Review Summary: Top fusion record of the 2010's... For jazz fusion, jazz funk and instrumental prog afficionatos
When you hear the word jazz, Snarky Puppy isn't the sound that comes to your mind, and that everyone is sure... Apart for soloing like crazy mother***ers and being a "Big Band" their don't seem a jazz group, well maybe I'm wrong, but they sound way too diferent of a jazz combo, but believe me they are one.
[i ]We Like It Here[/i] it's until now their best efford, starting amazingly with "Shofukan" and eding even better with "Lingus", and in between having amazing tracks, with amazing grooves, melodies and twists. Michael League, the bass player and leader, sure did his job driving this amazing bus of musicallity.
As GroundUp and Family Dinner this album is live in the studio, with a little audience watching a digging the music, some of the musicians take part on the audience too, because some don't play in all the songs, this give the album an organic feel, you have true improvisation, and you have pieces of music well written, with horn hooks(all songs really), guitar hooks("shofukan", Lingus), amazing bass grooves ("What About me") and amazing drumming (Sleeper, Outlier). The horn section it's really predominant in the melodies, although sometimes keys and guitar have that chance too.
There isn't a bad song on the album, but there are 5 songs that are amazing, so amazing that the other 3 are weak in comparison, although they are really good... These 5 songs are: Shofukan, What About Me, Sleeper, Jambone and Lingus... In 3 of this songs you have amazing solos, on keys, Cory Henry delivers the best solo of the album in Lingus, and his solo on Sleeper it's amazing too, but the Lingus one it's so good that you gonna be repeating that motherfu*** over and over again... oh and in Jambone you have guitar solo after, solo crazy scottish sounding guitar licks, and sexy horn hooks, the solo it's crazy sounding too, a real fusion solo this is (Scott Henderson style almost).
If you listen to the whole album start to finish, as I recomend and every Snarky Puppy fan recomends you too, and you are a musician you gonna feel like crap, because they're sooooooooooooooo gooooooooooooood on their instruments, and the composition are soooooooooo goooooooooooood... If you're not a musician, you gonna feel like heaven just fell down on your ears, and you discovered a new world full of musical possibilities, where jazz can have compositions like the ones you find in prog.
I really recomend you to listen from start to finish but if you don't want to, just listen to the 5 songs I mentioned in the review, and your ears will thank me... Nice piece of heaven isn't it? A true classic of this decade.
