Taking influence from 1960's Thai funk - their name literally translates to "Engine Fly" in Thai - Khruangbin is steeped in the bass heavy, psychedelic sound of their inspiration, Tarantino soundtracks and surf-rock cool.
The Texan trio, formed of Laura Lee on bass, Mark Speer on guitar, and Donald “DJ” Johnson on drums, have spent 2016 playing non-stop; including a European tour with Father John Misty, supporting Maribou State at Koko, shows at Glastonbury, SXSW, Rough Trade NYC, Gottwood, Love International, The Great Escape, BST Hyde Park and opening the recent Massive Attack one-day festival in Bristol. The band are currently enjoying a 15 date tour of the US.
Ever since their first rehearsals, Khruangbin listened to a lot of different types of music on the long drives out to their spiritual home, a remote barn deep in the Texas countryside. Their favourites were 60s and 70s Thai cassettes gleaned from the cult Monrakplengthai blog and compilations of southeast Asian pop, rock and funk. This had a heavy impact on the direction of the band, the scales they used and the inflection of the melodies; which coupled with the spaciousness of the Texan countryside culminated in Khruangbin forming their exotic, individual sound.
Following Bonobo including Khruangbin's ‘A Calf Born In Winter’ on his 2013 Late Night Tales compilation, the trio signed to label offshoot Night Time Stories. ‘A Calf Born In Winter’ was released as a single in May 2014, four track EP ‘The Infamous Bill’ followed in October, with covers EP ‘History Of Flight’ on Record Store Day 2015. Their debut album ‘The Universe Smiles Upon You’ was released in November 2015 to widespread acclaim.
