GRUPO FANTASMA PLAY THE HORSESHOE TAVERN (370 QUEEN W) JULY 2.
Already brandishing the Purple One’s stamp of approval — Prince hired them to be his impromptu backing band for a Golden Globe Awards after-party before taking them on tour as openers — Grupo Fantasma add another album-length credit to a growing legacy with their fourth release, Sonidos Gold. Austin’s resident Latinofunk orchestra mingle all manner of grooves into the unrelenting energy of their fiesta vibe, and they even snag Maceo Parker for a few solos on the James Brown-invoking “Gimme Some.” Free-flowing arrangements sound both spontaneous and precise; like the Meters-style guitar slinking beneath the bombastic horns and throbbing bass on “Arroz Con Frijoles” (that’s Spanish for black beans and rice, for those of you who aren’t regulars at Sneaky Dee’s) or “Bacalao Con Pan,” which marries the opening groove from Belle and Sebastian’s “Another Sunny Day” with a psychedelic ’70s-sounding Latino-funk crossbreed of Santana, Axelrod and the Ewok jam at the end of Return of the Jedi. Grupo Fantasma absolutely live up to the near-unanimous praise they’ve been receiving for years.