The Budos Band: “Rite Of The Ancients”
[display_podcast]
Over the past few years, Daptone Records has been a leading light in the rise of “neo-soul,” as acts like Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings have taken the feel of classic soul and R&B and updated it for the 21st century. The Budos Band doesn’t have a singer like Sharon Jones, but their music is nonetheless electric.
Staten Island doesn’t seem like a likely environment for the band’s self-described “Afro-soul,” but perhaps New York’s cultural stew is the perfect incubator. The Budos Band boasts as many as ten members at a time, each one bringing their own musical background to the proceedings. Last year’s Budos Band III was their darkest album to date, an attempt to create a “psychedelic doom-rock record” (they listed their influences as Black Sabbath and Venom). Yet for all the eyebrow-raising statements, the Budos Band still excel at crafting funky, slightly dangerous instrumental music that could have soundtracked a 1970s kung-fu horror film—disparate sounds, but melded together with the group’s superb musicianship.
You can catch the Budos Band tomorrow night at Stubb’s as the headliners for Mardi Gras On Red River. In the meantime, take a listen to “Rite Of The Ancients,” recorded live in Studio 1A.
–Art Levy
