Bunk Buddha

It was a cool overcast August morning clouds were covering the sky giving way to a crisp cool breeze. I arrived at Pimlico Race Course around 10 am, where we were welcomed by friendly security who directed us where to park and check in.

My peaceful morning views of sprinklers and horses swiftly turned into sights of creative homemade outfits and brightly colored kandi bead cuffs, masks and necklaces. An overwhelming sense of friendship and love came over me as I waited to get through security even though the search was thorough it was quick and the staff was efficient considering the size of the crowd and restrictions on what you could bring in.

As you enter past the front gate, you were directed through an underground tunnel. This is where I first started to get a real feeling of how magical the Moonrise Festival was going to be. Everyone started to show the true energy and emotion they had held in while waiting in line. As they skipped, twirled, danced and walked their voices echoed off the wall, I felt my sense of excitement grow for what they day may bring. Before I knew it the tunnel had ended and I was instantly drawn to the Lunar Stage.

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Bunk Buddha (Scott Donovan and Corey King) was just kicking off Moonrise with a milestone of their own. This was Bunk Buddha’s first time performing with a full band accompanying the two on stage. Comprised of other local Baltimore musicians from local bands such as Bobby Jones of Golden Guns (percussion), Austin Litz of Litz (clav, flute and saxophone), and Frederick native FX master Will S. who is better known as Plaeground and also a member of Litz . I’ve seen Bunk Buddha before because they’re prominent producers around Baltimore and also from the late night madness featured at The Mad Tea Party Jam’s Dance Tent.

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I was not expecting the set to be so unique on its own, the way they intermingled each of their musical talents into something new and fresh with Tracks like “Everybody Love Everybody” which was already a funky psychedelic beat, adding fresh percussion and sexy sax was a full on eargasm. As they played I never could fully anticipate where their set was going to take me. Spacey-acid tracks like “Smoke Machine” that transformed into “Burple Flowers,” a very relaxed and mild sounding song to cleanse the soul on a more harmonic level. THEN, when you’re not expecting it Bunk Buddha turns up the mid-day energy with tracks like Keep it Moving and Mirror Aspect of you, with the use of their trademark synth patches blended perfectly with an organic touch. Among the tracks that seemed to draw attention to the Lunar Stage was their Dripping Wet(Corey King) interpretation of Clint Eastwood by the Gorillaz that flowed right into a deep tribal house cover which truly took the entire crowd from the dance floor to the deepest parts of the galaxy. The first segment of the set came to a conclusion with the Plaeground original track Ratotosker which included a remarkable drum call back between Corey, Bobby and glitched out audio beats. They ended the set Plaeground track heavy that effortlessly and seamlessly glided into their last song, Glitch Crystal, a glitch hop track which will be feature on Bunk Buddha’s upcoming EP entitled Master Crystal.

I hope that Scott and Corey continue to grow and expand and form new relationships with fellow artists from all musical backgrounds. The magic that we witnessed on stage was a perfectly beautiful way to kick off both the first Moonrise Festival and the first of many endeavors of live electronic music from the electrifying duo, Bunk Buddha. - Appalachian Jammwich

The Bal­ti­more trio that is Bunk Bud­dha has truly been mak­ing some waves as of late, around town and beyond. Start­ing as a solo project and only just debut­ing as a band this past June, the band’s incor­po­ra­tion of live instru­men­ta­tion and elec­tronic aspects has matured expo­nen­tially, result­ing in epic grooves, unfor­get­table hooks and funky beats. After a month long res­i­dency at Baltimore’s beloved venue, The 8×10, the band has been spread­ing its wings out­side of the area, includ­ing a trip down to Ten­nessee, fol­lowed by Atlanta and back up to Asheville. Con­sist­ing of Scott Dono­van (elec­tron­ics), Mike Chap­pell (gui­tar, bass) and Corey King (drums), Bunk Bud­dha released the five-track Leaves EP on Octo­ber 7, 2015 in advance of an adven­tur­ous Fall 2015.

The title track, ​“Leaves,” is a pro­gres­sive tune with a deep groove. The mes­mer­iz­ing hook grips and grabs you at every turn, even teas­ing the lis­tener at some points. ​“Leaves” is the kind of track that can invoke dif­fer­ent emo­tions depend­ing on the con­text or sit­u­a­tion. If played at low vol­umes, it could be a nice song for relax­ation. If played loudly in head­phones, it could entrance lis­ten­ers and send them on an inter­nal jour­ney. Finally, if played live and loud, every­one in the room would be on their feet and get­ting’ down!

