Free Download: For The Budos Band The Third Time is a (Snake) Charm

Last week the mighty instrumental afro-funk band The Budos Band— which bills itself as the “Staten Island’s Undesputed Champions of Afro-Soul” announced the release and details of their new album The Budos Band III. To be released on August 10th on the formidable Daptone Records label the record is the band’s first release since 2009’s The Budos Band EP and the first full length since 2007’s The Budos Band II.

Coincidentally,  I was in Boston this week for work and managed to sneak in a run to Newbury Comics. I was hoping to pick up the new Suckers vinyl, but it has been delayed. Instead I ended up picking up a couple of records I’ve had on my Amazon Wish List for a while– The Budos Band and The Budos Band EP. I still need The Budos Band II. I’ve been a fan of The Budos Band since I did a review of the Scion Daptone Records compilation.

The Budos Band is a band with a distinctive sound– influenced by African– specifically Ethiopian– music coupled with organ and guitars lead melodically by a muscular horn section. The Budos Band shares guitarist Brenneck with the other signature Daptone house band– The Dap-Kings. Other Dap-Kings Neal Sugarman and Binky Griptite were on-board for the first Budos Band album.  It’s clear that the cross-pollination has helped establish them.

The first Budos Band Record featured a volcano in full eruption with the lava coming right for the viewer presumably representing “The Volcano Song.” The second Budos Band featured a scorpion ready to sting, representing the “Scorpion” album track. Continuing the “dangerous” cover art of the Budos Band records, III has a cobra on the cover– likely representing the “Black Venom” track– but I think may also be a sly reference to the expression “The Third Time is a Charm” where the charm would be for that cobra.

“Heading into the studio for Budos III, I really thought we were going to make the first psychedelic, doom-rock record ever recorded at Daptone,” said front man and baritone saxophonist Jared Tankel, “but somehow it ended up sounding like a Budos record.” I’ve had the opportunity to listen to the album and the familiar formula of the Budos Band is continued but I do get the sense of some underlying darkness.

I like the whole album– the songs on III fit comfortably next to the rest of their catalog in my opinion. Early standout tracks for me are “Unbroken, Unshaven” (this has to be a reference to the fact that the band used to be called Los Barbudos or “The Bearded Ones”) with its clean strumming leading the song, “Nature’s Wrath” has a great loping circular beat but has the BEST FLUTE SOLO this side of Ray Thomas’ solos in The Moody Blues! In my mind, Mother Nature is PISSED about the BP oil leak and this song is the warning before she tears us a new one! One nice bonus to this album is “Reppirt Yad” which wraps the album up. For Record Store Day this year, Daptone put out a split 7″ of Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings and The Budos Band. The Budos Band track was an interpretation of The Beatles “Day Tripper.” They seem to have disguised the song with a backwards title for III.

To get a free download of “Unbroken, Unshaven” click on this link to sign up for a Daptone Records e-mail list (that they admit you can unsubscribe from). I’ve been on the Daptone e-mail list for a couple of years now and they aren’t abusive and it’s a good way to stay on top of news from this fantastic label.

The band is off on an extensive tour in support of III and hopefully they bring their snake charming show to a venue near you!

The Budos Band III Tracklisting:

  1. Rite of the Ancients
  2. Black Venom
  3. River Serpentine
  4. Unbroken, Unshaven
  5. Nature’s Wrath
  6. Golden Dunes
  7. Budos Dirge
  8. Raja Haje
  9. Crimson Skies
  10. Mark of the Unnamed
  11. Reppirt Yad

Tour Dates :
Sat June 5 Montclair, NJ Wellmont Theatre (w. Les Claypool)
Fri June 11 New York, NY Rocks Off Concert Cruise
Sat June 26 Vancouver, VC Vancouver Jazz Festival @ Commodore Ballroom
Sun June 27 Calgary, AB Calgary Jazz Festival @ The Whiskey
Tue June 29 Saskatoon, SK Saskatchewan Jazz Festival @ Lydia’s Pub
Wed June 30 Winnipeg, MAN Jazz Winnipeg Festival @ Pyramid Cabaret
Sat July 10 Chicago, IL Chicago Folk & Roots Festival @ Welles Park
Sun July 11 Bloomington, IN Bluebird
Mon July 12 Chicago, IL Millennium Park
Tue July 13 Ann Arbor, MI Blind Pig
Thu July 15 Quebec City, QC Quebec City International Summer Festival
Fri July 16 Ottawa, ON Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest
Sat July 17 Toronto, ON Lee’s Palace
Wed July 21 Philadelphia, PA Johnny Brenda’s
Thu July 22 Harrisburg, PA The Abbey Bar at ABC
Fri July 23 Floyd, VA Floydfest
Sat July 24 Washington, DC Black Cat
Sat Aug 7 Brooklyn, NY Celebrate Brooklyn! @ Prospect Park Bandshell
Thu Aug 12 Los Angeles, CA Levitt Pavilion
Fri Aug 13 Pasadena, CA Levitt Pavilion
Sat Aug 14 San Luis Obispo, CA Downtown Brew
Sun Aug 15 San Francisco, CA Outside Lands @ Golden Gate Park
Tue Aug 17 Phoenix, AZ Sail In
Thu Aug 19 Santa Fe, NM Santa Fe Brew Co
Sun Aug 22 Dallas, TX Granada
Tue Aug 24 Oklahoma City, OK Conservatory
Wed Aug 25 Kansas City, MO Record Bar
Fri Aug 27 Denver, CO Larimer Lounge
Sat Aug 28 Boulder, CO Fox Theater
Tue Aug 31 Salt Lake City, UT State Room
Wed Sept 1 Boise, ID The Grove Plaza
Thu Sept 2 Eugene, OR W.O.W. Hall
Fri Sept 3 Portland, OR Dante’s
Sat Sept 4 Seattle, WA Bumbershoot

Click Here to visit the Wikipedia page on The Budos Band.

