This flashy sextet, committed as always to their un-ironic white boy rock-funk, sounds bigger than ever on their second EP, Painkiller, continuing to expand their traditional chicken scratch with literally and figuratively brassy horns, some old-school vinyl scratching, and even a little bell-bottomed synth. The better news is that the expansion hasn’t complicated what they describe as their “backbone cracking” sense of groove; tracks like the obvious single “Hungry for You” come closer than ever to capturing the
raucous spirit of their live set. [iframe class=”spotify-right” src=”https://embed.spotify.com/?uri=spotify:album:5iVLorMWyjRSQFmZpCwidj” width=”300″ height=”380″ frameborder=”0″ allowtransparency=”true”]Buy on AmazonBuy on iTunesYears of touring have gotten them looser than ever, which also allows them to jazz up this album’s Latin-flavored centerpiece, “Gosando,” and also add a sense of real desperation to “Early in the Morning” without losing that fiya, or that sense of fun. Likewise, the closing “Can’t Break It”—maybe the ballsiest post-K report—has the thickest rock riff in their catalog. They’ve always been too tight to be written off as a mere retro gimmick, but these five songs hint that Flow Tribe might be only an album or two away from finding themselves in their polyester pockets. And maybe a major statement in there as well.