event Givers

Thanks to bands like Dirty Projectors and Vampire Weekend, America is enjoying the kind of love affair with African culture unseen since that ill-advised period in the late ’80s, when everyone started wearing kente cloth. Louisiana’s Givers (who toured with Dirty Projectors in 2009) pick up that modern, “techno-tribalist” torch, then swing it about like a glow stick, putting a sunnier spin on King Sunny Ade et al. through burbling funk bass sounds, warmly blowing synths, and the ebullient interplay of dual vocalists Taylor Guarisco and Tif Lamson. The band finally released its full-length debut, In Light, in June 2011, so expect its songs to burst into multiculti colors here.

Updated 06/19/2012