It’s Summertime. Time to drink beer for the sheer joy of a cold one on a hot day. Time to enjoy some of the rare beauty in life. Time to embrace the euphoric feelings that a warm sunny day can bring – much like the aura of a cool but gorgeous night slipped into the middle of a heat wave where you can kick off the grime of the past days, shed that skin, and get Funky; Get into a groove and let the emotions of every outside influence flow through you, your body, your mind, and your soul, as you throw down and enjoy the natural essence of nature and music.

Adios Pantalones with their self-titled debut release has given us the “Party Central” of  Summer that I can also see amid the leaves of Autumn, the ski lodges of deep Winter, and the budding days of Spring. So Funky, So Groovy, So Hip, So Hop, So Rock, So Jazz, So Reggae, So Latin, So Surf – So Rick James, Sly Stone, and Sublime, So early Chicago, Police, and Big Audio Dynamite, So Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Madness, and Specials, So Blood, Sweat & Tears, G.Love & Special Sauce, and Pharaoh Sanders that the only word to describe it all would be:

GROOV – A – LICIOUS!!!

Yes, I said it, "Groovalicious"…
If you can’t get your groove on to this disc, if you don’t find yourself boppin’ in that reggae driven version of the pogo with a ska backing, then I seriously doubt if you are tasting the refreshing enjoyment that the annual rituals of the seasons present to us all.

Adios Pantalones is a sextet that came together as a one night stand party band from the campus of the University of Connecticut in Storrs, CT. Adios Pantalones is made up of the Rock-n-Rhythm sounds of “L” (guitars), “Metcalf” (drums), and “Floyd” (bass, vocals) cross threaded with the Funky brass of “Jonny B” (sax, vocals), “Chip” (sax, vocals), and “Drawz” (trombone, vocals) to create a sound that can only match their enthusiasm.

The Adios Pantalones CD finds The Pants (as they are affectionately known) opening “Le Sol” with a driving drum that grabs you with a funky beat and makes your feet tap, suddenly the high-end reggae guitar slices in knocking your head forward and back. Next, the way down and dirty run of the bass worms it’s way into the mix forcing a hip bump and grind, and finally the subtle horns creep in, slyly dominating, causing your shoulders to shake and sway…this is only one minute into the song! One minute into the CD! One minute and we’re throwing down, we’re getting funky! Don’t believe it? Then listen to it now, click on the song title to hear what I'm talking about. And, there’s still eight minutes left to this song, 43 minutes left to the disc. One minute and it’s already pumping a groove so funk-filled that it transforms any party/season/state-of-mind into a dance of complete sensual arousal.

“Mr.Winky” does the same with an even more primal twist, as the horns take front and center over a solid back groove of bass and drums accented by the reggae rhythm guitar. The amazing thing here (and throughout most of the songs) is the way the song(s) takes on different characteristics as it flows along; Just when you think things are wrapped up The Pants take it in a parallel direction infusing not only new life into the composition, but expanding the ritual into an extended jam that carries none of the staleness found in so many of the bloated 5 minute plus songs we’ve become accustomed to over the years.

Speaking of 5 minute plus songs “Pogo Stix” (The "2001 IndepenDisc Song of the Year”) is 9:35 of the best funk-fest jam I’ve heard since Earth, Wind, & Fire in the heyday of Maurice White and Philip Bailey. It contains a 3:00 plus sax showcase that starts around the 6 minute mark groovin’ and swaying, carrying you and all your troubles away as it takes you up and over the shit of the day-to-day grind to a magical, mystical plane of pure ecstasy, where the dance of profound happiness rules your soul.

Then “Time Machine” rolls in with a stripped down solo acoustic guitar and reserved vocal to help shift the focus until the manic bass bursts into your ears, driving so hard and fast you must wonder how many fingers “Floyd” has on each hand. Joining in on the 6 and a half minute sprint, the drums and guitar push the vocals along until the horns usher in a Rocky Horror/Broadway Musical style chorus, a New Wave style bridge, and a patented Dick Dale surf guitar run respectively, all within a 30 second span. Without coming up for air the song chugs along as the singer tells how the ideal setting would include “a rusty old time machine” that allows us to be “caught in an endless summer/wishing these days would last forever.” Stepping through the time machine doors, the song ends, but it doesn’t, the song again bursts into your ears, transporting you back into the song, back into the endless summer days, back into the party, back into the Funk, with a scorching sax reaching heights that intensify the trip, and we’re once again throwing down to the funk.

Ever throw down to the funk? I’m talking pre-disco funk (Because after all, all disco was, was funk commercialized and packaged for the consumption of the masses and their almighty dollar – I kind of smell that residue in the current [and past it’s allotted 15 minutes] boy band/girl diva gold rush). Late 60s to Early 70s funk, spearheaded by Sly Stone and carried forth by Rick James, Bootsy Collins, and George Clinton (still active with Parliament/Funkadelic) had it’s soul in the music; such driving beats that to not feel the music was not to enjoy life. Funk moved you with the spirit of the music, it reached down into your soul and made your body bounce and glide with gleeful abandon, it allowed each individual’s Shangri-la to emerge and participate in the party of life.

Having a party? Need a party? Throw away the problematic times, kick off the grime of the day, shed that skin, and say goodbye to the trousers of conformity as you put on Adios Pantalones and throw down to a modern funk-fest that’ll turn wherever you are into a Groov-a-licious dance hall of bliss.

Adios Pantalones is available now for $9.98 + s/h*
$6.98 + s/h*

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                                        Add $3.00 per each CD after.