Your Grandparents - “Livin in Hell”

SXSW 2023 - OEB Score: 9; Popularity Index: 5

Pairs Well With…Outkast, Young Fathers, BLACKSTARKIDS

Funk, R&B, and hip hop blend seamlessly in Your Grandparents’ music, achieving a sound both super-smooth and weirdly psychedelic at the same time. There’s a range of nostalgia that bleeds off the LA trio’s catalog, 70s soul, 80s synth pop, 90s R&B, again turning it into their own and not necessarily sounding as “fusion” as you’d imagine. Their hip-hop side has a heavy ATL influence that nicely matches the slow-funk grooves powering the band’s two full-lengths Been Cold and Thru My Window, followed by a string of 2022 singles leading to today. While even their name Your Grandparents comes from reverence for the past, they do sound fully modern, a youthful spirit propelling them instead of just trying to replicate any past. It looks like there’s an EP on the horizon sometime later this year, so lookout for their SXSW set(s) to include new tracks that continue to hone their infectious core sound. (Kevin McStravick)