Fort Knox Five - Pressurize The Cabin

In 1937 the United States Army constructed a fortified post just south of Louisville. The purpose of this installation, as most would believe, is to house the wealth of the United States in the form of gold. The truth behind the facility was in fact to house an unrelenting force that has the ability to transform musical beats into energy, harmonies into weapons, and instruments into worldwide communication devices. But like a musical form of The Avengers, the Fort Knox Five have escaped to control your inner audiophile.

Resistance is futile.

While I will leave it to Steve Raskin, Jon Horvath, Rob Myers, and Sid Barcelona to decide who amongst them gets to be Ironman, with the release of Pressurize the Cabin there is no doubt their music is legendary.

Claiming their latest release as the “true follow up” to Radio Free DC (2008), the DC based musicians/producers/musical precogs, have called on fellow musicians and fellow Fort Knox Records kin to help round out a gripping foray into the realm of electro-funk, jazz fusion, and nods to the way hip-hop used to, and should, sound.

It doesn’t take long to realize that there is a lot of hot air filling people’s heads as of late; perhaps more in the DC area than most. It is time to expel the hot air and Pressurize the Cabin. The electro-funk opener “Reach” featuring Flex Matthews and the Parliament vibe of “Fire in My Belly” featuring Ashley Slater set the stage for what is undeniably one of the most addicting LPs I’ve encountered in some time. The title track, with the help of San Diego’s Vokab Kompany, is equipped with more hooks than a tackle shop and you are going to be hard pressed to get this little ditty out of your head. For those that prefer the smoother finish, FKF pour a tasty little glass of the well-aged “Swinging on a Rhyme,” again featuring Flex Matthews. But the big pop of style comes from none other than the fellow Fort Knox Recording electro-salsa-funk sound of Empresarios with “Cinco to the Brinco.” I’ll leave translation to the listener.

As one track twists into the next Pressurize the Cabin becomes a concert in your earbuds that is as impressive as these Avengers of music taking on the spectrum of sound and somehow molding it into this ravenous release. It is a ridiculously good time packed into ten explosively entertaining tracks that do nothing short of get your blood flowing and help even the most inept get their dance on.

While the Fort Knox Five continue to elude their recapture and confinement in Kentucky, we must all band together to support these heroes of funk, these protectors of the groove. As to their location, I’ll give you a hint, you can start your search for the Five here.

Greg

Greg is a co-founder and regular contributor of Nanobot Rock. When not making bad superhero comparisons he is funking up the Boise, Idaho area.