Electric Phin Band

Personnel: Jo Aka Chaiphichit Taraphan (bass guitar); Beer Aka Witthawat Chimphali, Lot Aka Buntham Makam (bass drum).
Illustrator: Nathan Cabrera.
Photographer: Josh Marcy.
Khun Narin were "discovered" by Los Angeles producer Josh Marcy when he happened on informal online videos of the band jamming on the streets of Thailand. Marcy was intrigued by their homemade instruments and the wild, psychedelic sounds emanating from them, but when he found a video of the band performing a raw, kaleidoscopic cover of the Cranberries' alt-rock hit "Zombie," his intrigue turned to obsession. Marcy made it his mission to find the band, going as far as traveling to Thailand to meet the musicians and produce a ramshackle recording session for them. The lengthy jams of that session resulted in the 2014 debut Electric Phin Band, four crackling improvisations that find the bandmembers blasting delay-drenched psych tones out of their home-crafted instruments and makeshift PA system. The album is similar in fidelity to the ragtag brilliance of Konono No. 1 and the entire Congotronics series, but far more warped, drunkenly playful, and mired in the influence of Western pop and celebratory psychedelia. ~ Fred Thomas