Budos Band BURNT OFFERING

It has been four years since the release of Budos Band III, an album that signaled that the group had taken the funky Afrobeat-meets-vintage horn-driven R&B sound as far as it could go. They incorporated new sounds into its mix: Middle Eastern modes, Latin rhythms, a touch of psych, and even Ethiopian jazz. That said, Burnt Offering is a whole new thing, developed as always with an ear firmly planted in the past: just take a look at the mysterious magus on the cover. This music is rooted in late psychedelia, soundtracks, funk, and sword and sorcery metal ? la Black Sabbath and Pentagram. This date feels more like a whole group vibe than anything they've previously recorded. Guitarist Thomas Brenneck produced the album (as opposed to Daptone' Gabriel Roth) and it was cut live to tape with effects added immediately thereafter. The end result sounds like it came straight out of a fully loaded bong. The horn chart on "The Sticks" accents baritone saxophones and strident trumpets amid c