Click Here to visit the Budos Band website.

Click Here to visit the Budos Band MySpace page.

Click Here to visit Obscure Sound page on The Budos Band which has some mp3’s.

Click Here to visit The Spinner.com Interface session with video of The Budos Band.


Daytrotter Barnstormier II Announced! October 8 – 13

This week Daytrotter.com posted the details of the upcoming Barnstorm Tour– to be called “Daytrotter Barnstormier II” and will start Thursday,  October 8th in Milwaukee, WI and wrap up on Tuesday, October 13th in Johnston, IA.

Via the @realdaytrotter twitter account and the weekly e-mails Sean Moeller (master of ceremonies, general cool guy) had been dribbling out details about the upcoming shows so very little of this is a surprise to those of us who watch Daytrotter goings on closely.

This tour, which is apparently “Barnstormier” than the July shows, happens to hit three of the same stops– the barn of the very cool Biehl’s in Maquoketa (now called Codfish Hollow), Mooney Hollow Barn in Green Island south of Bellevue and the Seacrest Octogonal Barn. Sean also added on two Wisconsin stops– the very cool Turner Hall Ballroom on 10/8 and the Treinen Farm in Lodi on 10/9. The tour wraps up on the 13th at the Simpson Farm outside Johnston, IA (Des Moines).

As with the previous shows, these will be free and all-ages– except for the Lodi, WI show where you will gain admission to the other attractions for a measly $5-$8. The bands and Daytrotter are just tryin to recoup expenses by selling posters, teeshirts, records and other stuff in addition to passing the hat.

The bands are a mix of new and some from the July run. Dawes is kind of the headliner– their sound is one that evokes the 70’s SoCal sound– slightly country rock with impeccable harmonies– think Eagles, CCR and CSN with a little Band thrown in. Christopher Denny has a unique sound that at times reminds me of Dylan’s Nashville Skyline period. The Suckers from Brooklyn sport an angular almost No-Wave pop sound and Milwaukee is bringing the guitar power pop. Listening to the Daytrotter sessions linked below, I’m getting pretty stoked for this run! On a couple of the shows we get Paleo and Snowblink from the first tour.

Here are the shows broken down with links to the bands’ Daytrotter sessions where you can find out more about them:

October 8

7 pm — Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Turner Hall Ballroom: 1032 N. 4th St. (Performing — Dawes, Christopher Denny, Suckers, Maritime)
Dawes Daytrotter Session
Christopher Denny Daytrotter Session
Suckers Daytrotter Session
Maritime Daytrotter Session
Maritime Encore Session

October 9

6 pm — Lodi, Wisconsin (15 mintues north of Madison, WI): PUMPKIN PATCH!! Treinen Farm Corn Maze and Pumpkin Patch , W 12420 Highway 60 (Performing — Dawes, Christopher Denny, Suckers, Maritime)
Dawes Daytrotter Session
Christopher Denny Daytrotter Session
Suckers Daytrotter Session
Maritime Daytrotter Session
Maritime Encore Session

October 10

6 pm — Maquoketa, Iowa: BARN SHOW #1: Codfish Hollow Barn, 3437 288th Ave. (Performing — Dawes, Christopher Denny, Suckers, Snowblink, Paleo, Brooks Strause)
Dawes Daytrotter Session
Christopher Denny Daytrotter Session
Suckers Daytrotter Session
Snowblink Daytrotter Session
Paleo Daytrotter Session
Brooks Strause Daytrotter Session

October 11

6 pm — Green Island, Iowa (Near Bellevue, IA): BARN SHOW #2: Mooney Hollow Saloon Barn, 12471 Highway 52 (Performing — Dawes, Christopher Denny, Suckers, Snowblink)
Dawes Daytrotter Session
Christopher Denny Daytrotter Session
Suckers Daytrotter Session
Snowblink Daytrotter Session
Paleo Daytrotter Session

October 12

6 pm — West Liberty, IA: BARN SHOW #3: Secrest 1883 Octogonal Barn, 5750 Osage St. (Performing — Dawes, Christopher Denny, Suckers, Snowblink)
Dawes Daytrotter Session
Christopher Denny Daytrotter Session
Suckers Daytrotter Session
Snowblink Daytrotter Session

October 13

6pm — Johnston, Iowa: BARN SHOW #4: The Simpson Barn, 6169 Northglenn Dr. (Performing — Dawes, Christopher Denny, Suckers, Snowblink)
Dawes Daytrotter Session
Christopher Denny Daytrotter Session
Suckers Daytrotter Session
Snowblink Daytrotter Session