Chocolate Bread

Chocolate Bread stopped by Hoboken's Maxwell's this past Friday, March 4th. The NJ experimental/soul group were also joined by Cranford's Socratic. The two groups played to a relatively full venue with an audience that seemed to be familiar with most of the groups material. As usual Chocolate Bread kept the audience moving with their uptempo funk/pop/soul beats and their lengthy set made everyone leave satisfied. The upcoming NJ band is set to play Croke Park tonight with rapper GDP. Then they'll make their return to the Meat Locker on March 18th. All of their upcoming date can be found here. Check out a video interview CB recently did with Formatic Clothing below.

video from the show at maxwells: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xc39_4eVe8Q - The NJ Underground

Now this is some cool ass music, nothing really sounds much like this, but Chocolate Bread makes some nice tunes. The New Jersey band mixes up the elements of instruments which help create the experimental/soul sounds. Let's not forget there are some hip hop aspects as well, a really unique fusion of style. The band also has two vocalists, which give it more flavor and versatility than other bands. After I heard the opening track on their Catch Ciphers EP, I found myself really into the grooves. Listen and download the entire EP, and I'm pretty excited to hear more from these guys in the future. - ohsofreshmusic.com

"Chocolate Bread are more like a cake than they are bread; sweet, timeless, and undeniably appropriate for your next party. From every unison, word-less jam to each punctuated horn line, Chocolate Bread won't let you lean against the wall with your head down. Substantially fun music carried by an obviously talented bundle of musicians."

- Joey Stasio
Praiseforwallflower.com - Joey Stasio - Praiseforwallflower.com

For those of you not in the local NJ area, Chocolate Bread is just the name of a tasty pastry. But anyone that’s been to a halfway decent local show over here in the past few years knows this name as one of the best and most promising bands around. Chocolate Bread are a six-piece band that describe themselves as “experimental/soul.” With every kind of influence from indie rock to jazz to hip hop to hardcore and punk, these guys spit out some of the tastiest jams this side of sexy town. Their live show is incredible and packed with energy, and their eclectic sound on record is perfectly replicated on stage. This song is off of their newest EP, “Catch Ciphers.” You can download the whole thing for free HERE. Do yourself a favor and get into these guys. - iheardin.com

Do you remember the Bloodhound Gang? Cypress Hill? Les Baxter? Sublime? Do you recall the time back in the late 90's when you shoved albums from all four of these artists into your six changer CD player and by some miracle upon miracle they all played at once? You don’t? Not a problem. You can experience the same thing by listening to Chocolate Bread’s new Catch Ciphers EP.

Chocolate Bread comes from the fertile grounds of New Jersey, a state famous for its blueberries, cranberries, hypodermics and spinach. On the surface, the food and drug fertility of their home state seems to influence Chocolate Bread. Their moniker and song titles such as “Vegetabills” and “Hot Sauce (Blue Cheese)” pay homage to the food side of things while “Nature of Paper” and “Freak Out” could easily conjure up images of Jared Leto in Requiem for a Dream (though it could just as easily not). Digging deeper, one sees that what really fuels Chocolate Bread is their desire to make music that bends boundaries and blurs genres. Chocolate Bread is the collaboration of six artists who strive to fuse soul, hip-hop, ska and rock into a tripped out, tastefully smooth music experience that’s as pleasant to the ears as it is to the feet. For the most part, they are successful at it. - Writeclickcooklisten.com

I don’t know about you, but when I think of jam bands, I think about some unrehearsed group of kids who haven’t showered, getting up on stage at some shitty dive bar, playing for a tub of beer and a bucket of peanuts. Actually, I’d play for free beer, but you get my point. With that said, one thing’s for sure – Chocolate Bread isn’t a jam band. And, don’t let the funky name fool you into thinking otherwise. Not wanting to be pigeon-holed, they list their sound as experimental/soul, which I can totally get down with.

Formed a year ago, they are an eclectic group of musicians who came together after being in and out of local Jersey bands. From talking with them, they seem focused and determined to make good music with this band and have a drive that they pull from their experiences in previous musical endeavors.

With their debut album titled …Until My Mind Stretches, they are looking to constantly grow and progress without generalizations about their genre of music. And after three consecutive spins, I must say that I found it hard to put them into a certain category, which is precisely what they were going for.

The album starts off with “Wet Feet” which seems like a fitting segue into an album where you’re supposed to let your mind take you where it will. Without coming off too strong, the track has a nice big-band sound with great piano and trumpet interludes. The next track, “Radical Rattlesnake” has mad soul and sounds like something I’d hear in a gritty New Orleans jazz bar. The hook and windy instrumentals are definitely catchy as hell. The third track, “Salvation,” is my favorite on the album. With a folk-sound reminiscent of twenty years ago, it sounds current and is encapsulating. I feel like I’m sitting on the porch, playing it with the band. Another track that I really liked was “Elevate” with duel vocals from Andrew D’Elia and Anthony DeRosa. It’s groovy and soulful with a reference to John Legend’s Get Lifted that didn’t go unnoticed. All the tracks play perfectly off one another, so all of them help create a complete album.

In the end, …Until My Mind Stretches is more than a solid debut for this newly formed band. Andrew D’Elia and Anthony DeRosa share a lot of the vocal duties and trade off very nicely. Their voices aren’t overtly strong, but they’re pretty perfect for the music this band makes. The lyrics are absolutely incredible and possess the wisdom of a Kermit Ruffins all formulated in a way to be current and stay current. Taylor Mandel, despite looking like the “Schnozberries taste like schnozberries” dude from Super Troopers, plays a nasty trumpet. Matt Moges and Paul Brasil help round out this eclectic fit of musicians with groovy guitar and subtly understated drums. Nine tracks make up the album and there isn’t any filler on it. Tracks are normal length, but breeze by in a way that makes you wonder where time went, forcing you to put it back on repeat. Imagine a mix of G Love, Tom Petty, Bob Dylan, Dorian Wright, Will Hoge, and Citizen Cope - and you have Chocolate Bread. - Absolutepunk.net