Review: Jungle Fire at the Echoplex

On November 9, three bands came together to play at the Echoplex in Los Angeles. The latter two, Monophonics and Orgone, were powerfully impressive bands in their own right. The first, Jungle Fire, has been making waves in Southern California for two years with their latin afro-beat jazz funk reggae dance soul nigh-indescribable sound.

What is this band that almost accidentally occurred when several musicians with strange auditory tastes got into the same room back in 2011 just for a one-off, but now is about to tour the United Kingdom? Well there's a lot of things that they are not. Despite the perfection of their horn section and the clear influence of African and South American musical traditions, this is not by any means what one would call "world music." And further, there's no fusion about it. This is not a novelty, not a niche, not a cunningly orchestrated repackaging of some hidden gem from some exotic part of the world (although clearly these musicians have done their homework and have in their souls and their skin and their bones rhythms from far away places).

So what is it? It seems the difficulty in giving Jungle Fire's music an accurate description is caused at least in part by the fact that this really is a genuinely new kind of music.

Immediately after seeing them for the first time last January at this same venue when they opened for Budos Band, I wrote a review in my almost inarticulable awe at their tangible power.  Having seen them several times in the LA areas--twice at the Del Monte Speakeasy, once at the Echo, and now twice at the Echoplex--I think they're just now finding their sound. This recent show on November 9 had a power, an easy strength unseen in earlier shows, although all their performances have given evidence of musical prowess and a firm precision among the band members. The addition of a nearly-psychadelic guitar background to the funk afro/latin beat percussion and bass has completed the sonorous structure and promises to be a rock upon which future composers and musical minds seeking for influences will anchor their own creations.  The band is terribly tight, and not only are they superb musicians, but their enjoyment of what they are doing captures an audience instantly. All these musicians show sprezzatura, an effortless precision, a freedom of musical movement that has the underpinnings of studied excellence. The sound is infectious, and it's not overstating the case to say that everyone who has seen them live has the sense of witnessing a change in the future of music.

"Comencemos," a cover of Fela Kuti's "Let's Start," has made the rounds among noted djs in LA clubs. Media attention steadily grows. My personal favorite is without question Firewalker; when I first heard them play this at the Echoplex my jaw dropped at the powerful funk-disco bassline under the latin-flavored guitar, percussion and horns. Already this tune has had some play in the UK on radio stations, featured on Canadian music blogger's well-perused page, and has raised some clamorous response from some knowledgeable people in the overseas music crowd. And recordings aside, this band's live shows have been gathering a following that has been visibly increasing in numbers, exuberance, and influence.






With two 7" single releases out on Colemine ("Comencemos" and "Firewalker"), Jungle Fire is working on a full length LP, but in the meantime is headed to the UK this week to play the following dates:

November 29 - Bangor, UK - Hendre Hall
November 30 - Manchester, UK - Band On The Wall
December 1 - Birmingham, UK - Hare & Hounds
December 3 - Colchester, UK - Colchester Arts Centre
December 4 - London, UK - 229 The Venue
December 5 - Bristol, UK - Fiddlers Club
December 6 - Newcastle, UK - Hoochie Coochie
December 7 - Leeds, UK - The Wardrobe

Tour details can be found at the Jungle Fire website. If you are in the UK and can make any of these dates, I strongly encourage you to go see them. It is a new sound, it is an impossibly, irrepressibly danceable show to see, it is an evening you will brag about for decades. Jungle Fire are going to change the planet.

Review: The Ventriloquists at The Mint

The Ventriloquists

On Friday May 24th at The Mint in Los Angeles The Ventriloquists performed a set of moving tunes to an enthusiastic audience. I felt it a privilege to witness their live show in the sophisticated yet accessible aura that this venue spreads about the musical acts that traverses its stage. Initially the performance was impressive, simply from the visual impact that five multi-instrumental musicians on stage is able to wield.

