Roo AOTD #91 Khruangbin
All aboard the hype train for Bonnaroo 2024! Only 32 days until we are all on the Farm again, can you believe it? It’s coming up fast and we can’t wait to be dancing with all of you at Bonnaroo! Today’s Artist of the Day is the one and only Khruangbin. Learn more about the artist below. Don’t forget to check out all of our artist spotlights! Thank you for reading these posts!
Artist Biography
Khruangbin, which is Thai for airplane or literally “engine fly,” is a psychedelic rock trio from Houston, Texas. Guitarist Mark Speer and drummer Donald Johnson, Jr. aka DJ played in church together and would have regular jam sessions. Bassist Laura Lee joined these jam sessions and went on to play with Mark in Yppah to open for Bonobo’s 2010 American tour. Laura and Mark started writing music together and included DJ as their drummer to create Khruangbin. Their debut release was the self-released cassette and 7″ for the song “A Calf Born in Winter” which was also included on Bonobo’s 2013 LateNightTales mix. The track received overwhelmingly positive reviews and got the band signed to Night Time Stories Ltd. In 2014, Khruangbin released the EP The Infamous Bill which was followed by the EP History of Flight in 2015. Later in 2015 came the band’s debut album The Universe Smiles Upon You. The album title came from lore around a text conversation between Mark and Laura. In 2016, Khruangbin opened for Father John Misty on his European tour and the U.S. Two years later the band released their second album Con Todo el Mundo which reached the Top 20 of Billboard’s Top Independent Albums Chart. The band toured on the album with Mattson 2 and Leon Bridges who they would later craft the Texas Sun and Texas Moon EPs. In mid-2019, Khruangbin released Hasta el Cielo which was a dub reggae version of their second album. In 2020, the band released their third album Mordechai and their own LateNightTales volume including their cover of Kool & the Gang’s “Summer Madness.” In 2022, Khruangbin released the collaboration album Ali with Vieux Farka Touré in honor of the Malian guitarist’s father, Ali Farka Touré. The band’s latest release is 2024’s AL LA SALA.
Genre
Psychedelic Rock Surf Rock, Thai Funk, Extremely Danceable
Scheduled at Bonnaroo
Friday (Link to Daily Schedules)