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Snarky Puppy

Culcha Vulcha

Ground Up Music
Release Date: April 29, 2016

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Official Trailer
1 Tarova
2 Semente
3 Gemini
4 Grown Folks
5 Beep Box
6 GO
7 The Simple Life
8 Palermo
9 Big Ugly
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Snarky Puppy will release their eleventh album and first true studio album in eight years on April 29 via GroundUP Music/Universal Music Classics. Dubbed Culcha Vulcha, the record was recorded at Donic Ranch Studios in Tornillo, TX for a week, and nine new tracks. The album title refers to how we-the Western civilized world-have all become slaves to Pop culture, consuming as many messages to "buy", "be" and "get" as possible. We circle above and wait to swoop in and ravenously eat or "consume" as much messaging as possible so we can feel "full" and satisfied that we are "cool," losing our sense of self-confidence and self-acceptance as we are.

  • Michael League on returning To Snarky Puppy's roots with Empire Central / LIVE FOR LIVE MUSIC
    Posted At: October 5, 2022 12:00 AM
    LIVE FOR LIVE MUSIC - James Sissler writes…Internationally renowned jazz collective Snarky Puppy returned to its roots in more ways than one for its latest release, Empire Central. Recorded at Deep Ellum Art Company in the group’s hometown of Dallas, TX over the course of eight performances, the album pays tribute to both Dallas scene that helped birth the band—with its mix of jazz, funk, hip-hop, gospel, a...
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  • Snarky Puppy announces 2023 Empire Central North American Tour / relix
    Posted At: July 18, 2022 12:00 AM
    relix writes….Today, American instrumental ensemble Snarky Puppy announced they’re currently preparing for their return to stages across the U.S. early next year. The tour–produced by GroundUP Music–is being touted as the Empire Central North American Tour and is set to kick off in late March of 2023.To start things off, the musical collective led by bassist Michael League will bring their combination of ja...
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  • Snarky Puppy - Trinity makes JAZZIZ: New Release Cheat Sheet
    Posted At: June 10, 2022 12:00 AM
    After a decade of relentless touring and recording in all but complete obscurity, the Texas-bred/New York-based quasi-collective suddenly found itself held up by the press and public as one of the major figures in the jazz world. But as the category names for all four of the band’s Grammy® awards would indicate (Best R&B Performance in 2014, Best Contemporary Instrumental Album in 2016, 2017, and 2021),...
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  • Win tickets to Ground Up Music Festival! courtesy of Miami New Times
    Posted At: January 22, 2020 12:00 AM

    Want to see artists like Chris Potter, Snarky Puppy, Camila Meza, & more?! We're giving awya a pair of GA tickets to one lucky winner who will be able to atend all three days of Ground Up Music Festival! Not onyl is this festival full of your favorite artists, but it's on the beach! What better way to spend your Valentine's Day weekend than on the beach, with your significant other, and g...
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  • Snarky Puppy steps up with new tunes in triumphant return to LA's Orpheum Theatre / Live For Live Music
    Posted At: June 3, 2019 12:00 AM

    There is a certain freedom that comes with being an instrumental outfit like Snarky Puppy. Whereas a vocally-focused act may feel compelled (if not outright implored) by its fans to roll through all the same hits, show after show, until the tread wears off, those that eschew lyrics-and, ideally, compensate with spirited instrumentation-are granted more leeway for experimentation by default. Not that ...
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  • Snarky Puppy makes this week's JAZZIZ roundup
    Posted At: March 15, 2019 12:00 AM

    The Week in Jazz is your roundup of new and noteworthy stories from the jazz world. It's a one-stop destination for the music news you need to know. Let's take it from the top. Three-time Grammy-winning, genre-defying ensemble Snarky Puppy will begin their latest world tour on April 11 in Osaka, Japan. Their world tour is currently slated to run for 75 shows in 19 countries. Snarky Puppy also released to...
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  • Snarky Puppy helping to keep the south florida jam alive / Miami New Times
    Posted At: August 19, 2018 12:00 AM

    Miami's music scene is a conglomerate of genres. Past the late-night dance clubs and dive bars lives a genre of music that was born in the '60s. South Florida seems to be a destination for jam bands, and many have even set their roots here. The scene continues to thrive with events such as Jam Cruise, GroundUp Fest, and Wanee Festival and venues like the Funky Biscuit and the Fillmore. Here are s...
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  • Some great musicians grace the Malta Jazz Festival stages / Lovin Malta
    Posted At: July 18, 2018 12:00 AM

    Valletta's magnificent Grand Harbour sets the backdrop to the Malta Jazz Festival. This event has become a byword for high-calibre performances, which delight jazz aficionados and lay persons alike. The festival, which runs from 16 to 21 July, boasts three of the biggest names in jazz today – Chick Corea, Christian McBride, Nasheet Waits, John Patitucci and many others. Held over six days in variou...
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  • Snarky Puppy celebrates African roots at Morocco's Gnaoua World Music Festival / euronews
    Posted At: July 2, 2018 12:00 AM