Upon hearing the successive tunes, however, rich in their lyrical depth and in their textured melodic and harmonic layers, I was won over through my ears. The Ventriloquists shape a kind of poetry in sound and sense full of lament and celebration, angst and consummation. Sometimes aggressive, with nip and nibble of acerbic wit, sometimes soothingly haunting in their jazz-infused energy, always playful, always intriguing, these tunes make an impact. What these talented musicians are making are songs that people will sing and not forget.

This band admits that they are hard to classify, writing and playing tunes that they share a love for, rather than consciously making their music fit into an already-established category. They call themselves Americana, but even that designation seems too narrow. One song sounds like a slow James Brown number, another like Radiohead with horns, another (at moments) somewhat like Sigur Ros backing Fishbone. And ultimately, even their own tentative suggestion that some have said they are perhaps most similar to The Band with a sturdy horn section fails to convey an accurate adumbration of what one will experience in witnessing this group in their unfiltered glory.

Upon listening, one is struck with the feeling that this band which has been in existence for over five years is just now finding footing musically, stone steady in confidence while entirely avoiding any possibility of petrification.

Get their album, Bailout!, and go see them live when you get a chance. You will find them unlike any band you've seen before.

Review: Komla - EP

Komla, from London, UK

This London three piece Komla call themselves “musical chameleons.” At first I had to wonder precisely what is meant by this: are the different colours that they take on with regard to tempo, genre, instrument? Or perhaps the change occurs in their audible tones or tempers?

A listen to their tunes provides an answer, giving conviction that their characteristic shifts take place in the realm of effect; that is, if the chameleon could not only change his own colour, but also the colour of his surroundings, the analogy would be complete. This band moves the listener, and, like that notorious changeable heavenly body, the moon, their shifts have wide-reaching ability to bring about change in others.

Their four-track EP is nothing if not energetic. From the escalator-ride of ‘Never Give Up,’ to the powerful nostalgic ‘That Summer,’ to the movingly reflective ‘Sold Out,’ to the hopeful ‘We Belong,’ every track is uniquely rousing. Cumulatively these tunes give the impression that their originators barely contain a bursting enthusiasm for playing and performing, for writing and recording, for engaging in the often exhausting tasks required for their chosen calling. This exuberance is a welcome divergence from the too-often encountered derision masquerading as superiority.

Komla is full of lyrical rock potential. Watch for the depth and power of this band to only increase in the future.

[This post was published originally at Quenched Music on April 6, 2013.]

Review: The Budos Band and Jungle Fire at the Echoplex

The Budos Band played the Echoplex on Sunday night. The New York Afro-Soul luminaries (who have put out three self-titled albums, The Budos Band I, II, and III) were powerful headliners, enlivened the full house of diverse and eager fans to dance (which movement was partly provoked by the band's aggressive Brooklyn-accented exhortations to the audience). The sound was thunderous, the sound was 70s cop movies, it was early soul, it was classic psychedelica, it was funky disco with conga. Most importantly, it was delivered with gritty New York determination; aggressive, with soulful edges.

As unprepared as I was for the excellence of the performance of The Budos Band, the real surprise of the evening was Jungle Fire. An even greater (and more delightful) shock came when they said they are from Los Angeles. Featuring between nine and twelve members, the Latin/Afro/Funk/Soul group started strong with a disco-esque latin number and continued powerfully throughout their set. The percussion section, featuring three musicians who interchanged instruments with expertise, was unspeakably tight. Not to be overshadowed, the impressive drummer anchored the entire group as they traversed complicated rhythms with not only ease, but evident joy. Funky bass lines and guitar riffs together with expert sax, trumpet, trombone and the occasional flute gave the collective a seamless, conquering power.

It is Booker T meets Northern Soul (think David Coleman - "Drown My Heart") meets the JBs meets Phirpo y sus Caribes. It is the most danceable, most shockingly irresistible and most real music I have heard in a long time. They have a vinyl 45 out, with new recordings (hopefully) on the way, but his band is just beginning. Watch for them. And in the meantime go see them live if you can.