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I had some friends from out of town come into Burlington, for some music over this past weekend. We had some tickets to the Deep Banana Blackout show, but decided that we had seen them enough and my friends wanted to see what Burlington’s music scene has to offer. So, we sold the DBB tickets and headed out to the country to see an up and coming Burlington band known as the Turkey Bouillon Mafia.
The Mafia consists of a guitar/keys/drum/bass which incorporates all kinds of music into a hard hitting groove that is extremely developed for their age. I’ve had the pleasure to watch this band since their first show, about a year ago. And many folks agree that their chemistry continues to reach exponential levels over the past few months. Who knows where these guys can go?
TBM has a funkified jam sound, that is so fluid and creative it keeps your mind almost numb while your body freaks out of control. Each song in the first set melted into the other, and they left the few people in attendance in the cosmos all night. Some of the highlights included a thirty minute plus opener that grabbed the listener with many different complex themes and grooves and then melted into an icy version of Pink Floyd’s, “Shine on You Crazy Diamond,” which must have lasted a good ten to fifteen minutes before bringing us back down to earth with their next tune. They didn’t stop playing the whole night, each song segued perfectly into the next. The second set was as mind blowing as the first one. My favorite part was when they started to play the “Theme from Zelda” and Adam funked it out on the keys for what seemed like an eternity. The encore started off as one of their own songs and then grew into Queen’s “Another One Bites the Dust” so smoothly that the goose bumps still haven’t left my arms!
They seem to have this innate ability to create a deep, natural, funky, and fluid jam. They also give off this professional onstage ambiance that makes me feel like they are just content playing music, whether it's in front of one person or a hundred. The fact is, they are all such young incredible musicians with lots to say, and they speak perfectly through their musical skills. Keyboardist, Adam King says, “Yeah, we all just have so much we want to get out there that when we really start going off things begin to shoot in all directions, and I guess we just work it out.” This is what the live experience is all about in my opinion. Just when you think the jam’s all gone , they find a completely new untouched groove and work it to the limit. When the show ended my head was still spinning, something I haven’t felt at a show in a while. These guys are very young, talented, and a strong sounding exploratory band. They are also beginning to venture out of Burlington’s bar scene and hopefully soon enough will be blowing the mind’s of people all over the states.
Nate Hereford
JamBase | Vermont
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