With a wall of horns on the brink of full-blown distortion, Brooklyn’s Breakdown Brass sounds like a force of nature: all bombast, menace, and without mercy. Seven horns augmented by guitar and a rhythm section, these fellas play battle-ready music–the kind you need to charge that hill, take that castle, and capture the enemy’s flag.
Their captain is trombonist Nadav Nirenberg, and his battalion has quite the musical pedigree. Featuring members of Ikebe Shakedown, Antibalas, and Monophonics, his bandmates have also backed up Lee Fields, Sharon Jones, and Charles Bradley, among many others.
“Harrow” lives up to its name, a distress signal featuring apocalyptic trombone solos (two!) and a runaway bari sax that sounds like animals rampaging out of the jungle to wreak havoc on the nearby village. If it lasted longer than 3:12, you’d have time to warn the villagers.
“Harrow” is out now via Bandcamp and on 7″ from Kept Records.
–Rick McNulty // host, Left Of The Dial (Fridays, 7-11 p.m.), Twine Time (Saturdays, 7-11 p.m.)
