Photo by Shervin Lainez
Never underestimate the power of fun, especially when it’s combined with just a dash of weirdness. That’s a mix Brooklyn (via Vermont and Boston) indie-dance-pop collective Rubblebucket does exceedingly well. As we chronicled a while back, Rubblebucket shows are something to behold. If you noticed a little hyphenated hesitation in that line about Rubblebucket’s specific musical niche, you’re on the right track because the band doesn’t easily conform to standard definitions. They move and shake and dance between the lines. If there was a genre-label to pin on them, it’d simply be one word like “joy.”
They’ve got killer horn and rhythm sections that can lay down funky grooves like nobody’s business. There’s also plenty of far-out synths and effects to tickle the dream centers in your brain–that is if the D.I.Y. props like light-up costumes, giant robot puppets, or uniformed “dance police” interspersed throughout the crowd didn’t do that already.
A lot’s happened since we last checked in on Rubblebucket. They added their horns to a collaboration with tUnE-yArDs (a.k.a. Merrill Garbus), Questlove of The Roots, Grammy-winning Beninese singer Angélique Kidjo, and more for a recording of Fela Kuti’s “Lady” for a tribute compilation benefitting the AIDS charity Red Hot. They made their TV debut on Jimmy Kimmel, and they followed up their excellent full-length Omega La La with not one, but two EPs. The latest, Save Charlie, came out just last month, and according to the band, it’s a prelude to another full-length due in 2014.
Electro artist Big Black Delta (the stage name for Jonathan Bates, formerly of lo-fi outfit Mellowdrone) remixed the new EP’s title song creating a day-glo time machine of a track that’ll take you to the 80s and back. Although you don’t get any of Rubblebucket’s signature horns in the remix, the remix accentuates one of the band’s signature skills, making the electric seem organic and vice-versa. It’s not hard to imagine that the booming electronic bass track wah-wahing underneath the song is, in fact, some sort of homemade musical contraption. The production also plays with frontwoman Kalmia Traver’s lovely voice much like the aforementioned tUnE-yArDs. Her words float and dance like fans at a Rubblebucket show.
For your viewing pleasure, here’s the official “Save Charlie” video
