– GUERRILLA WARFARE –

Does anyone actually know what a ‘Kneebody’ is supposed to be?

To be honest, that’s probably what the NYC / LA-based quartet want you to say. After all, their sound has proven itself to be equally as odd and indefinable over their near 20-year history.

And so the ‘jazz’ band return with yet another offering that merely tips its hat at the genre.

Spectra is the first single to be released from a new album entitled Chapters, which is due for release this Autumn.

The scene is set the second Nate Wood’s shotgun snare rings out in the eighth bar.

“Rat-a-tat-at.”

Simple. Powerful. Arresting. (The same drum intro that was so effective on Sick Talk, actually). There are going to be no holds barred here.

One-by-one the instruments pile on. First a fuzzed-up bass fights its way in alongside the drums and Adam Benjamin’s keyboard lines which are, by now, weaving and dodging like a plucky featherweight. Then, Saxophonist Ben Wendel and trumpeter Shane Ensley weigh in with their considerable muscle – the beefed-up sound of the two playing in unison battling its way to the front of the mix.

And, as the deep, almost monastic, vocals fill out the sound, you’ve got a track that feels more aesthetically aligned to sludge metal than swing.

Of course, the band work the song through and slits of light are allowed to pierce the shadows for brief moments at a time.

But the overarching feeling is of a track that is big and brawny and belligerent… and bloody beautiful, of course, too.

Chapters will be released on 18 October through Edition Records.

MORE FROM THIS WEEK’S MIX

BREAD CLUB: HOT MESS
BROCKHAMPTON: DEARLY DEPARTED
TINARIWEN: KEL TINAWEN
SUDAN ARCHIVES: CONFESSIONS

P.S. You can find all of the tracks reviewed above in the 45 Revolutions per Minute playlist below or click to access the 45 RPM Playlist on Spotify itself.

If you like what you hear (or even if you don’t), please engage in dialogue with me @45rpm_Reviews on Twitter. And, if you’d like to receive updates weekly, please subscribe to the email list to get these recommendations sent to your inbox weekly.

– SV –