Snarky Puppy have released their latest album Family Dinner Volume 2:
Snarky Puppy have received much acclaim in the past for their unique take on jazz fusion. The Brooklyn based band is led by Grammy award winning bassist and producer Michael League. They were formed in Denton, Texas in 2004 and released their debut album The Only Constant in 2006. The group is a collective of nearly forty musicians performing a wide variety of instruments including guitars, keyboards, woodwinds, brass and percussion. The line up is constantly changing due to members collaborating with other artists such as Justin Timberlake and Snoop Dogg.
Family Dinner Volume 2 has everything you would expect from Snarky Puppy: Incredible musicianship, unique beats and rhythms and face melting keyboard solos. The album incorporates elements of world music, some tracks using African style drums and rhythms to great effect.
While there are plenty of amazing solos from the guitarists and keyboard players, there aren’t as much as in previous albums. Instead, this album seems to be more of an ensemble piece, celebrating the chemistry between the group of musicians as a whole instead of individually.
Stand out tracks include Sing to the Moon from Laura Mvula, reimagined in Snarky Puppy’s own brand of jazz/soul. The closing track Somebody Home is sung beautifully by veteran singer/songwriter David Crosby. Back in 2014 Crosby took to Twitter to say:
“Snarky Puppy is quite possibly the most advanced band in the world… certainly the best I’ve heard/seen”
After experiencing the sonic bliss that is Family Dinner Volume 2, I would tend to agree with him.
Snarky Puppy will be touring North America until May 2016, so we can hold out hope for a European tour later in the Summer.
You can listen to Family Dinner Volume 2 on iTunes and Spotify now.
Jack Brophy
Check out Jack’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/JF_Brophy