Takeshi's Cashew

About

" Austrian spiritual p-funk, washed over with the sound of 70s Anatolian sufi-rock "

Taking inspiration from Anatolian funk, Krautrock, Cumbia, and Afrobeat, the Austrian instrumental band Takeshi’s Cashew are reveling in their mix of classic and modern styles. Formed after a series of psychedelic jam sessions, the five-piece band employs a myriad of global percussive toys, funk guitars, and lots of flutes, to create their psychedelic, Turkish-sufi-rock sound. Using lockdown to gather their skills and record their debut LP, ‘Humans In a Pool’ — a record steeped in cosmic funk and epic outer-world odysseys — the band have been channeling their pent-up energy into their European live shows.

A conglomeration of musicians from different backgrounds and bands from the Vienna scene, the Takeshi’s Cashew sound is very much indebted to the classic Turkish acts of the 70s, with the likes of Barış Manço, Selda, and Özdemir Erdoğan quoted as influences. With a full license to experiment, ‘Humans In a Pool’ is full of freeform jazz explorations and long solos that take this classic sound and inject it full of new, youthful energy that wouldn’t feel too out of place in a Gilles Peterson set. Tracks like ‘Sarajevo’ and ‘Sterndüne (Kosmodroom)’ are very reminiscent of Altīn Gün, another band that combines the classic with the new. Single ‘Yellowyellow’ takes a page out of the Khruangbin books by employing subtle and soulful melodies, while album closer ‘There Is No Harmony’ — the track title taken from a famous Werner Herzog documentary — bounces with full Afrobeat pomp, dictating a progressive narrative in its instrumental funk.

Their psychedelic kosmofunk sounds found their way onto German EULLEN, the new sub-imprint from German electronic label Laut & Luis. At the time of writing, demand for their long player has exceeded supply, with the first vinyl print selling-out. Hopefully, this means the band will enforce a new lockdown in order to stew up some new cosmic-jams.