Song of the Day: Redtenbacher's Funkestra - Baby Fat

Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part our Song of the Day podcast subscription. This podcast features exclusive KEXP in-studio performances, unreleased songs, and recordings from independent artists that our DJs think you should hear. Today’s song, featured on The Afternoon Show with Kevin Cole, is “Baby Fat" by Redtenbacher's Funkestra from the 2015 album Dr. Hypenstein on Wooden Hat Records.

Redtenbacher's Funkestra - Baby Fat (MP3)

Under the moniker Redtenbacher's Funkestra, bassist Stefan Redtenbacher leads a group of top-notch musicians through his jazz and funk workouts. An alumnus of the Vienna Conservatory and Berklee College of Music, the Austrian-born musician and composer arrived in London after graduating from Berklee in 1996 and hasn't looked back. Both in an educational capacity – he was a department head at the Academy of Contemporary Music for close to 15 years – and as a performer, Redtenbacher's musical connections run wide. (His session and performance credits include artists from Adam Ant to Amy Winehouse.) His primary musical output is the jazz and funk outfit Redtenbacher's Funkestra, who have gigged steadily for a decade and released eight albums, including this year's Dr. Hypenstein. (A ninth, entitled The Time Thief, is being targeted for release later in the year.) Armed with a saxophone lead worthy of its own Ill Clinton video, "Baby Fat" is everything its title doesn't imply: it's lean, agile, and breathless in its groove. Redtenbacher clearly knows the tools of his trade, and they're all here, from the Nile Rodgers-style licks to the vibrant, subtly propulsive bass underpinning it all. "Baby Fat" sounds like it was a blast to record, if not only because of its all-around explosive nature, but also because of the sense of sheer joy that runs through every explosive climax.

Redtenbacher's Funkestra will continue their residency at London's 606 Club next month. If they announce any other tour dates, that news will be on Redtenbacher's website and Facebook. Below, watch the video for Dr. Hypenstein's title track.