Snarky Puppy - We Like It Here

[ChrisXymphonia]

Sean posted a video of the song Lingus from this album a little more then a week ago and I instantly became totally obsessed with that tune and pretty much everything else that was posted from this album on Youtube. And then I discover this whole album was recorded live here in the Netherlands, that they will be recording another new album during the Easter weekend with the Metropole Orchestra, and that they will be playing in my neck of the woods on April 29.

I haven't felt this enthusiastic about new music in a long long time and was amazed they haven't been mentioned that much here before (I did a search). Love the combination of a big horn section, a big presence of keyboards (modern and fat analogue) and some amazing drum- and percussion-playing. But more importantly, the compositions are incredible.

Here is Lingus, be sure to stick around for the monster keyboard solo in the second half and see the hilarious response to that from his fellow bandmate next to hime

[PeterG]

AAAAGGGGHHHH.....my ears!! There was no "This video may contain traces of Jazz" label anywhere!

[Troopers For Sound]

Been enjoying this lots over the last week...such a great vibe, and yep, a ridiculous keys solo

[willyswing]

Wow! That was....coooool!!

[AdventAlan]

Greetings,

This is definitely one of my favorite releases of 2014 thus far. I highly recommend the (reasonably-priced) CD/DVD package of the album too. It's available here for anyone interested:

http://snarkypuppy.ropeadope.com/album/we-like-it-here

Cheers,


Alan

[proggy_jazzer]

Found these guys by accident, when I watched the video for the R & B Grammy award winning performance they did with Lalah Hathaway. The band completely knocked me out. Did some searching and listening online and ordered WLIH that day. These guys are the Real Deal: road-warriors for the last 10 years, with a pool of talent revolving around a core of great musicians that can play damn near anything. The dvd shows a band of real, actual people playing real, actual music with no overdubs and no studio tomfoolery other than perfectly capturing the amazing sounds from the musicians in the room. If you've only watched 'Lingus' or another isolated track, chew on this: the performance you see was recorded after rehearsing the music (most of it brand-new at the session) for only four days. And they not only nail it, but completely own it, with a sense of joy that's palpable. I'll be ordering their other recordings asap, and am psyched to hear what they come up with in the midst of the Metropole ensemble. Fear not the spectre of "jazz" It's in there, but so are a whole bunch of other influences, not the least significant of which is classic prog-rock. This is good stuff.

[ChrisXymphonia]

Been enjoying this lots over the last week...such a great vibe, and yep, a ridiculous keys solo

Get the cd/dvd package and in the extras you get at least 2 or 3 other recordings of that same solo section but done on different days. It is clear why they chose this one for the album proper but the other takes are equally as interesting.

Oh, and another ridiculous fact: almost all the music on this album had never been seen / heard / rehearsed / played by the band until 4 days before the recordings sessions / concerts. And drummer Larnell Lewis was subbing and had arrived the day before recording commenced and just had a 2 hour rehearsal

[aith01]

Oh, and another ridiculous fact: almost all the music on this album had never been seen / heard / rehearsed / played by the band until 4 days before the recordings sessions / concerts. And drummer Larnell Lewis was subbing and had arrived the day before recording commenced and just had a 2 hour rehearsal

It's stuff like this that makes me realize what a hack I am when it comes to playing music. lol But it does give me incentive to keep on practicing and (hopefully) improving.

Fascinating stuff though. Been listening to this album, for the first time, at work this morning and really enjoying it. The horn section gives it a little bit of a Steely Dan vibe sometimes. I would very much like to buy the album and support these guys.

[proggy_jazzer]

Oh, and another ridiculous fact: almost all the music on this album had never been seen / heard / rehearsed / played by the band until 4 days before the recordings sessions / concerts.

And evidently that's just s.o.p. for this band; the music for the Metropole session (10 days from now) is being completed literally as we speak...

[Troopers For Sound]

Get the cd/dvd package and in the extras you get at least 2 or 3 other recordings of that same solo section but done on different days. It is clear why they chose this one for the album proper but the other takes are equally as interesting.

Oh, and another ridiculous fact: almost all the music on this album had never been seen / heard / rehearsed / played by the band until 4 days before the recordings sessions / concerts. And drummer Larnell Lewis was subbing and had arrived the day before recording commenced and just had a 2 hour rehearsal

Fear not...I ordered almost immediately after watching the clip. It should arrive any day

And is if the drummer wasn't awesome enough already!!

Matt.

[ChrisXymphonia]

And evidently that's just s.o.p. for this band; the music for the Metropole session (10 days from now) is being completed literally as we speak...

Well, when you work with a full orchestra (albeit very comfortable with everything between jazz and rock) there has to be a bit more prep. But that orchestra IS up to the task having worked with such luminaries as Steve Vai, Terry Bozzio, Todd Rundgren and Mike Keneally plus a host of jazz greats. Jules Buckley is now chief conductor (he took over from Vince Mendoza who is now an honorary conductor) and I get the sense that the Metropole are really trying to up the ante more and try to do as wide a range of music both popular and cutting edge as possible. They have and still living under a threat of severe funding cuts but I really can't envisage them being gone. It would be an utter disaster for music here in the Netherlands.

