The first way I ever heard the music of The Budos Band described was “the Dap-Kings meets Black Sabbath.” I would only add “70’s car chase soundtrack through a dingy underground club” to that and it’d be pretty spot-on. Everything about this instrumental group reeks of mysterious, ethereal radness. The album cover is eerily reminiscent of that Led Zeppelin drawing of the old dude with the lantern (which I totally just found out is a copy of “The Hermit” card from a tarot deck…whoa!), which makes perfect sense as this is truly some shit that will make you want to hop through the Misty Mountains of Heaven for Evermore. The 10 tracks on Burnt Offering will pump you up for a battle against Five Armies or chill you out for a couch battle against Five Guys. Put lantern dude in a short-brimmed fedora, give him a trumpet and a pack of Pall Malls, then plow him in a Lincoln Continental through a New York City basement and we’ll be cookin’.—Pat McGuire