    The 21st annual Gnaoua World Music Festival has again taken place in the otherwise sleepy fishing port of Essaouira on Morocco's Atlantic coast, attracting almost half a million visitors to the North African country's biggest summer festival. Gnaoua is a North African repertoire of ancient African spiritual religious songs and rhythms considered by many to be the roots of jazz, blues, R&B and rock mu...
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  • Set for Atlanta's Variety Playhouse, Snarky Puppy's Mike League and Marcelo Woloski sit down with GPB
    Posted At: February 15, 2018 12:00 AM

    p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060} There's one thing you notice when you see Snarky Puppy. The Brooklyn by way of the Texas band is huge! They have 20-plus rotating musicians, most of whom fill the stage at a live show. The jazz-fusion group will likely crowd the Variety Playhouse stage in Atlanta, where they play two sold out shows thi...
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  • Michael League crafts intimate festival from the GroundUp / Miami New Times
    Posted At: February 7, 2018 12:00 AM

    Michael League isn't one to overcomplicate things. Even while presiding over his demanding role as bassist and bandleader of his instrumental jazz-fusion outfit Snarky Puppy, League has founded an independent record label and corresponding music festival, GroundUp, on top of maintaining an intensive tour schedule and a smattering of side projects. For most musicians, the acclaim of being one of the most ...
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  • Snarky Puppy set for Boulder Theatre / The Know
    Posted At: January 28, 2018 12:00 AM

    It's been somewhat quiet on the live jazz performance scene in the Denver area this year. In February and March, things will pick up considerably. The massive collective known as Snarky Puppy will play at the Boulder Theater on Feb. 20. The Brooklyn-based group has helped to bring a lot of millennials to the music, even though the band doesn't brand itself as jazz as much as an improvising pop unit. Bass...
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  • Derek Smalls releases first solo album in 35 years / Live for Live Music
    Posted At: January 20, 2018 12:00 AM

    Spinal Tap bassist Derek Smalls (aka comedian and actor Harry Shearer) will put out his first solo album nearly 35 years after the release of the film that made him famous. Dubbed Smalls Change (Meditations Upon Ageing), the record will feature an impressive array of guest musicians like Donald Fagen of Steely Dan, Chad Smith of Red Hot Chili Peppers, David Crosby, Peter Frampton, Paul Shaffer, Dweezil Z...
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  • Second GroundUp Fest set for Feb / DOWNBEAT
    Posted At: January 18, 2018 12:00 AM

    Snarky Puppy will host the second GroundUp Music Festival in Miami on Feb. 9–11. Joining the organizers and festival headliners are acts as diverse as Béla Fleck and The Flecktones Trio (which includes Victor Wooten and Futureman), Robert Glasper, Joshua Redman, Becca Stevens, Cuban singer Eliades Ochoa and others. Snarky Puppy, which topped the Jazz Group category in the 2017 DownBeat Reade...
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  • NPR and WBGO present their annual New Year's Eve musical extravaganza
    Posted At: December 21, 2017 12:00 AM

    NPR and WBGO: Newark NJ present their annual New Year's Eve musical extravaganza to take you through midnight and beyond. An NPR tradition every New Year's Eve since the 1970s, Toast of the Nation is the perfect audio complement for the occasion. It's jazz that you can party to, all night long with countdowns to midnight in all four continental time zones. Spirited, improvised, grooving and s...
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  • Snarky Puppy returns to Rio for 'Jazz We Can' project / The Rio Times
    Posted At: December 17, 2017 12:00 AM

    Tonight, December 15th, Circo Voador, in Lapa, promotes the show of Snarky Puppy, renowned group from Brooklyn, New York. After two years, the band returns to Rio to participate in the "Jazz We Can" project, aimed at promoting the jazz culture in the city. Nine of the 25 Snarky Puppy members will perform tonight at Circo Voador, presenting the most original fusion of jazz, hip hop, rock, soul, blues and ...
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  • GroundUP Music Festival announces 2018 lineup / Live for Live Music
    Posted At: October 18, 2017 12:00 AM

    Today, Snarky Puppy & their associated label, GroundUP Music, have announced the lineup for the second edition of GroundUP Music Festival, an intimate and eclectic musical experience set to take place in Miami Beach, FL from February 9th-11th, 2018. Hosted by three-time Grammy-winning Snarky Puppy, the festival will feature a special set from Snarky each day along with performances from an eclectic l...
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  • Snarky Puppy set for Basie Summer Jazz Fest / Asbury Park Press
    Posted At: August 4, 2017 12:00 AM

