The merging of the dance floor and politics is a long tradition, and recently we’ve seen soul artists from Charles Bradley to Janelle Monae recapture some of the genre’s counter-cultural urgency. As Funkadelic once put it, “Free your mind and your ass will follow,” and the reverse is also true.
Austin’s Greyhounds run this race on their second album, Change Of Pace. Anthony Farrell and Andrew Trube are experts at vintage sounds, skewing to the laid-back, humid Southern soul strain. On “Before BP (The War Is On For Your Mind,” the BPMs beat faster as Farrell registers his disgust with the establishment. “The ass and the elephant / Have become irrelevant” is the quickfire pull-quote; ass-shaking is required.
Change Of Pace is out April 29 via Ardent in both digital and physical versions. If you missed it, you can also listen to Anthony and Andrew’s guest DJ set here. Catch them live in Studio 1A on April 20 at 1 p.m.
–Art Levy