[proggy_jazzer]

Oh, I know the M. O. is up to any challenge; great ensemble. I was actually making the point that 10 days (even 2-3 weeks, which is what I think Michael League has said he's actually spent on the new music) is an absurdly short time to compose, arrange, and rehearse something on this scale. Who does that?!? The fact that they did their previous dvd in a fraction of that time says to me that this will be equally killing. Wish I could be there!

[nosebone]

Best keys solo since I last saw Chick.

[Animal]

Absolutely love these guys. I have their two previous CD/DVD combos and HIGHLY recommend them. Just got this one in the mail today.....

[simon moon]

I know these guys are more of a collective than a band, so when I saw them in LA a few years ago, maybe the members that I saw weren't their 'A' team, but I was completely unimpressed.

But this vid kills!

Now, if there was only a way to tell which Snarky Puppy will show up at live gigs.

[wideopenears]

Huge fan of these guys....thanks for the vid.
They are doing something new. Exciting!

[ProgUK]

I know these guys are more of a collective than a band, so when I saw them in LA a few years ago, maybe the members that I saw weren't their 'A' team, but I was completely unimpressed.

But this vid kills!

Now, if there was only a way to tell which Snarky Puppy will show up at live gigs.

David, i tried to tell you, but your ears were CLOSED that night.

All their albums are fantastic:

The World is Getting Smaller
The Only Constant
Bring us the bright
Tell Your Friends
GroundUP
Family Dinner
We Like It Here

Been a fan for several years and you have to pick up my jaw from the ground after every live show!

[adewolf]

Great stuff. Usually collective brass is boring for me, but this is pretty damned good. Just got this on emusic.

[Baribrotzer]

Impressive band, and an impressive track. I don't have this album, but I've got a couple of earlier ones. Good live, too, though not consistently THIS good. And they don't even have their usual drummer! Most of the time, the guy behind the kit is Robert "Sput" Searight, but he seems to not have been able to make this session.

One interesting point: for most of the white guys in the band, this is their primary gig. I think they teach, play sessions, and work day-jobs to make ends meet, because nobody makes much from this band, not even Michael League. For most of the black guys, it isn't anything primary at all. They tend to be full-time professionals, and many are sidemen for some pretty high-profile artists. But they work for peanuts, sleep on the floor, eat franks 'n beans, and tour on a punk-rock level in a stinky van right alongside the white guys, for the chance to play the kind of music they're capable of and the pure joy of actually playing it. Instead of playing the same dumb lick perfectly fifty times in a row because that's what's on someone's hit album.

[jeffworman]

Lord.....have.....Mercy!

[chalkpie]

I guess am going to be the party-pooper here. My buddy sent me a few YT vids a while ago, and after watching this I feel the same about this band:

There is a "safeness" to their approach which, of course, is my humble opinion. This is basically diatonic music, good, but only goes so far....they don't let their hair down enough for my taste. Don't get me wrong - all very competent and talented guys - but in terms of holding my interest, well, it doesn't. After one listen I feel like I've absorbed all of it and have no desire to play it again. I dunno, maybe I've been listening to too much Henry Cow over the past few months, and this seems very vanilla compared to that. Maybe not a fair comparison, but I can't help it.

I'm glad to see some folks here digging this stuff, and I certainly wish these guys a happy and successful journey.

[aith01]

I guess am going to be the party-pooper here. My buddy sent me a few YT vids a while ago, and after watching this I feel the same about this band:

There is a "safeness" to their approach which, of course, is my humble opinion. This is basically diatonic music, good, but only goes so far....they don't let their hair down enough for my taste. Don't get me wrong - all very competent and talented guys - but in terms of holding my interest, well, it doesn't. After one listen I feel like I've absorbed all of it and have no desire to play it again. I dunno, maybe I've been listening to too much Henry Cow over the past few months, and this seems very vanilla compared to that. Maybe not a fair comparison, but I can't help it.

I'm glad to see some folks here digging this stuff, and I certainly wish these guys a happy and successful journey.

Just out of curiosity, when referring to it as diatonic music, do you mean it doesn't make use of modes? I'm not sure I follow.

Nothing against your point of view of course. I just want to understand what you mean, as it's of interest to me in regard to learning more about music theory.

[nosebone]

I think Frankie means melodic music derived from the seven modes of the major scale.

They can get a little edgy, but yeah, I know what Frankie means by playing it safe.

There music can be enjoyed by musicians and there wives/girlfriends.

That's hard to do.

[nearfest]

this moved me extremely deeply. WOW

[Hobo Chang Ba]

I guess am going to be the party-pooper here. My buddy sent me a few YT vids a while ago, and after watching this I feel the same about this band:

There is a "safeness" to their approach which, of course, is my humble opinion. This is basically diatonic music, good, but only goes so far....they don't let their hair down enough for my taste. Don't get me wrong - all very competent and talented guys - but in terms of holding my interest, well, it doesn't. After one listen I feel like I've absorbed all of it and have no desire to play it again. I dunno, maybe I've been listening to too much Henry Cow over the past few months, and this seems very vanilla compared to that. Maybe not a fair comparison, but I can't help it.

I'm glad to see some folks here digging this stuff, and I certainly wish these guys a happy and successful journey.

I agree. It's missing something for me. That...je ne sais quoi. All the elements are there but it still falls a but flat. Safe might exactly be the right way to put it.

Pleasant buy nothing more to my ears.