Staten Island’s finest instrumental Afrobeat band went into the studio for their new album with the intention, according to their bio, of making a psychedelic, doom-rock record but admit that it came out sounding like a Budos record. That’s not a bad thing at all considering that The Budos Band are one of the best musical units around regardless of category. The creatively titled III is their third album and picks up where the first two left off, but do contain some darker grooves.
Album opener “Rite of the Ancients” is The Budos doing business as usual – upbeat, funky and tighter than hell. Excellent horn charts, powerhouse grooves and hypnotic guitar lines weave in and out of the overall sound. “Black Venom” is up next and is indeed named in tribute of Black Sabbath and Venom. It’s a darker groove than standard Afrobeat and the organ is way up front and mysterious sounding. Unfortunately, there are no musical references to any of Venom or Sabbath’s classic material but here’s hoping they cover “Angel Dust” and/or “Supernaught” soon.
For a bunch of guys from Staten Island, NY they can get downright exotic sounding on jams like “Mark Of The Unnamed” and “Raja Haje.” And I thought the most exotic thing you could get on SI are some decent rice balls. The album is paced very nicely with faster ones like “Unbroken, Unshaven” mixed up with slower ones like “Nature’s Wrath.” 11 songs in 38 minutes is just the right amount of time for a band like this. It leaves you wanting more and will have you reaching for their other two albums since no one else really sounds like The Budos Band. The only dud on the album for me is the Beatles cover “Reppirt Yad” (read it backwards). On previous albums they’ve done creative remakes of Sly’s “Sing A Simple Song” and the Temptations’ “My Girl” but this one kinda bores me. It doesn’t help that I’m not really a Beatles fan and don’t ever need to hear that song ever again but, hey, it’s the last song on the album and easy enough to skip over. It will probably help sell them a few copies, so more power to them.
The Budos are an outstanding band that should appeal to anyone with a pair of ears. Some of the guys pull double duty with the incredible Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings and record for the consistently funky Daptone Records. As good as the records are, the live show is even better and a lot of fun. Let’s hope the next one is a double live album (recorded in Brooklyn at Southpaw, naturally).
--Woody
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