How do you like your noodling? If the answer is epic, self-satisfied and with side-servings of jazz and post-rock, Snarky Puppy will have you barking with joy. A vehicle for Texas jazz graduate Michael League, the project is multifaceted with a vengeance, drawing on traditions as far-flung as Lebanese folk, Motown funk and ’60s movie soundtracks.
They are frighteningly prolific too. Snarky Puppy have already won a brace of Grammys (for best contemporary jazz and instrumental albums) while Culcha Vulcha is their second long-player in six months. It is brash and forceful, brimming with winning melodies and endlessly sophisticated in its breakdowns and interludes.
Yet so much is going on here that it can be initially overwhelming, with the listener sent pinging between decades and genres with an enthusiasm bordering on manic. Cumulatively the effect is akin to attending a dinner party with a headache; everything is that bit too loud, too bright, too overbearing. Culcha Vulcha’s conundrum, in the end, is that it cannot decide whether to sidle alongside the listener or cudgel them into submission. Less of the latter might have been a better option...
Rating: 6/10