Youngblood Brass Band

In the organizer's words:

Youngblood Brass Band flouts convention in an ecstatic, raucous, incendiary

fashion, taking the form of a New Orleans brass band and morphing it into

a punked-out hip-hop behemoth of groove and purpose. The ten-member

ensemble, born in Madison, Wisconsin, now hails from all over the US

(Madison, Brooklyn, Nashville, Minneapolis, Chicago) and has been

unleashing their crash course in genre-bending on stages worldwide since

2000. What other band can claim the honor of having their music spun by

DJs like Questlove (of The Roots), working with hip-hop luminaries like

Talib Kweli, having their original compositions performed by student

marching bands and jazz ensembles around the globe, and still not be out

of place at a punk festival? What other band brings together the ostensibly

disparate worlds of the trombone geek and the backpack b-boy?

Youngblood has headlined countless tours in the States and abroad,

selling out dates in over 20 countries. Their festival résumé reads like a list

of the heaviest music events in the world: Roskilde, Glastonbury, Lowlands,

Pukkelpop, SXSW, CMJ, North Sea Jazz, WOMAD...ad infinitum. White-hot live

shows secured the band's status as an incredible group to witness, whether in an

intimate club setting or in front of thousands on a festival stage.

YBB's debut album Unlearn was released independently in 2000, featuring

collaborations with Talib Kweli (the underground smash "Ya'll Stay Up"),

Mike Ladd, DJ Skooly, and Frank Zappa vocalist Ike Willis. The attention

garnered led to a signing with Ozone Music NYC, the revolutionary avant-

hip-hop label that introduced the poetic talents of Saul Williams, Company

Flow (El-P), Antipop Consortium, Mr. Lif, etc. Their acclaimed follow-up

(and Ozone debut), 2003's center:level:roar (which also spawned their

now-standard brass band anthem 'Brooklyn') saw the band globetrotting to

sold out audiences.

Youngblood released two more albums on their own Layered Music imprint:

Live. Places. (2005) and Is That a Riot? (2007), both of which accelerated their

notoriety as the world's preeminent live brass band. YBB also continued

engaging in frequent educational work, stopping at high schools and univer-

sities to offer workshops on New Orleans music history, jazz improvisation,

hip-hop culture and the creative impulse. It is through this work that Young-

blood acquired cult status among young musicians. Perhaps the world

secretly desires a music that is intense, danceable, intelligent, and devoid of

the self-consciously vain irony that prevails in most current entertainment.

Perhaps there is also something to be said for just quality musicianship,

over-delivering on stage, and sticking to one's guns regardless of what's

currently fashionable.

Youngblood's new album (the first in 5 years), Pax Volumi, sees the band

partnering with Tru Thoughts, the Brighton UK label that includes a roster

ranging from deep soul (Alice Russell) to hip-hop (Ty) to straight-up New

Orleans brass band (Hot 8), and the pairing couldn't be more apt. This album

sees the band finally achieving not just its musical but its production aims,

capturing the live intensity of the stage as well as crafting beats and rhymes

that bang right out of the speakers. It's almost as if they spent the last 15 years

getting ready to become THIS Youngblood Brass Band; as though everything

in the past had led up to the creation of an album that defies classification, an

album that couldn't be made by any other group. On stages in the states and

overseas, the verdict has been issued: the band has never sounded so good.

Whichever it is...the roof-tearing shows, the educational aims, the small

town roots, the no-smirks honesty, the fist-pumping anthems for cool kids

and geeks alike, Youngblood Brass Band has become an institution, one that

demands to be seen and heard. Rigorous dancing is also acceptable.