Hiatus Kaiyote

Hiatus Kaiyote is a Melbourne based four-piece band whose music blends R&B, jazz, Latin, and funk into a distinct sound that resides in the same musical neighborhood as artists like Flying Lotus and Georgia Anne Muldrow, to name a couple. Stylistically, they come across as an edgy jazz fusion band from the '80s that has upgraded their sound with hip-hop era grooves. Their music is normally not the free flowing, smooth kind (although they do that too, sometimes). It twists, turns, changes directions. It is angular and sometimes rough around the edges, but it is exceptionally well done, balancing between a melodic pop flow and some of the more herky-jerky tendencies of fusion jazz. They are a top-notch ensemble made up of excellent musicians, both as instrumentalists and in the case of the guitarist Nai Palm's (aka Naomi Saalfield), also as a vocalist. Her fascination with video games and other kinds of geeky goodness directly informs her lyrics.