    Things are getting Snarky at the Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank. That's because the Grammy-winning Snarky Puppy plays the Basie Summer Jazz Fest TONIGHT!! Friday, Aug. 4. The jazz-fusion group has been racking up Grammy Awards. They won their third in February for their latest album, "Culcha Vulcha,"  in the Best Contemporary Instrumental Album category. The group has roots in Texas and New York Ci...
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  • How Snarky Puppy got global / TeamRock.com
    Posted At: August 3, 2017 12:00 AM

    In 13 years, Snarky Puppy has grown from a cult progressive jazz unit at a Texas college into a Grammy-winning collective touring the world. There was a lovely moment near the end of Snarky Puppy's recent sold-out show at The Tramshed, Cardiff. The band had finished fan favourite Shofukan to wild applause and began trooping off the stage, only for the 1,000-strong Welsh crowd to sing the song's ...
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  • Bokante set for Jefferson Center. Michael League on making a band / Roanoke Times
    Posted At: June 17, 2017 12:00 AM

    Today's Extra section features a story about a new band, Bokante, that plays Jefferson Center on Wednesday. Snarky Puppy's Michael League formed the band with Malika Tirolien who said that League showed expert abilities at putting together the band. I asked League about the music and how those connections formed. His response: "I had been amassing a significant number of song ideas that had a com...
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  • GroundUp Music Festival to return in 2018 / ShowTheShow
    Posted At: May 24, 2017 12:00 AM

    After a successful launch in 2017, three-time Grammy Award winning jazz and funk ensemble Snarky Puppy will return to Miami, FL next February 9-11, 2018 for their second annual GroundUp Music Festival. This past year's festival included an insanely talented group of musicians, including David Crosby, John Medeski's Mad Skillet, Charlie Hunter Trio featuring saxophonist Jeff Coffin, The Lee Boys featuring...
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  • Snarky Puppy, set for - Funk of Ages at Philly Fillmore / Live For Live Music
    Posted At: April 27, 2017 12:00 AM

    Lettuce is curating yet another celebration of funk music this summer: Funk Of Ages: Past, Present & Future is set to go down at The Fillmore Philadelphia on June 24th, 2017. The world-dominating future-funk trailblazers will host an incredible lineup of bands to honor the "Funk of Ages," including multi-Grammy Award-winning funk/jazz/R&B ensemble Snarky Puppy, nine piece modern "power funk" act ...
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  • Snarky Puppy, off the charts at Boscov's Berks Jazz Fest / Reading Eagle
    Posted At: April 3, 2017 12:00 AM

    The musical collective, which made its Boscov's Berks Jazz Fest debut on Sunday at a very well attended Santander Performing Arts Center, defies categorization. Its music is complex, heavy on improvisation and solos, but it's too eclectic to be simply jazz or even jazz fusion. And its arrangements, while freewheeling at times, are much more controlled than those of jam bands. That said, the band&...
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  • Snarky Puppy set for Berks Jazz Fest / Reading Eagle
    Posted At: March 26, 2017 12:00 AM

    Grammy Award-winning Snarky Puppy brings one of its legendary live performances to town as part of the Boscov's Berks Jazz Fest. As a slightly overmatched freshman in the prestigious jazz studies program at the University of North Texas in 2003, Michael League never could have imagined being where he is today, leading the globe-trotting, genre-bending, Grammy Award-winning collective known as Sn...
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  • Snarky Puppy set for sold out Infinity Hall show / Hartford Courant
    Posted At: March 24, 2017 12:00 AM

    Snarky Puppy performs at Infinity Hall - Hartford on Saturday, April Fools Day. The date is a sell out. The band's music is satisfyingly complex. It's like the jam band for eggheads who like gnarly effects pedals, dense horn arrangements and face-melting guitar solos. Led by bassist and composer/arranger Michael League, who formed the Grammy Award-winning group while he was still a student at Nor...
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  • Snarky Puppy set for UMich - Hill Auditorium / MLive
    Posted At: March 15, 2017 12:00 AM

    Critically-acclaimed jazz fusion ensemble Snarky Puppy is coming to Ann Arbor this week for a performance at Hill Auditorium. on March 16. The ensemble's most recent album, "Culcha Vulcha," earned Best Contemporary Instrumental Album honors at the 59th Grammy Awards last month.The group also has earned a Grammy for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album in 2016 for its album "Sylva" as well as Bes...
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  • Umphrey's McGee summer tour spotlights Snarky Puppy / Crescent Vale
    Posted At: March 9, 2017 12:00 AM

    Umphrey's McGee has announced live shows for their upcoming Summer Tour. Supporting acts include: Marcus King Band, Snarky Puppy, Bokante, Stick Figure, Aqueous and Bruce Hornsby and the Noisemakers. They are performing at multiple music festivals with the Summer Camp Music Festival, Bonnaroo and the Mountain Music Festival on their current scheduled dates. The last two years have brought dramatic change...
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  • UMS presents Snarky Puppy / WEMU - Art & Soul
    Posted At: February 24, 2017 12:00 AM

