The Beta Band don't want to be pinned down. They dabble in everything from folk to prog to hip-hop, bobbing and weaving around what you think you've figured out. But I've figured something out. The Beta Band are funky.
The first three tracks from 1997's Champion Versions EP, which kick off this collection, were explicitly funky. Breakbeats, cowbells, and a host of other percussive thingies swamp acoustic and slide guitars in funkiness, and "Dry the Rain" adds a horn outtro that recalls nothing less funky than Primal Scream's "Loaded." "The House Song," from The Patty Patty Sound EP, is also blatantly funky. You might not call it house music, but they did, and by then you'll be willing to give them the benefit of the funk.
How could you refuse them, when they can take psych-prog monstrosities like "Inner Meet Me" and "The Monolith" (16 minutes? Yes please.) and make them groove so effortlessly? "Dr. Baker" is a haunted hymn, and dreadfully depressing at that, but even in this beatless environment Steve Mason's one-tone monologue catches a friendly rhythm. "Needles in My Eyes" closes things with their straightest pop and rock moves, but still swings its hips like the Stones on some particularly potent Xanax. Groovy, baby.
If you like The Beta Band, check out:
Primal Scream Screamadelica / Vanishing Point
Dub Narcotic Sound System Boot Party
Nightmares On Wax Carboot Soul
Gorky's Zygotic Mynci Spanish Dance Troupe
Ravi Harris Funky Sitar Man
Super Furry Animals Mwng
Super Furry Animals Guerrilla
King Biscuit Time No Style
Beck Mellow Gold
-- jf
