Hill Climber, Sam

Several years after first discovering Vulfpeck, I'm still asking myself the same question: Is this band really good or really stupid?

Hannah and I attended Sasquatch Music Festival in Washington state in 2017, and Vulfpeck got pretty good billing. And they fucking ripped it. All the musicality and goofiness exhibited on Hill Climber was present live, and the band delivered a dancy, riveting set that was great for a summer-time night at the Gorge.

But was it (and Hill Climber) good or stupid?

Good: These dudes are amazing musicians. It's rare in pop music to find the versatility to sing and play the tunes on display here.

Stupid: But it's all pretty derivative of the primary sources (Prince, Hall & Oates, the Jackson 5, the Band) in that Alabama Shakes-sort-of-way where nothing is original anymore.

Also, do we need blue-eyed soul today? Not all the songs are sung by white dudes, but a lot of them are. Is that good to crib a sound like that? Isn't white music derived from black music anyway, so why is this different?

Good: Still, even if you're copying a style, the original songs stand out. "Half of the Way" is a hit, and "For Survival", although a carbon copy, is a GREAT CC. Plus, "Darwin Derby" brings me all the silly funk I want in a song.

Stupid: But there were only five songs with lyrics here! The back-half of "Hill Climber" was all instrumental, and most of them felt like there could be singing parts. Maybe Vulfpeck was looking for Daft Punk to sample them and didn't want to clutter it up with words. Or maybe they're shit at writing lyrics (see "Lonely Town," "I'm the mayor of Lonely Town, Population: One" good grief).

Good: As I said, they ripped it live. Extended songs, sweet solos on all the instruments, cameos, high energy, silliness. It was amazing.

Stupid: These guys are capital-N NERDS. Like, jazz band nerds. They were introduced with a prerecorded baseball announcer bringing them to their positions. They duck walked in unison. Vulfpeck wants to be Jackson Mayne, but they are really Bradley Cooper pretending to be rock stars.

Really good? Really stupid? I'll punt on that. For me, Vulfpeck is really fun, and Hill Climber continues that trend.