Bonnaroo was so hot that I wanted to dive into my favorite standout acts from the weekend that made it all worth it. As a Nashville native, I’ve romanticized this festival in my head for years dreaming of camping, and I finally made it happen. Given my experience traveling I thought I would be able to handle the heat. However, with average highs of 93 degrees and heat indexes in the triple digits, it was pretty brutal! As lead singer of Cage the Elephant Matt Shultz said “It’s almost unbearably hot, but I can bear it for you guys”. These artists’ performances were the best live shows I’ve ever seen, so let me tell you how it was worth it.
Parcels
I went to Bonnaroo to see the band Parcels, which my great friend Joel introduced me to. Joel is from London, but we met while working together at Cocorí Surf Lodge in Guatemala!
Origin Story
The five-piece electro-pop band formed in Byron Bay, Australia, where they grew up making music instead of surfing. Parcels came from a history of involvement in various genres of music. In fact, a year before Parcels was born, all but one member were in a folk band, listening to Crosby Stills & Nash focused on vocal harmony. That’s where their angelic harmonies come from. Jules Crommelin was in a metal band as well.
The quintet left home right after high school to move to Berlin, Germany. Known for its vibrant music scene, Berlin is a hub for new wave, techno, electro, and hip-hop, with a distinctive subcultural flair. The band was drawn to the city’s rich musical environment, which has attracted international artists like David Bowie and Nick Cave. Additionally, Germany represented an exciting change from Australia, offering the band a chance to see the world from a place as far away as they could imagine.
They started buzzing after collaborating with Daft Punk on their 2017 single “Overnight”.
Sound
The band’s songs transition smoothly from one to another, featuring bright vocal harmonies that transport listeners to another world. Their unique sound is difficult to categorize but is often described as a mix of disco-pop, funk, and modern pop.
Their mix of electronic music and live music is so fresh to the point you can’t tell what’s electronic and what’s not. Atwood Magazine said it best: Parcels’ music reflects a blend of both worlds — that of the computer tinkerer, and that of the “classic” live band.
Seldom has there been a band that takes from everything, but sounds like something we’ve never heard before. Their far-flung influences span the past 60 years of musical history, encompassing the Beatles, The Beach Boys, Supertramp, Steely Dan, The Bee Gees, and beyond. They take from midcentuty exotica, American bluegrass, mid-century country music, funk, electronic, and more. In their own words, musically the band draws influence from French jazz and disco music. As well as 1990’s French music of Daft Punk and Phoenix.
Parcels continues to adapt to a changing industry.
Their first live album released in 2020 was recorded in the legendary Hansa Studios in Berlin. Originally offered as a gift to their fans in trying times from 2020, it brought fans back to the essence of the band: the show.
After living in Berlin for 8 years, the influence of the epicenter of techno and house music is inseparable from the band. Their most recent album from 2023 Live Vol 2 reflects that evolution, and breaks new ground for the band. It includes 12 tracks – including five new efforts – which were recorded live by the band at Le Palace, a renowned nightclub in Paris’ 9th arrondissement.
In an interview with Wonderland magazine, Jules Crommelin says they “wanted to release Live Volume 2 honoring the way club mixes are released: always without a face and all about the music. There’s a distinct feeling that it’s not about the individuals who make it, rather contributing music to the scene.”
Emotions that go along with the live album include the journey of the night with all the emotions that come with a night out: nervousness, intensity, euphoria, lust, transcendence, anxiety, fear.
The Show
This was Parcel’s first of 2 shows in the US this year, and it was spectacular. I have never seen live music that good in my life. Their exactness and timing was so in sync. The most fascinating part of the performance was hearing their marvelous harmonies, and watching them blend classic instruments with electronic music while singing live. As someone obsessed with live music, this was the epitome of perfection. They made it look as natural as breathing. Their timing showed a sacred connection.
Khruangbin
Khruangbin is an American musical trio from Houston, TX. The band consists of Laura Lee Ochoa (bass guitar and vocals), Mark Speer (guitar and vocals), and Donald “DJ” Johnson (drums, keyboard, and vocals). The group is known for blending global music influences, such as classical soul, dub, rock, and psychedelia, to create a unique sound. Their music has become so popular that “Khruangbin vibes” has become its own subgenre of artists influenced by their sound.
