Horn-spiked fuzz grooves: The Budos Band detail album 'VII'
The Budos Band
Returns with ‘VII’ out May 30th on Diamond West Records Listen to the fiery, Zambian-rock influenced "Overlander" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzEiUxdDj0o&ab
The band's first album recorded in their newly built Diamond West studio in LA
"The alternating fuzz-laden riffs start the engines of this desert dune traveler; whether amongst the camel caravans of the east, or the speed freaks of Death Valley, images of blazing sun, sandstorm grit and off-road ramblings are clearly conjured in this blistering instrumental. Punctuated by an epically uplifting chorus of horns, the Overlander is a song of travel, of speed, of fury, of victory."
Pre-order VII on the format of your choice.
Two years after releasing the Frontier’s Edge EP, The Budos Band are returning with their first full-length since 2020’s Long in the Tooth. Titled simply VII, the new album sees them doing what they do best: laying down hypnotic, horn-spiked grooves that menace and mesmerize in equal measure. Produced by Budos guitarist Tom Brenneck with Simon Guzmán engineering, VII features 11 tightly constructed new tracks that draw on the group’s wide range of influences, sounding like only The Budos can. It’s music for getting down, for nighttime drives, and for alternate headspaces — a beguiling mix of mystery and rhythm that stands with the formidable work they’ve released in their two decades of recording. “We didn’t really go in there with a concept on VII,” drummer Brian Profilio says. “It was the first time in two years that we were together in a studio so we were like, ‘Let’s see what happens.’ We ended up writing 11 songs in three days.” These 11 songs run the gamut, featuring sweaty, hard-hitting funk workouts like “Escape from Ptenoda City” alongside explorations of Turkish psych in “Night Raid” and Zambian rock in the riff-heavy “Overlander.” It continues the stylistic evolution the group began with 2014’s striking, shake-things-up album Burnt Offering.
“It’s almost like we’ve refined the sound we were going for on Burnt Offering,” Brenneck says of VII. “It’s not quite as raw.”
“That’s the genreless aspect of the band,” saxophonist Jared Tankel agrees. “We’re not Afrobeat, we’re not Ethiopian jazz. We’re not world music. We’re not really funk, we’re not soul. We’re not rock. We’re just an amalgam of all these different sounds, so things pop out in all directions when you listen.”
As usual, these songs are chopped up and splashed with the heavy horns so integral to The Budos sound, weaving melodies through the muscular rhythms and even deepening the groove when it calls for it.
“Horns can occupy a melodic space, even though it’s not a voice,” Tankel says. “They can also occupy an articulated and rhythmic space. Playing with that duality is cool.” VII was recorded in California and serves as The Budos Band’s first full-length album on Diamond West, the independent label founded in 2023 by Tankel and Brenneck. It’s also the group’s first album to include instrumental contributions from percussionist Rich Tarrana, who previously played in the Frightnrs. All told, it succeeds in opening up some new sonic spaces while staying tethered to the intuitive, unique musicality that made them such a sensation from the jump.
“Sometimes it’s like we’re speaking some esoteric language that no one else understands except us, and we’re doing it wrong,” Brenneck says. “It’s like how the Stones tried to play the blues and they missed the mark and they made something new — everything The Budos tries to do, we do wrong, and it sounds like The Budos.”
Fans in New York will have three chances to celebrate the release live:
May 29 @ Yonkers Brewery
May 30 @ Babys All Right
May 31 @ Babys All Right
Tracklisting 1.Thrice Crowned
2.Overlander
3.Night Raid
4.Lair Of 1,000 Serpents
5.Kudzu Vine
6.Sharky’s Delight
7.Curse of the Ivory Fang
8.Behind The Black Curtain
9.Escape from Ptenoda City
10.The Strigoi
11.Mean Streets
