Punked-Out Hip-Hop Behemoth: Youngblood Brass Band to Bring the Funk to Missoula
Embarking on a World Tour this fall, funky horn-collective Youngblood Brass Band will be performing in Missoula at the Top Hat on Friday, October 19, 2018. YBB is celebrating their 20th anniversary this year.
Youngblood Brass Band flouts convention in an ecstatic, raucous, incendiary fashion, taking the form of a New Orleans brass band and morphing it into a punked-out hip-hop behemoth of groove and purpose. The ten-member ensemble, born in Madison, Wisconsin, now hails from all over the US (Madison, Brooklyn, Nashville, Minneapolis, Chicago) and has been unleashing their crash course in genre-bending on stages worldwide since 2000.
RSVP to the Facebook event
YBB’s debut album Unlearn was released independently in 2000, featuring collaborations with Talib Kweli (the underground smash “Ya’ll Stay Up”), Mike Ladd, DJ Skooly, and Frank Zappa vocalist Ike Willis. The attention garnered led to a signing with Ozone Music NYC, the revolutionary avant-hip-hop label that introduced the poetic talents of Saul Williams, Company Flow (El-P), Antipop Consortium, Mr. Lif, etc. Their acclaimed follow-up (and Ozone debut), 2003’s center:level:roar (which also spawned their now-standard brass band anthem ‘Brooklyn’) saw the band globetrotting to sold out audiences.
Youngblood’s most recent album, Pax Volumi, sees the band partnering with Tru Thoughts, the Brighton UK label that includes a roster ranging from deep soul (Alice Russell) to hip-hop (Ty) to straight-up New Orleans brass band (Hot 8).
They’ll be releasing their Covers 1 EP on August 27th.