Album Review: Menahan Street Band - The Exciting Sounds of Menahan Street Band

The Exciting Sounds of Menahan Street Band is the third studio full-length album by The New York instrumental group Menahan Street Band, It was released on February 26, 2021. What an amazing treat to the ears! Menahan Street Band are gifted consummate musicians that know how to make a statement with their superb musical proficiency, Each song on this album, "The Exciting Sounds of Menahan Street Band  " is like a masterful mini- composition" in an ongoing screenplay that captures very distinct and suburban urban moods. The group's mastery of their musical instruments and the outstanding arrangements are to be applauded. After having listened to bits of their early work I moved on to other artists but found myself surreptitiously returning, again and again, to listen to a little more but ultimately by-passing them until I realized I was fascinated by their jazzy sound. I guess my initial reservations could be attributed to an assumption that this was a sedate elevator Muzak for old folks before my time. I am glad I got past all those assumptions and after repeated listenings in an extremely brief period of time, I find I can't get enough of their New Age jazz, fusion-like music. If this is elevator music then it's one elevator ride that I would hope never ends, it only seems to be going up. but there are a lot of influences here: film soundtracks, afro-beat, funk, etc. Some critics might call this sound too plagiarized of groups from the 1970s, but overall I'll take that sort of heartfelt inspiration any day, I rate this 10/10.