11.15.23 – By Max Filter

BoomBox brought the party to the Fine Line in downtown Minneapolis on Wednesday night, throwing down an impressive set that had the crowd moving and grooving. Fresh off the release of the Dangerous Waters album, brothers Zion Rock Godchaux and Kinsman Mackay showcased their unique blend of live instrumentation and electronic beats, known as Jamtronica, keeping the energy level high all night. They also brought along upcoming producer and vocalist Tep No from Toronto, Canada to set the mood and get things started off on the right foot. The two acts together provided an excellent soundtrack for the happy crowd to dance away the midweek blues.  

BoomBox’s sixth studio album, Dangerous Waters, is the sharpest conceptualization to date of the sound that Zion Rock Godchaux has been developing over the past 18 years. This time around he was joined in the studio by his brother Kinsman MacKay, marking the first time the sons of one-time Grateful Dead vocalist, Donna Jean Godchaux, have collaborated on the BoomBox project. The two brothers have been around the music industry for their entire lives, initially playing music in Donna Jean’s Heart Of Gold Band before developing their own projects. Their professionalism shines through on both the songwriting and production of the album, seamlessly merging calm stream-of-consciousness style lyricism with downtempo backbeat club jams. The influences of their lineage can be heard in their songs, but this is also truly an emerging and groundbreaking genre of music unto itself. The experimentation and inspiration that BoomBox exudes in the studio looks more to the future than it borrows from the past. 

Tep No took the stage promptly at 8pm and delivered an hour long set of chill lounge vocals backed by original electronic compositions. Matching his light and airy singing voice with downtempo beats controlled from a CDJ deck, the effect is ethereal and calming while still being danceable. After singing a couple of his more well known tracks, like “We Could Be Cool,” which was recently featured on Love Island, and taking some requests from the crowd who were already familiar with his work, Tep No began to slowly progress from vocals backed by beats into beats augmented by vocals. Leaning into the more electronic elements of his sound allowed Tep No to pick up the pace and build the energy towards the end of his set, hyping the crowd up into a frenzy before turning the stage over to BoomBox for the main event.

BoomBox greeted the enthusiastic crowd shortly after 9pm and immediately matched the bubbling energy emanating from the dance floor. Members Zion Godchaux and Kinsman Mackay strive to act as one DJ while playing shows, feeding off of each other and the crowd’s energy to bring a party vibe and keep the mood elevated. This approach leads them to eschew traditional setlists, improvising in the moment and remixing their songs live or just jamming on a groove as necessary. This makes every BoomBox show unique, but the end goal is always to deliver a shared experience meant to be appreciated in the moment. While Mackay holds down the low end and keeps the beat moving, Godchaux provides live vocals and guitar melodies, utilizing an array of distortion effects and loop pedals to masterfully build on the ever-shifting soundscape. That’s not to say that the band doesn’t play their studio tracks. Songs like 2021’s single “Escalator” and downriverelectric’s “Showboat” served as jumping off points for the club-inspired improvisational jams early on, taking the catchy bridges and choruses and turning them into deep house bangers. Funky backbeats joined blues guitars, island breakbeats crashed like waves upon the crowd, and a pulsing groove subsisted underneath it all, propelling the night forward with an intoxicating and palpable energy. Boombox also had plenty of time to showcase some newer songs off of Dangerous Waters, including the California anthem “Petaluma” and the funky lead single “Buenas Noches.” The tracks from the new album are remix-ready and perfectly lend themselves to the extended dancehall treatment they received. 

Following a solid uninterrupted two hour performance, BoomBox brought the evening to a close, forgoing an encore and letting the energetic block of dance music speak for itself. The raucous applause and cheers from a grateful crowd filled the venue as the lights came up. As the satisfied concertgoers filtered out into the cool night air, it was clear that the band had accomplished their goal of lifting the spirits of those who made the trip for the weeknight dance party, sending some light out into the world one smiling face at a time.