Early bird alert and already jumping ahead to 2026, Village Live has had a solid year of releases and they’re already focused on the future. Making their Village Live debut, one of our favorite outfits on the funk side, The Du-Rites and their hitting a homerun with their upcoming 10″ slab, “Tenement”. We’ve been riding with the duo of Jay Mumford and Pablo Martin since the very beginning and we’re excited to see them make their way across the pond and connecting with one of our favorite labels.
The Du-Rites – Jay Mumford (drums, keys, kalimba, percussion) and Pablo Martin (guitar, bass, keys, percussion) – have long been champions of gritty, unfiltered funk. After dropping an impressive seven albums in six years, the pair eased off full-length releases following 2022’s Plug It In.But they never stopped creating. Jay kept active as a session drummer (Gnarls Barkley, Kelly Finnigan, Just Blaze), landed a sample on a Vampire Weekend track, and toured with guitarist Adrian Quesada. Pablo hit the road with UK singer-songwriter Belouis Some, while continuing to produce and compose between tour dates. Together, the duo maintained their weekly NYC residency and rolled out a handful of digital singles to keep the creative gears turning.
Now, after a three-year break from album-making, The Du-Rites return with Tenement – a tight, razor-focused collection released via UK-based Village Live Records. The EP is classic Du-Rites: rugged drums, warped synths, mutant funk guitar and a relentless commitment to groove.
Guest flautist Seth Hachen elevates the hazy, abstract opener “In Du Time,” while the title track taps into pure, hard-hitting instrumental funk. “5 on the Floor” pushes the boundaries with kalimba textures and beautifully off-kilter drum patterns, before “Bucky’s Groove” snaps everything back into place with certified b-boy breakbeats. Elsewhere, tracks like “Filibuster” and “Super Phunk” showcase the duo’s adventurous use of guitar and synth tones – steering clear of predictable retro-funk tropes while keeping everything anchored in raw drum grit.
Above all, Tenement is an EP built on groove. Abstract groove, stank-face groove, body-moving, neck-snapping groove. All of it packed into just under 17 minutes.