It's an odd thing when a band adds a drummer, and instead of building on the electro-funk of older material, the sound becomes more abstract. Yet that's exactly what Fujiya & Miyagi's members accomplished on their new album, Lightbulbs. The band says that new member Lee Adams speeds the action forward on drums, but this time around, the synths are dreamier and David Best's biting vocals are breathier.
In a session recorded by KEXP at the Gibson Showroom during the CMJ Music Festival, Fujiya & Miyagi opt for Lightbulbs material, and despite the ambient funk of the CD, the live drums add a little more oomph in the studio. The band ended the set with an unreleased song, "Sick and Tired," a piano-driven romper that sounds like David Bowie's "Suffragette City" on a heavy krautrock kick.
Copyright 2008 KEXP