Khruangbin Late Night Tales

With Texan psychonauts Khruangbin at the helm of this Late Night Talesmix, you might assume that they’d stray away from the safety of their idiosyncratic sound that infuses funk and dub with a sprinkling of psychedelia. On the contrary, the band have dug even deeper into the sounds that inspire them, and present an intriguing collage of life around the world in hues of groove-inflected disco.

Conjuring the hazy essence of chilling out whilst the afterparty carries on around you, Brilliantes Del Vuelo’s ‘I Know That’ transports you to an undulating dub soundscape that feels as though it’s being projected through a vocoder. Buried deep within the song is a sense of revelry; it’s like listening to a party through a wall and never being sure whether you’re at the heart of the action or idly observing on the periphery.

This relatable feeling is tangible throughout Khruangbin’s curation – from the nonsensical conversation on Justine & The Victorian Punks’ ‘Still You’ to the mid-’70s cool of ‘Feel The Love’ (taken from the soundtrack of the 1976 blaxploitation film Black Shampoo),and even down to the sumptuous instrumental of their own cover of Kool & the Gang’s ‘Summer Madness’. This edition of Late Night Talesis evocative of the otherworldliness that Khruangbin tend to draw upon as they channel moments of bliss into their work. At times its unfamiliarity can feel disjointed, but overall it’s an ebullient celebration of music’s encyclopaedic nature.