And so, while Onward! does well with its jams and struts, the oddball tracks don’t pan out well. These guys aren’t gonna be staring at their shoes when they perform live. For Pete’s sake, one of their lead singles from a previous album is simply titled The Booty Band have chained themselves to their image, for better or for worse, and regardless of what prudes may say, they’re gonna do what they please. And I can’t even get mad at the album’s cover: Da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man, replaced by a black woman whose enormous afro is only rivaled by the size of her humongous butt. Music doesn’t have some kind of fun police that slaps people on the wrist if they so much as smile when they play their songs. I’m aware it’s largely a joke and should be treated as such, but after a minute or so I thought, “Oh goodness, this is far too silly.” But part of the band’s sentiment is one of fun and silliness. It’s an altogether-cringeworthy track hinging on the hook, “The Booty Band has got your trunk fallin’ off,” repeated ad nauseum, backed by synth beats du jour.
You have now entered the “Trunk Fallin’ Off” zone, where everything is wrong. As the last horn blasts of “Sanchez” come to a close, a programmed hip hop beat comes in, and the rappers return. Given these issues, all the momentum on the album grinds to a halt with “Precious Moments.”Thankfully things rev up again with the following track, “Reasons.” It’s a jazzy toe-tapper that gets right back into the band’s comfort zone: swishing guitars, stabbing horns, droning organ, and ebullient vocals from Frances.However, the album ends with what one could call a “bonus track,” not in name, but in style. This style directly clashes with funk’s natural tendency to swirl and circle back on itself as a song develops. Additionally, with most rap, lyrics are the focus, while the production stays behind the MC and loops. Onward!’s biggest misstep is “Precious Moments,” a schizophrenic track that sounds part mariachi band, part Santana, part autotune, part tabla drums, with guys rapping over it all, spitting about social justice, self-motivation, and just telling the listener to fucking get with it. However, when the songs don’t pan out, they flop massively. Most of the tracks on Onward! follow this formula, often with success. Whether it’s the 5-plus-minutes slow build in “The Den” or the frenetic, Latin-tinged “Sanchez,” the band can and will use all the tools available to stuff the track with more and more sound. And Onward! is mostly filled with instrumental bits. If you can’t move to the beat, there’s something wrong. Many of the songs have a psychedelic tinge to them, sounding not unlike 60s heavy hitters such as Iron Butterfly and Band of Gypsys-era Jimi Hendrix.With all respect to vocalist Mary Frances, what drives the Booty Band (as well as funk in general) are the grooves. The music just has to be able to back it up.The Asheville quintet advertise themselves as a kind of neo-funk band, but upon listening to the eight songs on their new album Onward!, they seem to stick to the roots of funk: guitar, bass, horns, and an unstoppable organ. You have to admit, the name elicits double takes. Their album covers, website, and posters all revolve around big asses. And they’re not gonna change their name anytime soon. It’s something that’s been going on for years, ever since their inception in 2002. So when you name your band Yo Mama’s Big Fat Booty Band, people are going to look at you weird.The Booty Band is in an unusual spot, sporting a silly name while also making serious music. It’s what people see first and remember the most.
Band names are like the tagline to their music.
The Allman Brothers were a band made up of brothers named Allman. The Beach Boys wrote songs about being on the beach. A band’s name often gives a descriptor to their image, something that can vaguely sum up what the band is all about.
0 kommentar(er)
