Steez
Creepfunk Crusade
(Mason Jar)

Listening to Steez' debut disc, Creepfunk Crusade, is like having a slimy second skin slowly envelop your body—the music is atmospheric, down and dirty, cagey, experimental funk. It's the sort of stuff that will make you feel an emotional release, and your body will respond in tumultuous, rhythmic turn.

The Madison, Wisconsin based Steez has laid down some curiously slick grooves on this disc. They spin their unique brand of funk-laden sounds into mesmerizing trips into the rock, electronica and even Latin-tinged arenas. The band has a fantastic sense of rhythmic interplay, and the layers of offbeat guitar work and various electronic chaos seamlessly swirl into unison.

Several tracks clock in at over seven minutes, like the cascading, Miami-on-a-Saturday-night party feel of "Rufio" and the sexy jazz/funk hybrid "TKO." There are also several instrumentals such as the hazy, almost ethereal, extended jam "Trouser Snakes." The longer tunes enhance the trance-like feel of the record, and the intense explosions of funked-up guitar only enhance the deliciously spaced out and groovy, mind-altering buzz.

Steez is poised to take funk in a bold new direction with their debut disc. Innovative, daring and highly danceable, this disc is funk's delirious, decadent future.
—Mark Uricheck