LIVE: Slavic Soul Party @ Proctors, 2/19/11

Have you ever seen a crowd dance in 7/8 time? Or bounce around the dance floor to exotic Turkish, Bulgarian and Serbian rhythms?

Well, you probably have – if you’ve even been to a horns-a-plenty Slavic Soul Party show.

And that’s exactly what happened on Saturday night when the brass-fueled, Brooklyn-based Slavic Soul Party marched into the GE Theatre at Proctors in Schenectady for the third and final evening of the NYC Party Horns concert series.

Led by the charismatic bass drummer Matt Moran, this wailing, nine-member band performed two sets of booty-shaking music, in addition to a short question and answer period with the audience members. Matt described the band’s influences as primarily Turkish, Serbian and other southern Slavic groups but admitted the other diverse sounds found throughout the burgeoning Brooklyn music scene certainly have a strong influence on the band’s sound and compositions, as well – influences that stretch from jazz to funk, from dub to klezmer can all be found in their big, bold, blenderized music.

The in-the-pocket rhythm section – featuring bass drum, snare drum and tuba – was punctuated by the passionate Gypsy accordion of Peter Stan and a virtuousic horn section that featured rock solid unison performances, as well as some mighty dazzling solos.

So whether you were in the mood to boogaloo on the dance floor or just sit and listen to the fierce sounds, Slavic Soul Party delivered the goods at Proctors.

Review and photographs by Rudy Lu

And here’s a bonus video: