By now you’ve heard the name Clean Bandit. This squad quad is comprised of two brothers and two friends. This band can bounce, this band can sing and don’t even get me started on their killer music videos. They are unstoppable.
Try to find another band who so fully utilizes inspiration from Beethoven and a violin, along with songs about Rihanna and synths. Do it. You can’t. You might be pissed about hearing "Rather Be" a billion times by now, but think back to the first time you heard it. I still remember when I did. Some random site that I follow on Soundcloud had reposted it sometime in January of 2014. I had my headphones in and was just about ready to collapse from the paper I was working on. "Rather Be" came on and I started having a full on dance party. I proceeded to stop working on my paper and dance around my house for about 20 minutes while I played the song over and over and over. Little did I know that a few months later, "Rather Be" would blow up and I would hear it over and over and over, again. Notice I said "Rather Be" would blow up -- not Clean Bandit. Sure, a good amount of people have listened to this group since this single was dropped and some before that, but the majority of people still only know this one track. Let’s change that.
The main reason I think this group has nothing standing in their way is the fact that they are always at least four steps ahead of the game. They stay fresh before they even begin to get boring. They bounce between classic, dance, reggae and electronic -- you can’t make the argument that they blend into the generic musical landscape. And it seems like they have a ton of friends because basically every single one of their tracks has a special guest appearance. You may think that would make their shows boring -- since they rely on their featured artists for their tracks. Well, you’d be wrong.
Clean Bandit live is truly incredible. They had guests with them on stage and I honestly couldn’t really keep track of who was singing or who was actually a part of the band. The base of the group remained solid with ever changing features and kept us on our toes, though we weren’t really worried about who was coming on stage. Their show is the kind where the audience is bouncing but not jumping. I didn’t feel tired after it -- more revived. I reenergized but didn’t exhaust. OK, sure, we jumped around like crazy for "Rather Be," but everything else we just jammed to, bumped to and straight grooved. They sure make for a great show.
Some tracks I would especially recommend are:
- "A&E"
- "Cologne"
- "Dust Clears"
I’d also just like to give a special shout out to the boys of Pentatonix -- reacting to Cologne exactly the way you should be when you listen to this song here.
The questions now are whether or not this group will be able to keep up with the pace of guests that they showed on their first album. And if they don’t, will they be able to do as well without them? My money is on yes, but we’ll have to wait and see what is in store for them.
