Khruangbin loves music, Oakland loves Khruangbin

Few musicians exude the admiration and joy for underappreciated world music like Houston instrumental trio Khruangbin. The group takes their name from the rough Thai translation for “airplane” and started playing music as gospel bandmates. As such, their two albums are eclectic celebrations of 1960s/70s music, especially Thai funk, Spanish, and Middle Eastern music, surf, psychedelia, and soul. Appropriately, their website showcases a custom playlist generator for hypothetical flights around the world, curating from a diverse pool of songs that served as influence for their sophomore album, Con Todo El Mundo (2018). Yet for a band so widely influenced, their music feels primarily grounded in the unpretentious spirit of laying down infectious grooves to dance and feel good to. Their performance at the Fox Theater Friday night proved just how mesmerizingly they can do so.

Before the trio took the stage, opener and frequent collaborator Will Van Horn matched Khruangbin’s passion for diverse music with songs featuring pedal steel guitar. Although the instrument is most commonly associated with the twangy glissandos of country music, Van Horn embraced the unique timbre with an eclectic mix of originals and covers, including Dick Dale’s surf rock anthem “Miserlou,” and songs from Aphex Twin and ethio-jazz musician Mulatu Astatke. I never thought I would so thoroughly enjoy a cover of Britney Spears’ “Toxic,” but Van Horn made it easy to relax and appreciate, setting the stage perfectly for the main act.

Not wasting a moment of their nearly 90 minute set, Khruangbin kicked off the night with the high energy funk of “Bin Bin” from early in their career, immediately establishing the tight bass grooves of Laura Lee, subtle snap of drummer DJ Johnson, and dexterous guitar chops of Marko Speer. Yet once that attention-grabbing entrance was over, the rest of the night melted into the easy-going, open-spaced spirit of their records. Only three songs in, the soulful second half of “August Twelve,” from their debut The Universe Shines Upon You (2015), seemed to pull the whole theater in an uplifting trance that lasted the whole night.

The trio’s mellow stage presence complemented the music beautifully, and undeniably facilitated an addicting, playful energy that kept the crowd dancing and cheering. One obvious reason the band was so exciting to watch is that each member looked stunning, and the ways they moved with their instruments made the performance all the more engaging. While Johnson kept a relaxed gaze and grooved with a near-still subtlety, Lee and Speer held slight smiles as they slowly walked around the stage, complete with sultry hip sways as the wind blew through strands in their retro wigs.

Every move the musicians made was fun and inviting, embracing otherwise silly performance gestures with a warm attitude that you can’t help but smiling at. Some antics were with one-off props, like percussively hitting glass bottles during “The Infamous Bill” (from the 2014 EP of the same name) and acting out the voicemail skit of “Evan Finds the Third Room” (Con Todo El Mundo) with an actual old telephone set. Others were subtle stage flairs, like Speer strutting forward and rolling his head as if his guitar lines were crooning melodies. Even their water breaks were reason for the crowd to burst with excitement, with Lee and Spear sauntering symmetrically to their amps to slowly pour their glasses and toast to the audience.

Unsurprisingly, the audience was captivated and ecstatic throughout the night, evident in how quickly the band’s limited talking was buried underneath exhilarated cheers and shouted praise. The crowd didn’t hesitate to fulfill the clapped quarter note part of “Maria También” (Con Todo El Mundo) and enthusiastically sang along to musical quotes from their live-exclusive “West Coast Medley,” featuring snippets from artists like Sade, A Tribe Called Quest, and Ice Cube. None of the band members even had to announce that it was Speer’s birthday since audience members were already calling out whenever they got the chance.

Throughout the night, Khruangbin gave one of the most consistently engaging performances I’ve ever experienced. The contributions from all members always felt clear and essential to the overall groove, and the musical chemistry between them was so tight and joyous that dancing along actually felt therapeutic. The punctuated vocals throughout the night added further dynamics to an already varied set, and all three contributed lyrically with ethereal vocals to the love-soaked haze of “Friday Morning” (Con Todo El Mundo). Opener Will Van Horn joined the band onstage for their three song encore, and the four musicians closed the night enthusiastically with energetic torrent of “People Everywhere (Still Alive)”.

For all their diverse influence, Khruangbin especially succeeded not only in adopting their favorite music stylings as their own, but also in crafting an inviting live experience for their fans that’s less of a one-way artistic delivery and more like a group celebration of the music we all love, performer and fan alike. Thanks to Khruangbin, I left the Fox both impressed by the spirited performance and feeling great after a night of dancing and smiling. I couldn’t have asked for a more musically life-affirming show.