    On this week's Art & Soul, among other things we talk about performances happening locally, including Snarky Puppy, which is being presented by the University Musical Society, "With every new project and show they play-Snarky Puppy hopes to do something they've never done before. Released through GroundUP - Verve, thier 2016 Culcha Vulcha won the GRAMMY for Best Contemporary Instrumental Alb...
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  • FORQ - Snarky Puppy After Show set for Indianapolis' Jazz Kitchen
    Posted At: February 23, 2017 12:00 AM

    If you are planning to be in Indianapolis on Friday 3/13, don't miss the FORQ - Snarky Puppy After Show at The Jazz Kitchen.  An all-star ensemble of sorts - but with the spirit and cohesiveness of a garage band, FORQ is made up of Rudder founder Henry Hey on keyboards (Jeff "Tain" Watts, David Bowie), Snarky Puppy founder and Grammy Award-winner Michael League on bass (Kirk Franklin, Wayne...
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  • Snarky Puppy add's UK and Ireland dates to euro tour this spring / Stereoboard.com
    Posted At: February 15, 2017 12:00 AM

    The American music collective, who recently won the Grammy for Best Instrumental Comtemporary Album for last year's 'Culcha Vulcha', will call in Dublin, Cheltenham, Glasgow, Gateshead, Manchester, London, Cardiff and Poole between April 28 and May 7. Tour Dates are as follows Fri April 28 2017 - DUBLIN Vicar Street Sun April 30 2017 - CHELTENHAM Town Hall Tue May 02 2017 - GLASGO...
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  • Snarky Puppy - Culcha Vulcha wins GRAMMY for 'Best Contemporary Instrumental Album'
    Posted At: February 13, 2017 12:00 AM

    Snarky Puppy will release their eleventh album and first true studio album in eight years on April 29 via GroundUP Music/Universal Music Classics. Dubbed Culcha Vulcha, the record was recorded at Donic Ranch Studios in Tornillo, TX for a week, and nine new tracks. The album title refers to how we-the Western civilized world-have all become slaves to Pop culture, consuming as many messages ...
    Bookmark and Share

  • Snarky Puppy builds a festival from the GroundUP! / Music Fest News
    Posted At: February 4, 2017 12:00 AM

    If you wanted to plan an inaugural festival, you'd be hard pressed to come up with something more amazing that what Michael League and his Snarky Puppy compatriots have concocted for the first annual GroundUP Music Festival in Miami from February 10-12. The weekend of astounding music, great food, and interactive workshops takes place at the North Miami Beach bandshell, just steps away from the beach! Th...
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  • Watch Michael League & Mark Lettieri - LIve At NAMM 2017: The Dunlop Booth
    Posted At: February 1, 2017 12:00 AM

    The last two years have brought dramatic changes for Snarky Puppy. After a decade of relentless touring and recording in all but complete obscurity, the Texas-bred/New York-based quasi-collective suddenly found itself held up by the press and public as one of the major figures in the jazz world. But as the category names for both of the band's Grammy awards would indicate (Best R&B Performance in 201...
    Bookmark and Share

  • Watch 'Jou Ke Ouve' video from upcoming GroundUP debut of Bokante / Live For Live Music
    Posted At: January 26, 2017 12:00 AM

    As many fans gear up to see Snarky Puppy at their inaugural GroundUP Music Festival, those in the know are also highly anticipating the debut of Bokanté. The new project is spearheaded by Snarky Puppy's de facto leader, Michael League, along with an all-star cast of musicians from the GroundUP family and more. League tells us that the new band is a "weird combination of West African music, Del...
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  • Michael League talks GroundUP Festival, new projects and more with Live for Live Music
    Posted At: January 12, 2017 12:00 AM

    Early next month, Grammy-winning jazz-funk collective Snarky Puppy and GroundUP Music will host the first-ever GroundUP Music Festival. The festival will take place on the waterfront in sunny Miami Beach, FL from February 10th – 12th, and with a diverse lineup of performances and only 1500 tickets being sold, the inaugural event is sure to be a unique, intimate, and unforgettable experience. Sn...
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  • Snarky Puppy brings in the new year at NYC's Irving Plaza / Live for Live Music
    Posted At: January 2, 2017 12:00 AM

    Critically acclaimed jazz/funk ensemble Snarky Puppy rang in the New Year in New York City, playing on December 30th at Irving Plaza before delivering two separate performances at the Union Square venue on New Year's Eve. Snarky Puppy had a tremendous 2016, winning a Grammy award for Sylva, their collaborative album with the Metropole Orkest. They also returned with their first Snarky Puppy album in ...
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