New Orleans-based outfit Organized Crime take the modern funk organ trio in a progressive direction with their debut album, Kiss The Ring. The nine track effort was officially released last week, but we’re happy to premiere it online today.

Produced by Chris Finney and recorded at Bogalusa, LA’s famed Studio in the County, Kiss The Ring finds keyboardist Andri Yanovski, guitarist Henry Green and drummer Patrick Kelleher serving up up some high-energy funk goodness. It’s a primarily—though not exclusively–instrumental effort that includes a cover of James Black’s “There’s a Storm in the Gulf,” as well as some assistance from the Brass Lightning horns.

“Working with Chris Finney was one of the best things we could have done for the development of this album and of the band,” says Yanovski. “He helped us learn how to find our own sound, while at the same time refining the tightness of the group to work in a studio setting.”

The recording process also helped the young group hone their sound, accelerating their shift from a straightforward jazz-funk trio to something with a little more edge.

“What we were listening to really influenced the way we were writing songs,” Yanovski adds. “For instance, halfway through the writing process we began checking out more rock and prog stuff like Black Sabbath and Animals As Leaders, which really helped take our sound from the more jazz/funk influenced material into the harder-hitting side of things.”

Organized Crime’s Kiss The Ring can be heard in full below, but you’ll have to wait until May 4 to catch the band in New Orleans. That’s when they’ll be opening for the Stoop Kids during a Jazz Fest after show at Gasa Gasa.