The Universe Smiles Upon You
‘The Universe Smiles Upon You’ was recorded at their spiritual home, a remote barn deep in the Texas countryside where their first rehearsals took place. The band listened to a lot of different types of music on the long drives out to the country but their favourites were 60s and 70s Thai cassettes gleaned from the cult Monrakplengthai blog and compilations of southeast Asian pop, rock and funk. This had a heavy impact on the direction of the band, the scales they used and the inflection of the melodies; which coupled with the spaciousness of the Texan countryside culminated in Khruangbin forming their exotic, individual sound.
Artist: Khruangbin
Genre: Contemporary Funk
Label: Night Time Stories
Release date:
While The Universe Smiles Upon You often slides by, frictionless, on grooves and guitars that sound like they’ve been doused in Vaseline, don’t be tricked for a moment into thinking that it qualifies as easy listening. The Texas and London-based trio’s debut album is a subtle dance, a constellation of small movements and highly nuanced arrangements that unfolds seamlessly, like ripples on the water. Even as it hypnotizes us, slinking forward on the weightlessness of crisp drums and rolling bass figures, Universe reveals tiny thorns and eddies of tension beneath its soothing surface.
Credit: Paste Magazine
About the artist
Khruangbin is a three-piece band from Texas, formed of Laura Lee on bass, Mark Speer on guitar, and Donald Johnson on drums. Taking influence from 1960's Thai funk - their name literally translates to "Engine Fly" in Thai - Khruangbin is steeped in the bass heavy, psychedelic sound of their inspiration, Tarantino soundtracks and surf-rock cool.
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