Album Review: Kamasi Washington— The Epic

If you’ve never heard the name Kamasi Washington, there’s a reason for that. It’s because up until now, he’s had no solo records outside a few small self releases. Like Kishi Bashi, Washington has supported many a musician. His first national tour was with Snoop Dogg, and he joined Raphael Saadiq for his first international tour. Before releasing his new record The Epic, he lent his skills to records like Flying Lotus’ You’re Dead! and Kendrick Lamar’s masterful To Pimp A Butterfly.

Making Breakfast With Twin Peaks

If there is one thing you can say about the music industry it’s there are a lot of people really working their asses off. From the countless promoters, managers, photographers, press outlets, sound guys, door guys, bartenders, and not to mention all the artists putting everything out there every night just to scrape out a living, everything is a grind to have a seat at the table. But then there are those people who walk in, step on stage and are just so talented that everything fits perfectly together before our eyes.

New Music Monday: Donnie Trumpet & The Social Experiment — Surf

If you were confused this week about reports of a new Chance The Rapper album, don’t worry, you weren’t the only one. And even if you and I are the only two who were, I’ve got the facts here: while Chicago born kid dynamo Chance The Rapper does have new content out, it is not his highly anticipated follow up to Acid Rap. The new album is credited to Donnie Trumpet & The Social Experiment. What is The Social Experiment? Beginning as Chance’s band on his “Social Experiment” tour, the four person group (Chance The Rapper, Donnie Trumpet, Peter Cottontale, and Nate Fox) are now some sort of songwriting/production/band amalgam, and have released their new album, Surf.

Album Review: Bones Muhroni— Maxwell

Bones Muhroni drummer Ryan Wykert describes their music as a funky folk band, but Ryan was always a little weird. Now that I think about the time they lived in Greeley and we named them the winner of the 2012 BandWagon Battle of the Bands, all the guys in Bones Muhroni were pretty weird. Now living in Los Angeles, the Muhroni boys have out done themselves with their latest release Maxwell and that weirdness has congealed into something special. Unpretentious, unabashed, soulful, and honest, Bones Muhroni have created something unique in today’s world of following trends. Although grandiose at times and the production drifting into the ‘big for the sake of big’ realm, Maxwell lives in the classic world of rock’s forefathers.

June 2015 – Elvin Bishop

IN THIS ISSUE: Elvin Bishop | Sage Francis | Best Coast | Del The Funky Homosapien | Twin Peaks | Bones Muhroni | Kamasi Washington | Romero Santos