Taking influence from a variety of music styles, their sound feels timeless and impossible to place. Notably influenced by 1960’s Thai funk – Khraungbin literally translates to “Engine Fly” in Thai – their music is steeped in bass heavy, psychedelic sound of Tarantino soundtracks and surf cool.
Origin story
Speer and Johnson met in 2004 when keyboardist Cleo Sample, who’s toured with D’Angelo, pointed Speer out to Johnson saying “That white boy, he’s amazing”. Around 2006, they played for St. John’s United Methodist Church gospel band in Houston, TX. Its pastor at the time Rudy Rasmus, who’s love of jazz and exacting ear had long made the place a sort of Everest for local musicians. (Beyoncé grew up singing there).
After rehearsal, on Tuesday nights, Johnson and Speer would get tacos and beers at a nearby bar. One bartender had an iPod with lots of good, obscure music from around the world — all of which Speer seemed to know about already. “He’s like a music encyclopedia,” Johnson says. In fact, Speer told Ryan Bradley of the New York Times that one of the most formative musical moments in his life came when he discovered a Microsoft Encarta CD-ROM included with his parents’ new Compaq and became obsessed with its huge catalog of 30-second music samples from all corners of the globe.
Ochoa eventually joined the Tuesday-night drinks. She was not a musician; she was studying art history, and would later teach math to third graders. They initially connected over a shared love of Afghan music and Middle Eastern architecture. Soon after meeting Speer, she noticed him playing guitar along to any song that came on the radio. “How do you do that?” He told her it was just a matter of flowing with the bass, which led her to try playing one herself.
A few years later, Speer asked her to join him on a short tour, backing the electronic artist Yppah, who was opening for the British D.J and producer Bonobo. In 2009, Ochoa, who had trained on guitar and piano, started to learn the bass with guidance from Speer. After playing six months, she auditioned and got the gig to be the bassist for the band Yppah. In 2010, both Ochoa and Speer went on tour with Yppah who opened for Bonobo.
The tour motivated them to make music together more seriously, leading them to form Khraungbin.
The two went to an old barn Speer’s family had in Burton, Texas, 90 minutes west of Houston, where they developed the bass-heavy, psychedelic sound that became the basis of the band’s aesthetic. Upon returning, they asked Johnson to join the band as drummer, to play simple break-beats under the guitar and bass.
The barn became the site to many future recording sessions. In fact, their most recent album “A La Sala” is the first time they’ve made one of their albums outside the barn. This was simply for practical reasons because Ochoa was 8 months pregnant, and a hot farm in the middle of nowhere seemed like an unnecessary risk.
Instead, they used Steve Christensen’s Houston studio, which is in an old warehouse: brick walls, concrete floors, train tracks nearby, a sheet-metal roof when it rained. Speer was particularly obsessive with the sound. Between sessions for “A La Sala,” he would travel out to the barn with a field recorder and tape things like hand claps echoing around the space. These types of recordings can be used to create an “impulse response”, a model of the way the space reflects sound — which could then be used in the studio to make the music they were playing in the warehouse sound more open, more barnlike, more Khraungbin.
Their band name symbolises the international set of influences that shaped their music.
Sound
Is it psychedelic lounge dub? Desert surf rock? The sound you hear inside a lava lamp? Their sound is created by combining music from around the world, spinning together Thai funk, Jamaican dub reggae and Iranian and East Asian pop with American R&B, funk and soul to create a distinctive original sound. Their sound is not so much a goal as a result; it’s what happens when they play music together. Questlove, the producer, documentary filmmaker, author and longtime bandleader of the Roots, saw Khruangbin for the first time and said he was grabbed by not just the way they played, but their extreme level of togetherness. “They are so well gelled” is how he described it. This quality was a very rare thing, particularly in a trio “Think of the Police,” he said “Like, it’s so hard to do that. Musically speaking, you have to check your ego at the door and just trust that someone completely gets you.
Live Show
Experiencing Khruangbin live was unforgettable. Their music made me feel like I was at a Guatemalan beach sunset, completely immersed in their captivating guitar riffs. My favorite part was when they gradually picked up the tempo towards the end of the show.
Parcels and Khruangbin share a common thread in their music: both bands approach their craft with a global and imaginative perspective. Their curiosity makes them unique. This deep appreciation for various musical traditions highlights their passion for their art and their dedication to exploration.
Here I linked a Spotify playlist I made of my favorite songs titled Parcels + Khruangbin!
BOOGIE WITH EMMA 