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I first became hooked on Garage A Trois with their 2005 album “Outré Mer” which also featured percussionist/vibraphonist Mike Dillon.  The band was formed in 1998 with this original “OG GAT” trio of Stanton Moore of Galactic on drums, Skerik on sax and synths and Charlie Hunter on his hybrid  “BIG 6” playing the bass and guitar lines.  This album, just the second studio album of the trio, is an intoxicating mix of funk and electronic that I dub “trip funk.” It rips of groove-driven funk throughout with Skerik playing melody pilot on space flights throughout.  It requires extensive headContinue Reading

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After a nice 3 day break, Snarky Puppy returned to the stage in Maz’s hometown, Milwaukee. The historic Pabst Theater plays host. Apparently it’s the 4th oldest music venue in the United States; a nice bit of history there. This show would probably end up in a top 10 list of my favorite Snarky shows from 2019. Track-By-Track Coven – Things begin gently with McQueen’s beautiful tune Coven. McQueen adds a stronger than usual drone with his fuzz and E-bow alongside the opening horn riff. The main melody features some really tasteful organ and synth comping from Bobby and Justin.Continue Reading

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 This concert is entertaining not only because of the music, but also the banter! Michael League makes some references to the hit TV series Game of Thrones throughout the night (which was being broadcast nationwide at the same time as this concert), and the keyboardists get caught up in some trash-talking about barbeque skills. You can tell that the band is relaxed and enjoying the atmosphere of the venue. Whenever that happens, it revs up both the crowd and the band…which makes for an unforgettable show! My recording of this show has some slight mixing issues on a few songs,Continue Reading

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Following on from Indianapolis, Snarky Puppy arrived in Chicago to play a sold-out show at the quaint Riviera theatre. The Riviera was built over 100 years ago and originally started out as a movie theatre, so it has had to be adapted to suit live music. That being said, this recording still sounds really good and definitely showcases how skilled Snarky’s sound crew are. This setlist shares many similarities with the previous shows like ‘Thing of Gold,’ ‘Xavi’ and ‘Ready Wednesday.’ However, like usual things were shaken up. Track-By-Track Even Us – Things ease in with the new favourite opener,Continue Reading

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Continuing on from the last recap, the following evening, May the 17th saw Snarky Puppy play the Vogue. The Vogue was one of the smaller venues the pups played during the Immigrance tour. The nightclub has wonderfully tuned acoustics and this particular Live Snarky album has one of the cleanest mixes I’ve ever heard from a live album of this nature. The setting was intimate allowing the fans to really connect with the band, so not only is this a great sounding album, it also feels amazing too. The energy the band and audience were putting out kept growing asContinue Reading

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It’s been a while since the last LiveSnarky recap, but I’m hoping this will become the first of many new show reviews. FunkCity.net writer Doug Chew and myself have decided to review every show from Live Snarky on the 2 year anniversary of the show. As of today/tonight 2 years ago, Snarky Puppy performed in Cleveland, Ohio at the beautiful Masonic Auditorium; a lively and very acoustic room for the second part of the seven-month long Immigrance tour. The pups played lots of Immigrance tunes and a few of the hits, and were joined by special guests Weedie Braimah andContinue Reading

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The Bamboos just released their tenth studio album after more than than twenty years performing together.  This Australian group have refined their craft of finding the sweetest spot between soul and funk to the finest point yet.  Hard Up reinvigorate a classic sound, seamlessly  incorporating contemporary influences to create something altogether brand new. Much of the album was recorded communally over a week just prior to the pandemic at a sprawling country house just outside the (coincidentally named) town of Lancefield, north of Melbourne. The approach of making an album outside the recording studio, steeped in such legendary tales as theContinue Reading

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What do you get when three top notch musicians join forces to lock in with each other’s moods and moves – you get The Hit from WRD Trio!  I’ve been a long time fan of the respective bands of these three talents – Robert Walter of The Greyboy Allstars and Robert Walter’s 20th Congress, Eddie Roberts of The New Mastersounds and Matador! Soul Sounds, and Adam Deitch of Lettuce and Break Science. Hell, those bands would make a great lineup for a weekend festival.  So when I heard about this album, I knew I would dig it and indeed it’sContinue Reading

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As a new contributor to FunkCity.net, I eagerly look forward to writing reviews of Snarky Puppy concerts from 2019.  I plan to release reviews on the 2-year anniversary of the show I’m writing about.  We’ll kick things off with the final show of the Pacific leg of the Immigrance tour.  After traveling to Japan and New Zealand, Snarky Puppy arrived in Australia for a handful of concerts at the Byron Bay Blues Fest, the Enmore Theatre in Sydney, and Melbourne’s Forum.  During this show, Michael League praised the local music scene and gave a shout-out to Perrin Moss of HiatusContinue Reading

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The Exciting Sounds of Menahan Street Band “MSB”, is an apt title for this, the third studio album from the group.  MSB is somewhat of a house band for Daptone Records sublabel Dunham Records, having been the main support for the late, great Charles Bradley, the flying eagle.  MSB was founded by Thomas Brenneck (guitar) and Homer Steinweiss (drums). MSB released their first album, Make the Road By Walking in 2008 and their second The Crossing in 2012 so this one’s been nearly 10 years in the making.  Part of the explanation for the gap is that Brenneck is alsoContinue Reading