They play instrumental music that is all over the map genre-wise, but one thing you can certainly be sure of with Noisewater—they rock out live. The band’s eponymous debut album arrives today on Louisiana Red Hot Records. They celebrate the release with a show tomorrow night at Tipitina’s.
Since writers always want to pigeonhole bands into a specific genre, Noisewater has opted to call their music funk rock. But to my ears, both on the album and in the live setting, the band inspires comparisons to Galactic for three reasons. They have a distinctly jazzy approach to their sound with a saxophonist, Ole Anders Oddlokkken, out front on many of the tunes.
The second reason is their instrumental sound. Though it’s true they have elements of other genres including metal, reggae, and prog rock, they come across as jazzy funk to the casual listener. Thirdly, this band flat-out jams.
The album is a thorough synopsis of their playing style, songwriting, and approach to music. It was recorded and mixed at Word of Mouth Studio by Tim Stambaugh. The mastering was done by David Farrell. I mention those two behind-the-scenes production credits because the band saw fit to hire the very best in New Orleans.
The rest of the group includes Brandon Hotard on guitar, Cody Fahnestock on drums, Richard C. Carille on piano, organ, and harmonica, Chad Toups on percussion, and John Meunier, Jr. on bass.
Show time on Saturday night is 10 PM. Hash Cabbage opens.
