Music has always been a universal language for all human kinds. No matter if you’re European, American, Indian, Asian, a dolphin or whatever – music is such a powerful tool in human communication.
Maybe you think today’s music isn’t (still) bloody exciting and totally unique. But it has never been any better than today. Right now, the moment you read this; this is the peak time of all the music that has ever been composed, interpret and record. You don’t have to believe me. Take this story:
Some months ago, American based producer and audio engineer Josh Marcy discovered on Dangerous Minds a recording from a small festival in the Phetcuban province, in the mid-north Thailand, where a band called Khun Narin would play thrilling psychedelic music, but in a way that was not so common to the Western patterns of this kind of music. It sounded totally new, different and unique. Mercy decided to fly over Thailand, after tracking them down through a common acquaintance in Bangkok. He recorded them and the result is the debut album called ‘Electric Phin Band’ released on the independent LA record label Innovative Leisure Records.
“It’s party music,” says Marcy, quoted by Okay Player. “They all have regular day jobs in the city. One’s a carpenter. One’s a butcher. Another works in a bus station…the band is purely for fun and extra cash.”
''What I liked about Khun Narin and their sound was that it sounded traditional, but it still had those beats and was more of a stripped down sound'', tells Marcy in an interview for RBMA ''They weren’t trying to make it sound modern. They were just trying to make it sound cool and rockin’. (…) ''It sounded like a Thai band doing their own thing, without trying to reflect what a western idea of that would be.''
Khun Narin plays phin prayuk. The first word refers to the lead instrument, a 3-stringed lute known as the phin. Beer, (yes, obviously) is the phin player and a kind of leader of the band, even though membership is always in rotation and crosses several generations, from high school kids, to men well into their 60s. Beer uses a string of Boss effects pedals, including a phaser, distortion and digital delay to get his sound. He also builds his own instruments, installing Fender pickups into hand-carved hardwood bodies, with elaborate mythical serpents adorning the headstock. The band takes pride in their custom PA system, as well as an imposing tower of 8 loudspeaker horns atop a huge bass cabinet.
And while you watch this video where there’s a bunch of grandmas, grandpas, children and young girls, altogether marching joyfully on a communal road and dancing on this mind-blowing music, you may ask if you just missed the greatest party of the year.
Tracklist:
A1. Lam Phu Thai (11:41)A2. Lai Sing (4:38)
A3. Sut Sanaen #2 (4:35)
B. Show Wong Khun Narin (19:28)