A founding member of the seminal groove band The Greyboy Allstars, organ, keyboard and synth sharp-shooter Robert Walter splits his time between his own 20th Congress, Greyboy, and a robust film soundtrack career in Los Angeles. He returns with 20th Congress to support his new studio album "Spacesuit".
Initially formed as the backing band for rare groove luminary DJ Greyboy, The Greyboy Allstars quickly became a longterm project for Walter with a string of critically acclaimed albums, world tours. The band quickly became home to some of the most revered players on the modern music scene.
The Greyboy Allstars' success also served as a platform for the band's individual members to launch highly successful and substantially diverse solo careers. To flex his desire to compose in a way that was just outside of Greyboy's wheelhouse, Walter formed 20th Congress and recorded and toured heavily through the late '90s and '00s. The band featured a rotating cast of players over the years including Stanton Moore, Joe Russo, Will Bernard, and Cochemea Gastelum.
Walter has been a fan of Science Fiction since he was a child and several of his fantastic notions have found their way on the latest release from Robert Walter’s 20th Congress entitled Spacesuit; a collection of futuristic sounds, danceable songs, and inspirational musicianship.
Whereas previous 20th Congress albums found Walter delving deep into the wellspring of his most formative influences: hip-shaking vintage soul, window-rattling '60s-'70s funk, and the sounds of classic organ jazz, Walter switched his source of inspiration for this latest effort from digging through the crates to gazing speculatively skyward, imagining new worlds rather than emulating classic records. The results lose none of the explosive funk and soul grooves that Walter has become known for, but it takes those sounds into outer space, blending inspiration from science fiction movies, comic books and art with wide-ranging influences encompassing everything from Dub Reggae to Krautrock to early jazz-rock fusion.
A brilliant improviser with a gift for riveting hooks and unstoppable grooves, Walter set out to create songs that blur the line between the composed and the spontaneous; an album with a narrative arc that isn’t tethered to concrete ideas. He uses a full arsenal of keyboards, synths and electronics and draws together the varied aspects of his career, from his film soundtrack work with Michael Andrews to his free-ranging improvisational excursions with the likes of genre jugglers like Marco Benevento, Skerik and Mike Gordon.
EUFORQUESTRA
Eufórquestra (pronounced yoo-FOHR-keh-struh, think euphoria+orchestra) is energy and rhythm personified. An ever-evolving sound that has been influenced by music from all over the world with an emphasis on funk, pocket and groove. For over a decade the band has been igniting dance floors across the country, blending the roots of funk, soul, afrobeat, reggae and dub to create a sound that “explodes, dances and melts in your ear with sheer bliss” (Chris M. Slawecki; AllAboutJazz.com).
Eufórquestra’s fifth full-length record, FIRE, was produced by Kyle Hollingsworth (of The String Cheese Incident) and captures the passion and musical maturing of these road warriors. Over the course of 14 tracks, the band takes you on an hour-long adventure that will touch your heart and mind, and keep your fingers and toes tapping. A handful of special guests, including Elliot Martin (John Brown’s Body), Gabriel Mervine and Kim Dawson (The Motet) and Mr. Hollingsworth himself, put their own touches on the band’s already cohesive sound that is “tight and engineered to a fine, funky precision.” (Jeremy Frazier; Chicago Jam Scene) The result is a record that is distinctly modern, maintaining one foot in the future and firmly planting in the musical roots traditions of the past.
With almost 1,000 shows under their belt, Eufórquestra shows no sign of stopping. A perpetually heavy tour schedule keeps the band and fans happy, as performing live in front of an audience has always been the band’s top priority. As noted in a live show review by Grateful Web, “...the boys seem to play like the apocalypse will happen at any second and they want to die doing what they do best...”
ROBERT WALTER’S 20TH CONGRESS + EUFORQUESTRA
Thursday, April 4, 2019
Doors: 8:30 pm | Show: 9:00 pm
Tickets on sale NOW, HERE
EB: $10.00 | ADV: $15.00 | DOS: $18.00 plus applicable service charges
