The Coop

"Having never seen the Coop, I was blown away by two aspects: their youth, and their tightness. Lumping them into the jam category is unfair. They are coming from a purely electronic headspace. Breakbeat underlies their sound more than trance or house, quite uncommon for acts of their ilk. Solid drums and bass lay a thick foundation for the Coop. What’s almost as impressive, and certainly worth pointing out, is their saxophonist knows how to lay in the cut. I have always found sax a bit grating in jam music, because most of the time it’s just smeared all over a track. In a live setting, it smothers everything in its frequency range and covers up what could be really technical and subtle beauty by the rest of the band. However, when you cross the stream to electronica, I find it engaging—although cheesy sax on house tracks makes me want to barf. That should be reserved for the fitting rooms at Macy’s department stores. Regardless, sax players like Dom Lalli with Big Gigantic can create lush, sweeping soundscapes that serve to build instead of detract. The Coop’s Jared Shaw shares a similar ability to add texture without overpowering. As an added bonus, these guys actually pull off live dubstep, which can prove to be quite a challenge. The Coop plays a great deal in and around the Second City; do yourself a favor and check them out."

-Anand Harsh - The Untz

The Coop:
They have quite the following from their homeland - up north in the Algonquin area - and they tend to accompany them to places such as DeKalb or CU. They have gone through some "refining" over the summer to improve their sound and unite their music, and are now a perfect match to the infectious Family Groove Company. Their songs push you to groove, dance, jump and punch the closer you are to the energy radiating off the stage, while, as you look to the back of the crowd, you can just feel the chill groove that is just as perfectly enjoyable as the one in the front.

-Caitlin Cremer - The Buzz Magazine, Champaign-Urbana, IL

A band which has undoubtedly made a name for themselves in the Chicago scene is, The Coop. Well deserving for the hype these fellas hit the stage with pure talent and moving music. Tranquil, funky, jazzy and so much more the variety of influences forming this bands improvisational style is limitless. The flow which comes in the music is perfect, almost like the melodies are waving into the audience. Their music is peerless, true instruments driven with flawless passion. Down to earth and moving, music you really want to dance to and cant resist moving to. Instrumentally the guys on stage were shining. Powerful and driven percussions were played by Jacob Barinholtz, the display which is delivered through his playing has such a draw and pulls the music together. On stage strumming out the rhythm with the guitar is Danny Biggins as well as on a synthesizer also adding inspirational vocals to the sounds. Jared Shaw contributes a very unique and clear sound to the music with the jazzy sound brought out on the sax, along with the auxiliary percussions. Casting out the bass line along with saucing up the music with synth and a laptop, Cason Trager has a very powerful presence on stage. All together these musicians have a sound that is unforgettable and such terrific music to move you. Growing quite a following in the city, booking more and more shows as well as appearing at summertime festivals, this band is an experience that touches your soul with powerful and pure talent in their music and should not be missed. - Kindweb.com - Article by Didi Trout

The Coop started off the Sunday, March 15 concert at Canopy Club on the right foot with their accessible blend of jazz and funk. From the sultry sax riffs to the tight bass grooves, conditions were prime for the crowd of about seventy to get out of their chairs and dance. Much of The Coop’s music is instrumentally oriented, as two of the members play multiple instruments while two others sing and play from time to time. This setup provides a great visual layout for the audience to soak in while they play. When the time called for it, the bass player dropped the groove and settled into his Korg for an electronica jam. The band’s sax player also was doing double duty on the congas to add more layers to the percussion. The highlight of the set for me, was when the bassist played a phrase with the two-hand tapping technique to grab some great chords out of his five string.

The Coop, who recently earned a spot on this year’s Summer Camp lineup, provided a great intro to Dumpstaphunk, who, fittingly, appeared on last year’s lineup. Dumpstaphunk is led by Ivan Neville on keyboards, and backed by a killer rhythm section consisting of Nick Daniels on bass, Tony Hall on bass and guitar, and Ray Weber on drums. The dual bass leads to some killer bottom end and sure fire booty shakin’. The band is rounded out by Ian Neville and his jazzy rhythm guitar, which was textbook funk. The music of this fivesome from New Orleans is positive and uplifiting. The band exchanged friendly banter with the cozy audience and called for participation with clapping and chorus sing-a-longs, led by Ivan and Nick. - The 217 - http://the217.com/articles/view/the_coop_and_dumpstaphunk_bring_sure_fire_booty_shakin_to_

Bluegrass in my mind is envisioned as a small town gathered together to enjoy a knee slap and a yee- haw as well as to enjoy the simple subtleties of the strings while letting the worries of everyday life be lifted with the steps and spins of dancing. Hot Buttered Rum with the Coop opening at Clearwater Theater in West Dundee did just that. A surprising venue located in a smaller suburb of Chicago created the draw of the local Chicago scene as well as those from various other regions just looking to thrive in the music that this band creates. The venues location right on Main street tucked in between two other brick buildings and a jump away from the Fox river gave the sense of jazzy blues club with a small town bar feeling given from the vibes of the audience.

Walking into the venue to the sounds of the Coop, who drew their following of those who have appreciated and watched them grow into a band for several years now as well as a new crowd who were there to check out the great rhythms this band makes. Funky, easy head rolling music with a spice of electronic as well as blues. The percussionist, Jared Shaw who impressively busted into the sax several times created a very inspirational sound with a twist of jazz into the many genres this band can be classified as. Seeing many local bands in my time drew some skepticism towards the rants and raves of The Coop, yet they lived up to the expectations that so many have hyped them up to be. They know how to make music and you can tell the joy that these fellas have with working together to create the sounds.

As their set diminished, the power and drive in their playing did not. The drummer, Jacob Barinholtz continued to wail away, and my fascination towards the speed and energy he put forth remained boundless. The guitarist, Danny Biggins caught attention with subtle facial expressions as he strummed out the chords. The bassist, Cason Trager dashed his talent while adding the electronic flare with midi bass and ambient sounds. The Coop overall did a spectacular opening and I look forward to watching and hearing this band grow into the future for I know their talents cannot be hidden away for long with their funky rock and blues beats that truly got the audience prepared for getting down with some bluegrass. - Didi Trout - Kindweb.com