It’s been so long since the last Black Bananas album, you could be forgiven for having forgotten about them altogether. Not that Jennifer Herrema’s been doing nothing the last 12 years – notably, there was a Royal Trux reunion, which yielded a new album, and then the small matter of a pandemic which skittled many a career trajectory for musicians around the globe, and losing their studio only further disrupted whatever flow they might have had.
But now there’re finally back, and, true to form, ‘Bad Bunch’ is a mish-mash of processed electronica, gloopy soul, and slouchy grooves. The slack and sloppy r’n’b of ‘Nutrageous & Jam’ makes for a slow start before the jizzy, jazzy funk of ‘All the Way’ that sounds like a US 80s outtake from a Janet Jackson wannabe whose producer’s eaten all the drugs and the deck’s half eaten the tape. And it only gets more far-out from hereon in, with a mix of Krautrock and prog with an overarching cheezy electro soul vibe that’s utterly fucked-sounding. You can practically smell the drop smoke drifting from the speakers while listening to this. ‘Outta My Head’ is appropriately titled: a funk-based workout that seems to have at least two other songs and a bunch of autotune splayed all over it with little to no regard to form or cohesion.
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When they do get things together to sound a bit more coherent, they slip into loose grooves with wiggy solos, as represented by the likes of ‘Eddie’s Album’. And when things get shambolic and messy, as on the meandering ‘Cold Bussin’ and the wonky stew of ‘Turkey Burger’, they really are all over the shop. This, of course, is simply what Black Bananas do, and have done since they were RTX so no-one who digs their scene is going to feel let down by this latest offering – not so much a bad bunch as a mixed bag. And at least you can tell it’s not AI: AI isn't this demented.
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