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By: Court Scott
The Saturday Knights/Budos Band :: 06.27.08 :: Nectar Lounge :: Seattle, WA
The last Friday night of the June summer had decided not only to visit, but to stay, inching close to record setting temperatures. At the Nectar Lounge in Seattle's Fremont neighborhood, hip-hop trio The Saturday Knights were throwing a party to celebrate the release of their fantastic new album, Mingle (released June 24 on Light in the Attic). Laden with clever and coolly delivered lyrics from MCs Tilson and Barfly, cross-genre beats and the most ridiculously catchy pop-punk-surf-soul melodies at the hands of DJ Suspense, Mingle should be on everyone's summer playlist – it's that accessible. But it was the show's opener, Staten Island's The Budos Band, who initially brought the heat, churning the over-capacity crowd into a frenzied mass with their fiery, chugging, tight Afrobeat rhythms.
Budos Band, having released their second full-length album, The Budos Band II (Daptone Records) in 2007, is arguably one of the finer Afro-soul bands on the circuit. Tightly firing percussion is urged forward with a riptide of hypnotic horns and just enough organ and guitar to generate an undertow of funk, soul and psychedelia. As Nectar filled up and the crowd spilled forth onto the adjoining patio and sidewalk outside, the horns' slippery, lubricated cadence lured passersbys as it teased and flirted with the rhythm section. As I planned my escape from the stagnant, oppressive heat inside, I overheard the set described as "killer" and "awesome" more than a couple times, and I nodded in agreement.
But the guest of honor was the new release by The Saturday Knights, hip-hop royalty in Seattle who effortlessly blur the line between rock and hip-hop. Mingle is like a warm, familiar, soft place to land - somewhere between an inflatable bounce house and the bumper cars – and the entire album is a fun, giddy ride. Mingle's thirteen stylistically diverse tracks are all well-crafted with masterful hooks and solid instrumentation, running from the can't-help-but-sing-along-with-it opener "45" to the air-raid cum elastic space-hop of "Foreign Affair," to the Simon and Garfunkel-esque chorus of "Motorin'," to the monster power-riff in "Ass Kicker's Haircut." Heavy on local Seattle talent, the many guest musicians on Mingle include bassist Chris Balew (Presidents of the United States of America) and guitarist Kim Thayil (Soundgarden), the Dap-Kings (Sharon Jones' backup band) and guest drummer Jack Endino (producer of Nirvana's Bleach), as well as The Muscle Shoals horn section.
 The Budos Band by Matt Rogers |
The sound has rounded edges and positive messages - mock-metal meets surf guitar and swirls around a wall of sound with punk-lite delivery. Presumably due to their instrumentation and tag-team delivery of pop-culture lyrics, The Saturday Knights have most liberally been compared to the Beastie Boys, but I can also hear Biz Markie, Lenny Kravitz, the Geto Boys, buzzing '80s New Wave synth and even Ween. And like The Saturday Knights, what most of these artists have in common is abounding personality and unique talent to match, which helps to defy not only their influences but their genres.
The live show that accompanied the release party had The Saturday Knights beginning just before midnight with a bit of a rocky start. The sound system that had made Budos sound so fabulous didn't do the Knights justice and the resonance was muddled. Further, with close to ten people on the small stage, including drums, bass, and three intermittent horn players, the set quickly became visually and aurally over-populated and seemed to throw the core trio off kilter. It wasn't until the third song, the irrepressibly hooky "Best in Show," that the band gelled. By "Motorin'," everyone had found their space to create. Album cuts gave way to Barfly's freestyle flow and the crowd reciprocated their enthusiasm in kind.
Though the material off Mingle in a live setting initially seemed crowded, the disc itself is really quite accessible. The tracks are so catchy, so agreeable and enticing, that the initial impression of the live set can easily be overlooked when held up against the album. And while the hot weather precipitated a crowd ripe for the picking, it was the strong musicianship and unique, high-quality material of both The Budos Band and The Saturday Knights that kept them juiced all night long.
JamBase | Washington
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