Side Stage

Spotlighting the best of local music: Casxio
by Max Read

The Gospel according to Casxio: In the beginning was the Beat. And the Beat was with God, and the Beat was God. And the music was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the waters. And God said, Let there be Bass: and there was Bass. And God heard the Bass, that it was good. And God called the Beat and the Bass the Rhythm Section. And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the Rhythm Section, and let it Liven Up the Rhythm Section. And God made the firmament, and Livened Up the Rhythm Section. And God called the firmament Guitar and Keyboards.

Let me put it this way: funk is a religion. It’s got prophets (Sly, James, George, Fela), scripture (There’s a Riot Going On, One Nation Under a Groove), but most importantly, it’s got the best services this side of Catholic Mass: sweat-pouring, ass-shaking, feet-moving celebrations of beat-driven ecstasy. And in Casxio, you have some great preachers. Smartly building their foundation on Zach Schrock’s tightly-coiled drums, the L.A. four-piece celebrate the funk gospel by stripping it to its barest elements: the drums, the bass, the guitar and the keyboards. Taking equally from funk-influenced post-punk bands and the original funksters themselves, Casxio crafts their own winning brand of piercing, paranoid funk, defined as equally by the negative spaces between the notes as by the notes themselves. Pointed and punchy, tracks like “All My Love” might not be hymns, exactly, but they’re distinctly spiritual. But most of all, they’re danceable, and isn’t that what matters?

Casxio plays Silverlake Lounge Oct. 19.