Psst – the UK soul underground is buzzing. Didn’t you see our cover story last week? Over in Bristol, there’s a gang with a dreamy, doused-in-syrup psych-soul sound that calls to mind Connan Mockasin, Toro y Moi, Khruangbin and Canadian jazz outfit BadBadNotGood, who, incidentally, said that Cousin Kula were very good indeed and reportedly loved the five-piece’s cover of their track, Signal from the Noise.
The Kulas met at uni and live together in a house on the outskirts of the city, which you might rightly picture to be like a scene out of Skins, but it’s where the band have very studiously made their recent releases (see it in all its tapestry-hung glory in their Boiler Room live session). Their 2020 lockdown EP Casa Kula Cassette caught the ear of taste-making south London DJ Bradley Zero, who signed last year’s debut album, Double Dinners, to his hip house and jazz label Rhythm Section. Not bad for a band whose track McLovin’ You is named after the uber-nerd in Superbad.
