Khruangbin at Zepp Haneda, November 16th 2022

 

To say that Zepp Haneda is far is, in my case, an understatement. I live in West Tokyo and that venue is next to the airport. Felt like it took forever to get there. It’s an area that’s being developed with shopping malls and such, possibly to turn it into a second Odaiba. It’s hip and cool like the audience for the sold out show tonight. The shows I go to don’t usually sell out, the atmosphere at this gig here was unlike the ones I’m used to. If you look at the pictures posted on the band’s Instagram, where they document the vibe at each place they perform with photographs -excellent ones, I might add- of random audience members, you can tell that Tokyo in particular felt more like a fashion show than any other stop of the tour. Me in my hoodie and my old ass haven’t felt this out of place in ages.

It’s weird because it seems like the concept of Khruangbin is to represent every corner of the world, everyone in general. They don’t only have a diverse lineup, their music itself have influences from literally every continent. There’s the South East Asia stuff in their name and sound. There’s Africa in their recent album with Vieux Farka Touré. Country, Soul and R&B all blended together in the EPs with fellow Houstonian Leon Bridges. The Latin sound of some of their best known songs, like Pelota and María También. Disco, psychedelia, hip hop, reggae, you name it, almost every music genre is part of their repertoire. To me they sound like what Prince's favorite band was supposed to sound and on top of that they’re mostly instrumental! The fact that a band like that sells out venues across the globe is proof that quality will always top over mediocrity. You wheel them in with the wigs and they will stay for the music.

The show started on time, around 7:05 and I was surprised by their pick for the opening tune. One of my favorites, Rules. It’s not exactly a banger, its vibe is mellow and sort of meditative. On the album it sounds Middle Eastern, but live they go for an epic build-up that's more as if Mark Speer is channeling 1970’s Steve Hackett with his guitar. It sounded prog like those climatic guitar solos in the early seventies Genesis catalog. I was in Heaven. the song marked a trend that went on throughout the show. An embellishment of their studio recordings that I considered an improvement. On record these tunes are so calming in their nature that they can’t help but to blend in the background at times. Live they’re constantly in the foreground with added stuff, like quotes from Misirlou in María También, or from Sukiyaki in their cover of Kool & The Gang’s Summer Madness. These quotes of classics were especially fun in a medley they played towards the end of their regular set that included, among others, snippets from two of my favorite rap tunes of all time. MF DOOM’s Rapp Snitch Knishes and Ol' Dirty Bastard’s Got Your Money.

After closing their regular set with María También, Mark Speer, guitarist extraordinaire, came back to the stage for an encore. DJ joined him on drums keeping that pocket clean as a whistle with the best snare sound in the game. What can be said about Laura Lee, there’s a picture of her next to the word ‘confidence’ in the dictionary. Her groove, chops and her whole vibe are unmatched. In the second half of the show they showcased more of their vocal songs and the encore was no different. They opted for another slow song to set the mood in, White Gloves from their debut album The Universe Smiles upon You, followed by the tight disco beat of Time (You and I). They then covered YMO’s classic Firecracker, further proof that Sakamoto, Hosono and Takahashi are quite possibly the funkiest people who ever came from Japan. They closed with the extended version of People Everywhere that included the “la da dee, la da day” chants from Crystal Waters’ house classic Gypsy Woman. The climax they reached with the help of the bright lights and the disco ball on top of the stage was overwhelming, pure fire.

In the back of my mind I couldn’t help to think that all these references to the nineties (house music radio staples, early west coast hip hop, Pulp Fiction) must’ve flown over must of this young audience heads. Being one of the tiny fraction of old dudes and gals at the show, this wink from our fellow gen xers on stage reiterated what Khruangbin represents. One Nation Under a Groove…

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