Music like Tank and the Bangas
Tank and the Bangas
Tank and the Bangas is an American musical group based in New Orleans, Louisiana. The band won the 2017 NPR Tiny Desk Contest and in November 2019, they were nominated in the Best New Artist category for the 2020 Grammy Awards. They have released three studio albums, Thinktank (2013), Green Balloon (2019), and Red Balloon (2022).
Members of Tank and the Bangas met at a New Orleans open mic show called Liberation Lounge at now closed Blackstar Cafe and Books in the Algiers section of New Orleans and formed the group in 2011.
Writing in The Washingtonian, Heather Rudow described the group's work as "lively fusion of funk, soul, hip hop, rock, and spoken word." Speaking to the Times-Picayune, the musicians in the group mentioned a variety of genres they identify with, including rock, folk, gospel and Anjelika "Jelly" Joseph's invention "Soulful Disney". In addition to Disney, the group has also mentioned anime as influence on the group's "childlike" and "magical" sensibility, in Ball's words. In the Financial Times, Joshua David Stein said, "Tank and the Bangas don’t conform to the jazz stereotypes trotted out in the lobbies of convention hotels or milked on Frenchman Street. It’s New Orleans but it’s New Orleans now."