The Budos Band has been churning out larger-than-life instrumentals more akin to a cinematic masterpiece than an average big band composition for the past two decades. Their 20-year stint as a band has created a formula that allows their loftiest ideas to condense without losing their potency, creating otherworldly textures and arrangements that dramatically shift at the band’s will. Their whole tenure has been spent at the illustrious Daptone Records but for their latest release, The Budos Band put the weight on their shoulders. Frontier’s Edge is the band’s first release on Diamond West Records, a label set up by members Jared Tankel (saxophone) and Tom Brenneck (guitar). With a new sense of freedom, The Budos Band crafted six cosmic instrumentals that scoff at the idea of convention and deploy a unique brand of unpredictability. For just under 20 minutes, The Budos Band crafted a consistent EP that reveals the many layers of their sound in a condensed setting.
Despite the length of the project, The Budos Band sounds as full and alive as ever. Their compositions have always leaned on grandiose tendencies and Frontier’s Edge is no different, except that grandeur seems a bit more humble and honed on this outing. The six songs presented to us find consistency in their tones and structure but are able to transform and live on their own out of the context of the project. Individually, these songs are able to steal your full attention with nothing but the power of their unpredictable but masterful musicianship. Their ability to accomplish so much in such a short runtime speaks to the chemistry of Budos and their well-earned veteran status. The band wastes no time on Frontier’s Edge but they never sound rushed, allowing each nuanced element of these arrangements to fully form before throwing in a plot twist that reshapes the whole track. While each song has its own strengths, it’s when they’re all strung together that the true magic is revealed. The Budos Band was able to find a sequence that told a full narrative and ushered in a new era of their artistry.
The album kicks off with the title track, a desperado-style guitar guides us into the swelling of a brass section that welcomes you into the EP in an explosive way. This is our introduction to the silky yet hard-hitting textures that drive this project, the band plays just outside of aggression, and right before their arrangements start to get too intense they throw in a jazzy flair for a bit of relief. They build up these internal conflicts and are able to resolve them all through head-spinning melodies that hold a surreal amount of passion, creating structures that could only be achieved through experimentation and years of practice. The psychedelic guitars on “KRITN” provide a new context to Budos’ signature acrobatic horns but instead of anchoring the other elements of the songs down, the guitar allows them to reach new heights. The off-kilter nature of “KRITN” allows the funk-driven “Crescent Blade” to follow a more conventional sound while still fitting into the free-wheeling universe built on Frontier’s Edge. Their ability to maintain a sonic direction while allowing those same songs to flourish in their own right speaks to the band’s unity. The EP plays as one full idea that gets broken down to its smallest details only to build itself back up in an onslaught of infused genres and influences, all filtered through The Budos Band’s restless creativity.
For their first release since leaving their longtime label, The Budos Band wanted to make a statement. The six compositions presented to us on Frontier’s Edge do more than continue to build on the band’s already impressive discography, it’s a reintroduction to Budos as an independent powerhouse. They found a new edge to sharpen their smooth arrangements, creating songs that leave you transfixed as the band manipulated their own sound to spit out a whole new take on their expansive orchestrations. You’re only as good as the last note you played and The Budos Band made sure every note mattered and within a short amount of time, you’re welcomed into the Budos universe in a celebratory fashion.
