The Beautiful Game

Vulfpeck is a primarily instrumental, Los Angeles-based band inspired by the classic R&B rhythms recorded by the Funk Brothers, the Meters, and quite possibly Booker T. & the MG's. Creative in the way they release and market their music as well as how they perform it, they've eschewed external labels since day one, opting to self-release everything from their first EP (2011's Mit Peck) and their R&B Top 20-charting debut album (2015's Thrill of the Arts) to their Bootsy Collins-featuring third LP (2017's Mr. Finish Line) and their sixth full-length (2022's Schvitz), which featured frequent collaborators Antwaun Stanley, Joey Dosik, and Cory Wong on most tracks. The live 2025 release Clarity of Cal was taken from eight California shows and accompanied by the concert film Clarity of Cal (Live from the Palladium).

The founding members -- bassist Joe Dart, keyboardist Woody Goss, former My Dear Disco guitarist Theo Katzman, and keyboardist/drummer Jack Stratton -- attended the University of Michigan School of Music in Ann Arbor and aligned in 2011. Vulfpeck released their debut EP, the six-track Mit Peck, by the end of the year, and went on to issue several EPs of similar length through 2014. In March of that year, they also conceived Sleepify, a shrewd and samey set that featured tracks like "Z," "Zzzzz," and the finale, "Zzzzzzzzzz." The royalties the band earned from mostly nocturnal streams of the release -- ten half-minute tracks that consisted of nothing but silence -- funded a short, admission-free U.S. tour that September before it was removed by the streaming site. "Christmas in L.A.," featuring session giant David T. Walker on guitar, was out as a single three months later.

In 2015, Vulfpeck released their first album, Thrill of the Arts, which also featured guests including, most notably, Blake Mills. It hit the Top 20 of the Billboard R&B Albums chart and led to a performance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. The Beautiful Game followed in 2016 and landed on a handful of Billboard charts including R&B Albums, where it reached number six. Continuing their string of self-releases, the group issued Mr. Finish Line in 2017. It included appearances by frequent collaborators such as Antwaun Stanley and Joey Dosik, as well as Walker, drummer James Gadson, and none other than Bootsy Collins. Hill Climber, the band's fourth studio long-player, followed in December 2018. A year later, they issued Vulfpeck Live at Madison Square Garden.

The vinyl collection Vulf Vault 001: Antwaun Stanley arrived in August 2020 and was quickly followed by Vault collections for Goss, Katzman, Dart, frequent guest guitarist Cory Wong, and Stratton by August 2022. In the meantime, they issued the semi-compilation The Joy of Music, The Job of Real Estate; it gathered three covers, three songs that could be found online but had never been officially released, and a handful of previously unreleased original songs. In late December 2022, Vulfpeck delivered Schvitz, their sixth studio album (counting The Joy of Music). It again included appearances by Stanley, Dosik, and Wong. Featuring many of their regular collaborators as well as Jacob Jeffries (percussion/vocals), the group's next LP, Clarity of Cal, was a live album released concurrently with the concert film Clarity of Cal (Live from the Palladium). Unlike the film, the album was compiled from eight shows: six at Berkeley's UC Theatre and two at the Hollywood Palladium. ~ Andy Kellman & Marcy Donelson