“Grand Eyes” brings out the dance party atmos­phere that Bunk Bud­dha is so well known for in their home­town of Bal­ti­more. After a funky gui­tar intro, the tune includes some Mid­dle East­ern sound­ing strings, giv­ing it a mys­ti­cal, ori­en­tal type of feel.

“Aggro Crag” con­tin­ues the funk with a gut-wrench­ing bass line. This tune also shows quite a bit of the band’s mat­u­ra­tion, as they not only uti­lize the spaces in between the notes, but plan for them to be a sig­nif­i­cant aspect of the song. A ragin’ gui­tar solo per­me­ates the end­ing of the track, lead­ing the funk train’s exit from the EP.

An inter­est­ing, quirky intro breaks into a pow­er­ful hip hop style beat to kick off ​“If We Were At Burn­ing Man.” The deep, rum­bling bass lays the frame­work for this one, while hyp­notic vocals and jazzy gui­tar chords add fla­vor and tex­ture through­out the song.

Finally, ​“Count­ing Cir­cles” closes out the EP with a tight trap beat, aug­mented by fre­quent, trippy synth tones.

I, for one, can­not wait to see where these guys take their music next! The Leaves EP shows a level of pas­sion and musi­cal­ity that makes my spine tin­gle and urges me to lis­ten again and again. Still less than four months into their tenure together, these guys def­i­nitely have some­thing spe­cial going, and this five-track EP rep­re­sents a strong base to begin their voy­age into dance music. Next, the band takes over Rich­mond, VA with a Sun­day Fun­day not to be missed. Bel­ly­tim­ber Tav­ern will host the trio tomor­row, Octo­ber 18, and it is sure to be a rager! Take a lis­ten to the full EP below!

Writ­ten by ​“Ragin’” Randy Har­ris - Heady Entertainment

I have sincerely grown to love the live music scene here in Baltimore. There is a wide range of venues, all shapes and sizes, and the people who attend have cultivated a genuine community. On Friday, November 6, 2015, excitement was palpable among the local scene, buzzing about the impending EOTO show featuring the one and only Mike Rempel of Lotus. For those who are unfamiliar with the unparalleled EOTO, the duo is comprised of Michael Travis and Jason Hann. Outside of EOTO, Travis and Hann team up to form the rhythm section for The String Cheese Incident. These two veterans of the jam scene formed EOTO as a side project in the mid-2000s, and today it has become its own animal, boasting a dedicated fanbase of its own that rivals any and all of the most prominent bands on the circuit. EOTO has dedicated itself to the art of improvisation, utilizing a wide range of electronic music genres but without compromising the “live” aspect of “live music.” The result is an epic musical journey, accompanied by one of the most intense laser light shows in live music.

First, however, we were treated to a couple of local opening acts to warm up our feet and get us in the groove. Highland, a young duo named for their hometown of Highland, MD, kicked off the evening. The vibe was mostly laid back but with enough oomph to keep us on our feet. The young duo are certainly talented producers, but my only criticism is that they need to work on controlling the energy of a live set a bit better. Next up was the Baltimore native Bunk Buddha. I have had the pleasure of working with these guys in the past, and I was already stoked to see them in this opening slot. Starting off as a solo project by a single producer, Bunk Buddha has expanded into a trio, consisting of Scott Donovan (DJ/Producer), Corey King (drums) and Mike Chappell (guitar/bass). The group has only been a trio for less than half a year, but they have improved significantly over that time, tightening up and honing their own unique live experience. Bunk Buddha had a packed Soundstage raging their hearts out, heightening the anticipation for what was still to come.
Three men walk on stage to roaring applause from a properly warmed up crowd. The tall one in the middle introduces himself as Michael Travis and the drummer as Jason Hann. He proceeds to explain that together they are EOTO, and they just like to get on stage and mess around, 100% live improve electronic music. He continues to explain that Mike Rempel, the guitarist for Lotus, thought it was a cool idea and decided to join them for a few shows. “So, let’s get to it,” he finishes… and we’re off! - Grateful Music