Electric Kif by Sandrasonik
With jazz roots fused to psychedelia, jam, funk and prog, Miami’s Electric Kif makes music that is distinct yet versatile enough to resonate in just about any performance space, from living rooms to festival lawns. Like jazz itself, band members Eric Escanes (guitar), Jason Matthews (keyboards), Armando Lopez (drums) and Rodrigo Zambrano (bass) came together from wildly contrasting backgrounds to create a synchronized sound. Hailing from France, Philadelphia and Mexico City as well as Miami, the four found an undeniable commonality and bonded over a shared love of instrumental music.
Though the quartet is close-knit, they have a knack and passion for outside collaborations. As evidence, Brooklyn-born drummer Isaac “Mr. Funknasty” Teel of the band Tauk will sit in on Electric Kif’s upcoming show at Voltaire in West Palm Beach. It’s a performance that promises even more electricity than usual with the addition of a second set of drums to, possibly literally, bring the house down.
Showcasing both unhinged creativity and superior technical musicianship, each member of Electric Kif is a certified musician’s musician. All have been mastering their distinct crafts since boyhood and play with the level of proficiency and synergy that is vital to their medium.
Electric Kif by Sandrasonik
Rather than try to categorize their genre fusions with an endless string of hyphens, Electric Kif has dubbed its music “post-nuclear.” One listen makes the meaning of that modifier clear. Like freestyle poetry, improv comedy or traditional jazz, “post- nuclear” was incubated and fostered through organic riffing and cohesiveness.
Having played a slew of festivals nationally and internationally over the years, Electric Kif knows how to bring big-crowd energy to any setting. While the band communicates without vocals and lyrics, its collective instrumental voice is unmistakably born of the emotions and experiences we all recognize as our own. The medium just happens to be the beautiful and bafflingly harmonious expression of jazz.
Through accumulating volleys of musical tension and release, Electric Kif builds a musical language of human experience, the peaks and the valleys, all born of the joy, anxiety, mania and general confusion that come standard with any model of human existence.
Electric Kif + Isaac Sinclair Teel of Tauk performs 8pm January 11 at Voltaire in West Palm Beach. electrickif.bandcamp.com~ Freddie Zandt
