The debate begins in the queue in front of the Columbiahalle. So how do you pronounce this band correctly? Khruangbin is the Thai word for airplane. Difficult for untrained tongues. And yet the name fits perfectly with the jet set sounds of the US trio from Houston, which fuses Southeast Asian, West African and Latin American influences into fantastic sound structures for their psychedelic pop. Somewhere between soul, surf, dub and funk.
No, Khruangbin concerts are not about words. The band doesn’t talk much, vocal parts are few and far between. This makes it extremely difficult to sing along – which is perhaps better that way this evening, since almost 80 percent of the audience in Berlin no longer wears a mask.
The futuristic stage is designed like a spaceship that has just landed. Shiny silver platforms with brightly colored portholes. Above it is a gigantic disco ball, under which Khruangbin’s three strange figures appear at around 9:15 p.m. Bassist Laura Lee, who once proclaimed that she would never wear the same outfit twice on stage, appears in a skimpy fishnet suit.
The band’s trademark on his head: a long black wig. Of course, this is also worn by guitarist Mark Speer, paired with a blue and black floral suit and cowboy boots. Drummer Donald Ray “DJ” Johnson Jr. complemented the quirky image with a brightly patterned wrap, sunglasses and leather hat.
Relaxed and incredibly groovy
And they sound even better than they look. The effect-saturated guitar playing strings together one melody pearl after another, the bass lines pulsate casually and “DJ” shakes precise breakbeats off the wrist, while the rest of his body seems to meditate, detached from the game. In the meantime, awkwardly likeable, Lee and Speer stalk across the stage, practicing synchronous dance steps or seductive body movements.
[Behalten Sie den Überblick: Jeden Morgen ab 6 Uhr berichten Chefredakteur Lorenz Maroldt und sein Team im Tagesspiegel-Newsletter Checkpoint über Berlins wichtigste Nachrichten und größte Aufreger. Kostenlos und kompakt: checkpoint.tagesspiegel.de]
Distilling the maximum out of the reduction – that is Khruangbin’s recipe. The songs performed are minimalist and complex at the same time, relaxed and incredibly groovy. From the melancholic sounds of “So We Won’t Forget” to the surf guitar-driven “Maria También” to the interspersed medleys of covers like “Apache” by “The Shadows” or even “Rhythm Is a Dancer” by Snap!
And so the evening seems like one long jam at a roller disco, where schnapps bottles are sometimes converted into percussion instruments. All this accompanied by the blissful rocking and swaying of the audience. In a kind of wedding dress, Lee reappears for the encore. The long-awaited hit “Time (You And I)” leads into a ten-minute farewell groove. Then Khruangbin raise their glasses one last time – and finally speak their names. Unfortunately, the frenetic jubilation didn’t understand him.
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