Artist description Jazz, funk, hip hop, lounge, spoken word

Music Style jazz/funk/groove/lounge/hip hop

Musical Influences Charles Mingus, Eddie Harris, Max Roach, Beastie Boys, MMW, Jimmy Smith, Gil Scott Heron, Public Enemy

Similar Artists Medeski, Martin & Wood, Soul Coughing

Artist History A strange exotic fruit? A particularly vicious rodent from the Australian Outback? Or the more likely scenario, a tripped-out jazz band that does not fit in the jazz category of the record bins. Well, lets be more specific. Mulvalina Voo Voo is a mutated jazz band with a strong affinity for funk, soundtrack music, hip hop, politics, homemade baked goods, spoken word, Jimmy Smith, cheap whiskey and vintage Volkswagen buses. They also have a relatively strange name, which as you may have guessed has something to do with the baked goodies. Spawned in the heat soaked spring of 2002 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, this foursome has created a genreless clash of the instrumental titans by combining the deep grooves of stand-up bass and homemade electric bass (Michael Grimes), scattershot jazz drums (Dan Stouffer) and the organic overgrowth of Wurlitzer and Hammond organs (Keith Morris). Add to that half-spoken/half-whatever vocals (MC Me) that center on social injustice, cramped workspaces, rejected French lovers and information-age overload and the result is something that cant quite be described in words or pictures. In this case, the ears would be a much better source of judgement. And on Misunderestimated, the Voo’s debut full-length record, the ears will be pleasantly appeased by sounds derived from late-60s to early-70s jazz, Afro-Cuban, psychedelia, hip-hop, funk, lyrical rhythmics, trip-hop ambience, progressive rock and childhood educational rhymes. Ranging from the smooth and sultry (blackandwhiterainbow, Stranger) to the succinctly groovy (The Man Cant Stand...) to the literary instrumental (Hotel Story), Misunderestimated is an album that is at once varied in style and cohesive in direction. Whether MC Me is shouting thought-provoking lines like freedom doesn’t mean blue light specials and cheap gasoline, or whispering seductive phrases in French, each song ties together to form a record that is both quite paranoid and embracing of modern pop music (through a distinctive jazz filter of course). Certainly, Mulvalina Voo Voo is both a name and music that hasnt quite been experienced yet. Is it some misplaced combination of hip-hop and lounge or a progressive leap for jazzkind? Regardless, Mulvalina Voo Voo is a fresh take on something that can’t be named or categorized. If you feel that s either a cop out or a blurry description, youre wrong—its both.

Group Members Keith Morris, Michael Grimes, Dan Stouffer, MC Me

Instruments Wurlizter, Hammond, Upright and Electric Bass, Drums

Albums Mulvalina Voo Voo EP, MisUnderestimated

Press Reviews To hear the shattered soundscape of stand-up bass, warm Wurlitzer plods, scattershot drum remnant dings and pops, carefully conceived melodic lines and a host of percussive and string elements, placed poetically alongside charmingly paranoid and pervasive vocals is an arresting experience. —Penfold I. Constantine

Location Albuquerque, NM - USA

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