- International beat influence by way of Houston.
- In the fading moments of Khruangbin's LateNightTales, the group rewires "Summer Madness," in homage to Kool & The Gang. This cover version, arriving a few months after the passing of cofounder Ronald "Khalis" Bell last year, finds Khruangbin reshaping this funk-jazz nocturnal ride into a glittering nebula of dub-blues. Not a bad thing.
This deep-crate edition of LateNightTales comes loaded up with Hindi-disco, South Korean rock, Nigerian Reggae, Japanese mellow groove and dub from Houston. On one of the slappers from Nigerian Maxwell Udoh and Roha Band from Ethiopia, "I Like It (Don't Stop)," you're reminded of the plucky bump, slinky groove and minimal production of "Time (You And I)" from Khruangbin's "Mordechai," released earlier this summer. Of a different flavor, George Yagani & Nadja Band deliver a twinkling afterhours ballad with "「祭ばやしが聞こえる」のテーマ," which translates to "I Can Hear The Festival." The chillout aesthetic of "Can You Feel The Love" by Gerald Lee is taken from the soundtrack of the 1976 blaxploitation film Black Shampoo. This collection gives a certain joy that a hyper-specific brand of record collector gets from the "not gonna make it easy on you" type of inspiration.
In a 2018 interview with Relix, Khruangbin member Mark Speer credited the band's success with stubbornness. "When we first started the band, we wanted to have a formula," he said. "It's like, 'This is what we do, and we're not going to try to go outside the box too much. We're going to explore the box we're in. I've always been a big fan of that. I used to be in bands where it was like, 'Man, we've gotta think outside the box!' And all I'm thinking is: 'You guys don't even know.' Music should never be just for the sake of being experimental. Before you even start, you have to know what you're experimenting with first."
So yes, Khruangbin's music often crosses borders and cultures. With this release, their third record this year, the trio who preaches Houston "is this constant international influence" gets to pay back a myriad of somewhat obscure artists, across the globe and at home, who have fortified their stubbornness. Reduction by way of regionalism seems to be the Khruangbin treatment. LateNiteTales is just another way for the band with the hard-to-pronounce name (it's Thai for "flying engine" or "airplane") to present the world to the world.
Tracklist01. Carlos Santana - Illuminations
02. Brilliantes Del Vuelo - I Know That
03. Nazia Hassan - Khushi
04. Kelly Doyle - DRM
05. Sanulim - Dont Go
06. Maxwell Udoh - I Like It
07. David Marez - Enseñame
08. Gerald Lee - Can You Feel The Love
09. Justine & The Victorian Punks - Still You
10. George Yanagi -「祭ばやしが聞こえる」のテ ーマ
11. Песняры - Зачарованная моя
12. Khruangbin - Summer Madness (Exclusive Track)
13. Paloma San Basilio - Contigo
14. Roha Band - Yetikimt Abeba
15. Tierney Malone & Geoffrey Muller - Trans- mission for Jehn: Gnossienne No 1 (Exclusive Spoken Word Track)