Magic City Hippies
Miami the EDM mecca is also home to talented local musicians who live mostly off the electronica grid. They play everything from indie to psychedelia to world, and one of the standouts among the resident crews is the funky trio Magic City Hippies. Miami to their laid-back, sun-tanned core, the Hippies are having a notably busy year, with a packed festival schedule, a debut album dropping on Aug. 16, and an opening spot for jam band Umphrey’s McGee in Miami.
What began as a one-man project led by Robby Hunter in the early 2010s has expanded to include guitarist John Coughlin and drummer-producer Pat Howard — together a troika playing local (SunFest) and national (Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo) festivals and cultivating a base of dedicated young fans who bop along to the music and mouth the words to every song.
Two new singles, “Modern Animal” and “SPF,” transport listeners to these sun-drenched environs. But instead of the banging clubs of South Beach, it’s a friend’s house pool in Coconut Grove, on a unicorn float with a frosty cocktail in hand. Behind the infectious, wiggling bass lines, “SPF” boasts a surprisingly emotional lyric considering its subject: a drunken night spent with a stripper after our narrator has lost his longtime love.
Imagine Tame Impala spending a week at the beach with reggae rock band Dirty Heads and you get an idea of the sound. Each Hippies song is infused with funk, soul and psychedelia, with some splashes of chill wave and autotune.
Hunter has written confidingly about his privileged upbringing in Miami Beach, as on his 2015 song “Fanfare”: “Deep fried in greed life, clam bake by the sea side / Back in ‘99 when I was silver spoon fed / Pops had the Porsche, dolin’ out the bread.”
But privileged and uppity is not the feeling you get watching these Miami dudes perform live. With their stage uniforms of Hawaiian shirts and sunglasses, they give off a carefree vibe while still looking hipster and polished. They seem like one of us, just going with the flow and dancing to beats that hit in just the right spot.
Magic City Hippies open for Umphrey’s McGee 7pm Aug. 16 at the Fillmore Miami Beach. magiccityhippies.com ~ Olivia Feldman
