The first time I heard of V!bes was on a lineup of an event my good friends in OceanSpeak were asked to be a part of. Think of it as a gargantuan house party. People that attend this event have fun. Apparently a lot of fun, if you get my drift. Which in retrospect, makes V!bes a good choice to provide some tunes for such an event.

While the event were I first heard of V!bes may have been a little too party-hardy for my preference (my impression is based on hearsay, I’ll admit) I’ve been seeing their name pop up a bunch lately! These guys call their style “rock pop hop” which is whimsical way of saying that the band is a spin off of funk. It really, really works though. Many bands in the Columbus area are starting to mix funk, old time rock and roll and even hip hop into the mix. Notable names doing this include Basic Cable Preachers, EOP, and longtime favorites Forest and the Evergreens. But V!bes may be the most unique sounding from the scene yet.

Their EP, aptly titled “Buyin’ Big,” is over almost before you know it. This is because of how fun and unique it is, not because the tracks themselves are short. We don’t want to spoil the record by nitpicking technical aspects of each songs. Play by plays are boring, anyway. But suffice to say the guys do a good job of remaining within a spectrum while mixing things up subtly here and there. These guys have found their niche already, which isn’t something that can be said for many young bands. I give a lot of praise on this blog but make no mistake – I’m not buttering people up for shares and page clicks. I recognize good musicianship and songwriting a lot but I don’t recognize ownership of a niche, especially on a first release, very often.

V!bes is here to make you feel good and you had better pay attention.

Score: 4/5

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/192695459″ /]

V!bes is on Facebook. Buy their music on iTunes too.