Khruangbin

Khruangbin (Template:IPAc-en Template:Respell; Template:IPA-th, เครื่องบิน) is an American musical trio from Houston, Texas, with Laura Lee on bass, Mark Speer on guitar, and Donald Ray "DJ" Johnson Jr. on drums. The band is known for blending global music influences, such as classic soul, dub and psychedelia. Their debut studio album, The Universe Smiles Upon You (2015), draws from the history of Thai music in the 1960s, specifically from Luk thung, while their second album, Con Todo El Mundo (2018), has influences from Spain and the Middle East. Speer, Lee, and DJ also host "AirKhruang" radio shows on NTS Radio and Facebook Live.

Background

Speer and Johnson met in 2004 while playing in Rudy Rasmus' St. John's Methodist Church gospel band in Houston, Texas. The church employed Speer as the guitarist and Johnson as the organist. “When we first started the band, we wanted to have a formula,” he says. “It’s like, ‘This is what we do, and we’re not gonna try and go outside the box too much. We’re gonna explore the box we’re in. I’ve always been a big fan of that. I used to be in bands where was like, ‘Man, we’ve gotta think outside the box!’ And all I’m thinking is: ‘You guys don’t even know.’ Music should never be just for the sake of being experimental. Before you even start, you have to know what you’re experimenting with first.” Speer said.