Palermo jazz/funk outfit Smuggler Brothers have returned after a long haitus with a new 7″ EP on the Schema label ahead of a new album, the follow up to 2015’s self titled debut, which drops next month. As an added bonus the tracks on the EP are not on the album, so it serves as an apperitif to what promises to be a heady, healthy main course.
The EP has all the hallmarks of the group – a head-nodding mish mash of jazz-funk, afro grooves and Italio soundtracks. Opener ‘In the City’ definitely plays on the latter, all funk driven layers built on this groove that’s passed around the band, awash with organs and intricate interplay with the rhythm section, it could soundtrack some kind of 70s Cop thriller.
On the flip is Jam, more moody and circumspect in its groove, but no less atmospheric or downright funky. Like some blaxploitation cut featuring platforms on sidewalks on the (imagined) visuals, it strides onward with the confidence and knowhow to sit amongst the very best.
check it out, here
