Texas-born jazz juggernauts Snarky Puppy like to keep things informal. In the last six years, they’ve released as many records, and not one of them has been made in a recording studio.

The loose syndicate of jazzers and session musicians, headed by bassist Michael Leagues, got into the habit of recording "as live", in front of invited audiences, a formula that has served them well and saved a lot of time and money.

This time, with two Grammys in their back pockets, they decided to splash out on an actual recording studio and that may have been their undoing. Culcha Vulcha is as funky and well-played as you would expect, but somewhere they’ve left behind the spontaneity, and the “get on the dance floor” vibe that has endeared them to hipsters around the world. snarkypuppy.com