DODO shows us Funk is not extinct
Image quality does not reflect quality of the sound, this website just has 0 dollars for a photographer and I’m primarily a wordsmith in this operation, OK?
It’s a Thursday night in Austin and internet-famous funk sensation Vulfpeck performs for a sold-out audience at Stubb’s. I love a trendy band, but I like my funk like I like my produce: locally sourced and organic. That’s why I’m stoked to catch DODO, a progressive funk fusion trio, playing inside after the Vulfpeck.
If you’re curious about what DODO sounds like and want to listen before you attend a concert, you will find that they are as elusive as the extinct bird their band seems to be named after. They are not on any streaming service, and even if they were, they might be eclipsed by The Dodos and Dodo (these groups are CaSe SeNsiTivE) on Spotify – neither one has any affiliation to the trio. The only way I could capture their sound prior to the live performance was via YouTube. You can stream one of their concerts at Parish in 2023, and that will give you a good idea of what to expect.
The trio features Sam Blomgren on keys, Cole Koennig on drums and Eric Ross on bass guitar. Joining them was a guest saxophonist whose name escapes me as well as any record of the night on social media. Bested again by the elusive DODO!
Overall: Prepare to feel groovy – and you gotta have the funk to keep up with the vibe they are riding.
Their songs seem to be mostly improvised, apart from maybe a general framework of what to expect. They start somewhere familiar and just let the music flow wherever it takes them – at least that’s what it looks like to a bystander.
The musicians of this trio are clearly talented, working as individual masters of their respective instruments as well as with each other as one fluid organism – an essential component to funk, if not the measurement of success to live music in general. But riding a collective vibe is fundamental and at times precarious to improvised music, where musicians don’t know exactly where they’re going, but trust one another to stay with them on the journey into the creative unknown.
That’s the beauty of a concert like this — in a world where music is homogeneous and artists are encouraged to play it safe in order to go viral or maximize their digital audience — funk demands the weirdest and wildest version of its listeners.
Most of DODO’s songs are instrumental, apart from one where Sam sang the lead. First and foremost: They’re a jam band, and that’s where they shine.
You need an open mind to enjoy improv in all its genres, but funk in particular is for the strongest of audiophiles. Let me explain:
Jazz sounds like sex feels.
Funk sounds like what it feels like to take psychedelic mushrooms and make a sandwich.
Is it a good time? Is it a bad time? Depends who you're with and how you’re feeling, but regardless it will grab hold of all of your senses and maybe even change you as a person if you let it. It adds color to the ordinary. You will see a side to yourself that maybe you haven’t explored before, if you’re willing to have an open mind. You will dance like a fool, if you’re not feeling too paranoid. Your friends will talk about it the next day.
At best, DODO are conduits of funk – a genre on a comeback from the fringes of extinction. At their worst, they are ambient noise to a groovy night with pals you haven’t seen in a while – which is still a pretty good time in my opinion.
