A rolling stone gathers no moss, and neither does nine-piece Funk/Rock collective Turkuaz. Between its frenetic live presentation and rigorous coast-to-coast touring, the Brooklyn band is constantly in motion.
After forming in 2008, Turkuaz hit stages with a vengeance, amassing a fervent local following for a solid three years before dropping a debut album, 2011’s Zerbert. But it was the unit’s sophomore album, 2012’s Live at Southpaw, that proved to be the most potent evidence of its incredible live extravaganza.
In 2013, the band experienced a watershed year, beginning with the September release of an eponymous studio album and followed two months later by Covers Vol. 1, which documented Turkuaz’s incredible range of influence and ability as the musicians ecstatically churned out Funk-fueled versions of Talking Heads’ “Slippery People,” The Band’s “The Shape I’m In,” Hot Chocolate’s “Everyone’s a Winner” and Led Zeppelin’s “Trampled Under Foot.” A mere month later, on New Year’s Eve, Turkuaz released its second concert album, A Live Affair.
Over the past three years, Turkuaz has cemented its live reputation with sold-out shows across the country and further exhibited its studio mastery with a trio of new releases — the Stereochrome EP and the full-lengths, Future 86 and Digitonium. Turkuaz just dropped a new single, “On the Run” — a horn-driven groover that could have been a lost track from Saturday Night Fever — which was produced by former Talking Heads keyboardist Jerry Harrison.
The absolute beauty of Turkuaz is that the band’s nine members, dressed in colors bright enough to have been chosen from The Muppets’ Pantone palette, incorporate elements from an encyclopedic array of influences, from New Wave, Disco, Gospel and R&B to Classic Rock and Pop of the Psychedelic, Afro and Latin varieties. The band cooks those ingredients up into a bubbling gumbo that could raise the dead without a voodoo incantation.
Turkuaz doesn’t just play shows, they stage dance marathons, so the band’s Madison Theater visit could very well be the best workout you’ve had all year.
