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Snarky Puppy: Ground UP

Ropeadope

Snarky Puppy is already a household name in musicians’ circles, yet another great product of the University of North Texas’s lauded jazz program. Featuring a cast of more than 20 stellar musicians revolving around a core of drummer Robert Spurlight, keyboardist Shaun Martin and bassist Michael League, they create jumped-up intricate jazz over a razor-sharp rhythm section. Recorded in front of a live audience over 3 days in Brooklyn at Matt Garrison’s Shapeshifter Labs, Ground UP is a testament to musical consistency. Fans of the band won’t find anything groundbreaking in this eight-song collection, though the band continues to expand their already-wide palette of sounds with an increased presence of distorted guitars, but newcomers to the band will find a solid group of performers masking the advanced nature of their compositions in the ease with which they execute them. Standouts include heavy rocker “Thing Of Gold” and the upbeat funk of opener “Bent Nails.”