Événement

THE MACROTONES with very special guest The Void Union

Saturday 4/21
THE MACROTONES
with special guest THE VOID UNION
$8 advance / $10 at the door
9:00 doors / 10:00 show (The Void Union at 10:00 / The Macrotones at 11:15)
http://macrotones.com
https://www.facebook.com/voidunion/

Boston's premier afrofunk outfit, the Macrotones, return to the Lizard Lounge tonight along with the early ska and rocksteady sounds of The Void Union

Boston's premier afrofunk outfit, the Macrotones, have been launching explosive dance parties for nearly a decade. The 9-piece, horn-driven ensemble is steeped in funk, afrobeat, cinematic soul, ethiojazz, rock, and more, resulting in dark, interlaced rhythms and progressive arrangements. The bands tightly-honed grooves and infectious sound has shared the stage with like-minded practitioners such as the Budos Band, Grupo Fantasma, the Funk Ark, Big Mean Sound Machine, Ikebe Shakedown, Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars, and Barika, and is in good company with fellow instrumentalists Brownout, Jungle Fire, the Menahan Street Band, and the Shaolin Afronauts. Since typical genre descriptions fail to fully capture the scope of the Macrotones sound, new monikers need exploration: imperial funk, astrobeat, or even a soundtrack for spies all fit. For those looking for a distinctive take on funk, afrobeat, and global groove, the Macrotones are the thunderous answer.

Their latest CD, Unknown Outpost, with Boston Music Award-winner and Grammy-nominated engineer and producer Benny Grotto at the helm, features guest vocalists on a number of songs, including emerging star Iyeoka.

THE VOID UNION
Thaddeus Merritt (Bass), Rick Smith (Drums), Rich Graiko (Trumpet), Alex Stern (Guitar, Keys), and Anant Pradhan(Tenor Sax), comprise Void Unions core, but, the band's philosophy lends itself to a collective atmosphere in which like-minded musicians sit in and assure that no show is the same as the one that preceded it. The audience at a gig is not a mere handful of die-hard Ska enthusiasts; a survey of the crowd yields suits, working stiffs, parents, children, dreadlocks, moptops, and...hipsters? All turn out to bear witness to a versatile ensemble that is as at ease providing the jazz-tinged instrumental foil to a Jamaican legend as it is leading a sing-along at a neighborhood bar.