Groove on

In many ways,Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King is a significant album for DMB. Not only is Matthews resolutely sticking to the energy of electronica to get the music across,but the album is very clearly dedicated to his friend and colleague,LeRoi Moore,saxophonist and founding member of DMB. Moore’s stamp on the album is clear in the way his signature sax sound is used to bookend the album.

It’s also in the name — in an interview earlier this year,Matthews and bandmate Carter Beauford revealed that GrooGrux was a nickname they used for the late saxophonist; not to mention the album cover,which features Moore’s head as a float in a New Orleans Mardi Gras parade.

Luckily for all involved — the musicians and their fans — the album succeeds in every way. The sound,while not quite the vintage DMB,is close enough to the band’s original hook to still be intensely appealing. The happy amalgamation of what the music used to be and what it wants to be is sure to woo an entirely new fanbase — making up for the fans they lost with Everyday. They still have their “wild-sounding rhythms” and completely whimsical,yet heart-felt lyrics. Sample Time Bomb,a track that deals with loss and renewal of faith with words like “If Martians fell from the sky/What would that do to God/Would we put the weapon down/Or aim it up at the sky.”

Easily,the best tracks on the album are Shake Me Like a Monkey and Why I Am. ‘Sexy’ is the word to best describe the former,with its high tempo and monster brass blast. The latter,another dedication to the GrooGrux king,is a complex number about the ironies of being human—“I grew from monkey into man/then I crushed 15 million with a wave of my hand/I grew drunk on water turned into wine/’til I was slave and master at the same damn time.”

What has to find mention in any review of the album is the gorgeous album art. Covered in illustrations by Matthews,the cover features motifs from the whimsical world of DMB— rabbits with butterfly wings,dead fish floating in the sky and masked figures— all unrelated,but strangely in sync. It’s a clear indication of the band’s projection of their music. It’s a crazy world with a host of seemingly mismatched images; but look and listen closely—the beauty is in the details.

Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King — Dave Matthews Band Rs. 395