Press Play: Khruangbin

Khruangbin is an interesting name for a band, especially one from Houston, Texas. Khruangbin is Thai for “airplane”, which is somewhat providential considering the band took off after the release of their well-liked debut album The Universe Smiles Upon You. It wasn’t hard to fall in love with Khruanbin’s dreamy, instrumental tracks. The band’s music is composed of just a guitar, bass, and drums but accomplishes a lot with funky compositions led by the rhythm section.

Con Todo El Mundo, Khruangbin’s second album, is full of the band’s signature sound– jumpy tendrils of guitar blanketed in a hazy fog of surf rock and psychedelia. This effort also saw the group adding bits and pieces of Caribbean, Indian, and Middle Eastern music. Standout track “Maria También” is a reflection of pre-Revolution Iran. The spindly guitar lines are an invigorating match for the driving groove inspired by early hip hop beats. Khruangbin makes albums like a jam band with endless grooves and hypnotic soundscapes that make you want to sink into their lush psychedelic world.

Khruangbin’s third album Hasta El Cielo keeps their breezy atmosphere while incorporating a new sound. The album consists of remixes of its precursor’s 10 instrumental funk tracks. These remixes are not so much tweaked tracks as they are stories of Con Todo El Mundo respun in traditionally resonant drum and bass-heavy dub fashion. Their music, which favors beats and atmosphere over songwriting, made them an ideal fit for the dub treatment

The band’s latest effort was a collaboration with Fort Worth soul singer Leon Bridges. The four-track EP Texas Sun showed that Khruangbin flourished in taking a more ornamental role amidst a loose pop structure. Overall, Khruangbin makes music perfect for any passive activity. Whether you’re walking, cooking, or studying, you can count on Khruangbin for a profoundly pleasant experience.