it careens across the sky as the announcement fades.
Withlacoochie has some slick swirling effects and nature sounds pumping through the start. It sounds like a Western African tune, like something Toubab Krewe might put together. Short and oh so sweet.
Chief is a jamtronica piece that I believe would appeal to fans of bands like Lotus or Mildlife. It’s got some far out synth word plus Adam adding echoing instrumentation and some voiced/synth work mixed in.
Few and Far has a similar opening to Chief, perhaps a bit less spacey and more bassy. It’s more guitar heavy and has a fatter sound spanning a broader spectrum It’s got some very tremulant instrumentation feeling like a starship cruiser. Nice way to end the collection.
Electric Kif Are
Eric Escanes – Guitar / Acoustic Guitar
Armando Lopez – Drums / Drum Machine / Repique / Vocals
Jason Matthews – Keybords / Piano / Drum Machine
Rodrigo “Digo” Zambrano – Bass / Fretless Bass / Kala Bass / Synth Bass / Baritone Guitar
Additional muscians:
Adam Robl – Orchestration / String Arrangement / Guitar / Cello / Violin / Bowed bass / Ondes Martenot / Synth/Prophet 5 / Modular synth
Written, Recorded & Produced by Electric Kif
Mixed by Brian Robertson
Additonal mixing by Jason Matthews, Eric Escanes, Armando Lopez and Rodrigo Zambrano
Mastered by Joe Lambert
1 Comment
Comments are closed.