There is perhaps no record label that has been a more influential musical trendsetter over the past 25 years than Seattle’s Sub Pop Records.
In the '90s, with acts like Nirvana, Mudhoney and Soundgarden, Sub Pop almost single-handedly exported the grunge sound and culture to the world. In the 2000s, they signed breakout acts like Fleet Foxes and the Shins, taking indie folk and indie rock from college dorm rooms to Hollywood movie screens and sold-out arenas.
When Sub Pop speaks, music fans listen.
But the label’s latest darling is a curious one. A band with an unusual and surprising sound (think Egyptian funk played by a Balkan orchestra — with lyrics in Amharic), from an unexpected place: right here in Jamaica Plain. And they’re being lauded by everyone from NPR Music to the notoriously picky online music site Pitchfork. Debo Band is an 11-piece collective of jazzheads, post-punk aficionados and klezmer musicians all led by an Ethiopian American sax player raised in Texas. The biggest surprise of all? It works.
Check out Debo Band for yourself, from the 2012 Bonnaroo Festival:
We talk music with the man responsible for the sound, Danny Mekonnen, as well as the sousaphone player who lays down the low-end of Debo Band’s considerable groove.
Guests:
Danny Mekonnen, Debo Band co-founder and leader, saxophonist, ethnomusicologist
Arik Grier, Debo Band co-founder, sousaphone player
