KHRUANGBIN - THE UNIVERSE SMILES

Late Night Tales

£24.30

Cat: ALNLP40R
Barcode: 5060391090764
Format: vinyl LP
Release Date: 19th February 2016
Genre: Psych/Garage Rock

Taking influence from 1960's Thai funk - their name literally translates to "Engine Fly" in Thai - Khruangbin’s debut album ‘The Universe Smiles Upon You’ is steeped in the bass heavy, psychedelic sound of their inspiration, Tarantino soundtracks and surf-rock cool. The Texan trio is formed of Laura Lee on bass, Mark Speer on guitar, and Donald “DJ” Johnson on drums. ‘The Universe Smiles Upon You’ was recorded at their spiritual home, a remote barn deep in the Texas countryside where their first rehearsals took place. The band listened to a lot of different types of music on the long drives out to the country but their favourites were 60s and 70s Thai cassettes gleaned from the cult Monrakplengthai blog and compilations of southeast Asian pop, rock and funk. This had a heavy impact on the direction of the band, the scales they used and the inflection of the melodies; which coupled with the spaciousness of the Texan countryside culminated in Khruangbin forming their exotic, individual sound. Although the band was conceived as an instrumental outfit, ‘The Universe Smiles Upon You’ features the first Khruangbin recordings with vocals. Tracks ‘People Everywhere (Still Alive)’, ‘Balls and Pins’ and recent single ‘White Gloves’ show a new dimension to the band. The seeds of Khruangbin were sown when Mark and Laura were invited to tour with Ninja Tune's YPPAH supporting Bonobo across his 2010 American tour. The tour galvanised the two of them to start making music together more seriously, with DJ - he and Mark have played in the same gospel band for years - the natural choice for drums. Sharing their first recordings, Bonobo included Khruangbin's ‘A Calf Born In Winter’ on his 2013 Late Night Tales compilation. Subsequently signed to Late Night Tales offshoot Night Time Stories, ‘A Calf Born In Winter’ was released as a single in May 2014 and saw support from DJs Zane Lowe, Cerys Matthews, Tom Ravenscroft, Gideon Coe, Don Letts and magazines as musically diverse as i-D, The 405, Clash, Ransom Note, Test Pressing and For Folk’s Sake. Four track EP ‘The Infamous Bill’ followed in October, with covers EP ‘History Of Flight’ on Record Store Day 2015.

“We feel like there is an ease that comes from being immersed in a space, away from the distractions of the city and everyday life. We make our music in a barn, in the Texas hill country, because it makes sense to us. Being there allows us to make music that comes naturally, and that’s what we wanted this album to be. We wanted to make a record that just let the music happen, and we hope that’s what you can hear.”

PRESS/ONLINE:

“Hypnotic, spacious, drifting soul music with a cinematic dreaminess” The Guardian

“A positive energy” The Independent

“Like a Tarantino soundtrack crossed with Curtis Mayfield. In Thailand” The Telegraph

“Intriguing Thai-influence funk” Mojo

“Texan trio summon vintage spirits on trippy debut” Uncut

“A sea of sound that’s lovely to get lost in” The Line Of Best Fit

“If you’re happy to let the sounds of Khruangbin take over your mind, body, soul and decision-making for

the next few hours then you could quite easily find yourself having the time of your life” The Ransom Note

“An imaginative, inventive and sublime debut album” Stamp The Wax

“An outstanding debut” Future Music

“Gloriously otherworldly yet eminently accessible” The Crack

“A heady brew of dub, funk and bass-filled psychedelia” Resident Advisor

A1 Mr. White 4:58
A2 Two Fish And An Elephant 3:33
A3 Dern Kala 3:39
A4 Little Joe And Mary 5:08
A5 White Gloves 3:38
B1 People Everywhere (Still Alive) 2:39
B2 The Man Who Took My Sunglasses 2:13
B3 August Twelve 6:13
B4 Balls And Pins 3:28
B5 Zionsville 4:11
B6 Bin Bin X 2:51