Grand Ole Party is an independent three piece act out of San Diego that describes their sound as Club / Big Beat / Funk on their MySpace page. I first heard of them when the lineup for this year’s Bonnaroo was released in February, and they were the second act I saw at this year’s festival. They were absolutely amazing and out of a dozen-plus acts that I managed to catch between the other things one does at 'roo, they were easily in the top three to five. Since then, they have been the soundtrack of my summer.
The lead singer, Kristin Gundred, is also the drummer and reminds me of Karen O in both sound and appearance, and the band as a whole is fairly reminiscent of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs but more raw and earnest, and with more of what I would call a cabaret-punk flavor. This video of Look Out, Young Son is a good representation of their sound though my favorite song is probaby Gypsy March, a record which can be found here.
My only issues with the band are that their uptempo songs often seem to be building to an explosive climax that never quite comes, and that a lot of those same songs sound alike on first and second listens. These are forgivable as *Humanimals * is their only album, meaning they have more time to grow into their sound and realize its full potential.
