Artist Spotlight

I like to be ahead of the game. My journalistic instincts have been honed over the years to provide me with virtual antennae, picking up breaking stories almost before they happen. I love being the first person to know something. I cherish the responsibility of passing the knowledge on.

And so it is with music. Discovering a new band for the first time delivers such a thrill, and sharing this music with friends not only earns peer kudos but (in my humble opinion) plays a vital role in the world of music. I love going to see unknown bands in the hope of discovering musical genius and being the first to know.

But that’s not what happened this week. Oh no indeed. I appear to have arrived over a decade late to the party.

Formed in 1995 in Wisconsin by sousaphone extraordinaire Nat McIntosh and percussionist and rapper, DJ Skogen, Youngblood Brass Band have redefined brass music, injecting abrasive hiphop into the arteries of riotous jazz.

A former 3rd trumpet myself, I’ve always had a bit of a soft spot for brass bands, not to mention an affinity for trad jazz (thanks to my dad’s old tapes), but this truly blew me away.

Their second album, Unlearn, was released independently in 2000 and features some of the most incredible sousaphone playing you are ever going to hear. Go find a copy now. Listen to “Acousticon Theme.” The sousaphone bassline introduction is so delicately framed by the higher brass in the build to one of the best ‘feelgood-chords’ I have ever heard dropped. And the percussion is so tight!

The album progresses to treat us with musical references to Bill Withers (”Just the Two of Us” riffed during a trombone solo) and Stevie Wonder (an angrier version of “Pastime Paradise” that puts Coolio to shame). A technically blinding sousaphone solo piece, complete with triple-tongueing and demonstrating other breath and pitch techniques that I’ve simply never heard from a brass instrument before, is preluded with a sample from one of my favourite movies (“Warriors! Come out to plaaaayyy…!”). Then, when you’re least expecting it, none other than Talib Kweli joins as a guest vocalist, delivering the bitingly socially-conscious rhymes that have been a hallmark of his career.

I haven’t been able to stop listening to the album for days now.

Admittedly, there are a couple of cheesefest-swing-lounge-extravaganzas sneaked in there – a tribute to the band’s trad jazz heritage which I would rather have avoided – but the juxtaposition of brass with DJ scratching and beat poetry, the rarity of a sousaphone having regular solos and the sheer rawness of the acoustic bass sound has made such an indelible impression on me, I really feel compelled to tell the world!

Except for those selfish folks who heard of them ten years ago – and didn’t tell me earlier!

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