Vulfpeck - Mr. Finish Line

Vulfpeck
Mr. Finish Line
2017
Spotify

It's pretty hard to go wrong with Vulfpeck and if they decide to stack the features deck, it's time to watch out. I've written about Vulfpeck a few times now, so it gets a little harder to find new things to say about their sound. The one thing that always remains true however is what talented musicians they are. If you are looking for funk, bright, beautiful and daring than Vulfpeck is the band for you. Vocalist Antwaun Stanley, Joey Dosik and Cory Wong are some of the frequent special special guests but this album also features Coco O., Charles Jones and Bootsy mother fucking Collins to round out the feature list. The thing with Vulfpeck is how easily guests slip in and out of the band. The member list is a bit of a revolving door with just a few people being permanent members and even Theo Katzman get his own billing on this record. The first couple of tracks are more rompish, bopping along and allowing the vocals to take center stage rather than the instrumentation. It usually takes the band about two and half seconds before Joe Dart is neck deep in a bass solo, but this album takes it's time a bit more allowing things to unfold in a really organic way. It's still weird as shit as all of Vulfpeck's music is, but weird in absolutely the best way. Charles Jones' vocal on "Baby I Don't Know Oh Oh" is completely nuts, but satisfying in such an interesting way. The title track also has vocals that are almost twee in their delivery with plenty of extemporaneous sounds that Theo Katzman is a big fan of as evidenced from his solo album earlier this year.

The first time we get classic Vulfpeck is on "Tee Time" with a tremendous pace and a piano line that is absolutely dizzying. The song is relentless, never letting go from the first note to the last, a real exploration of timing while still making sure your toes are tapping away. Joey Dosik oozes all over "Running Away" delivering yet another stellar performance as always. Much of this record however feels far less funky, far lees adventurous and more focused on creating well crafted songs. Songs like the vocaless "Hero Town" are fantastically bright but feel really safe for Vulfpeck. It seems like they have been making this music for awhile now and you just wish something different might creep its way in. However the music is so damn good does it really even matter? Probably not because everything with Vulfpeck is super high level, and always tongue in cheek. Mr. Finish Line is no different and another feather in their already decorated camp. What comes next however will have to be different in order to stay exciting. We'll just have to wait and see.

7.9 out of 10