Naked Roommate - Pass The Loofah

Oakland’s Naked Roommate have been slinking around the Bay Area lighting up stages, shaking asses and confounding listeners since 2018, when the group - originally just the duo of real-life partners Andy Jordan and Amber Sermeno (both formerly of The World) - self-released a cassette of demos (2018’s “Naked Roommate”). Members Michael “Mig” Zamora and Alejandra Alcala (Blues Lawyer) joined soon after to augment the sound and live band with their proper full-length album Do The Duvet, co-released in September of 2020 via UK label Upset! The Rhythm and Trouble In Mind. 2024 finds the lineup expanded even further to incorporate the horn section of Geoff Saba and Jeanne Oss on tenor & alto saxophones as well as percussion and marimba as the band readies their sophomore effort, the dizzyingly ecstatic Pass The Loofah.

Recorded by members Andy Jordan and Mig Zamora from 2021-2023 as time and restrictions allowed, Pass The Loofah retains the wild energy of their debut, but leans into the rhythmic throbs perpetuated by forbears like Kid Creole and The Coconuts, Lizzy Mercier Descloux and ESG; the signature sound of UK’s On-U Sound and NYC’s 99 Records, but with a decidedly West Coast irreverence and a knack for absurdist exposition. Make no mistake, this is music designed to make your body MOVE and Naked Roommate won’t stop until they’ve made sure every ass is shook.

The band freely incorporates elements of the dancier side of post-punk (think A Certain Ratio or Liquid Liquid) as well as disco, funk, & house music. However, the group’s uplifting melodicism belies a deeper subtext, understanding the importance of the sense of community of dance music & the culture surrounding it and leaning into a Neo-socialist lyrical context. Shit is fucked, and we get thru it by helping one another & acknowledging and addressing the failures of disaster Capitalism and tech-bro hegemony (a state the band is all-too familiar with, living in The Bay Area) Take the first single “Bus”; a four-on-the-floor banger and salutary paeon to the ups and downs of the people’s transport that throbs and pulses with a late-night sashay (and a bridge that launches the tune into the stratosphere).

Elsewhere, “Fight Flight ”s funky horn stabs and Sermeno’s slinky vocals swoon over Numan-esque synth squiggles that are fortified & funkified toward the dance floor. “Broken Whisper ” edges into new territor y for the group, adding a Caribbean flavor a’la Kid Creole or The Specials that punctuates the persistent and synthetic beats underneath. Meanwhile instrumental interludes like “Ducky & Viv”, “G-Y pt. 1” and “G-Y pt 2” oscillate into zones of sci-fi meets soap opera soundtracks, sounding not unlike the electronic experiments of UK industrial pioneers Chris & Cosey. Album closer “I Can’t Be Found” might be the album’s secret weapon; It ’s swooning synth melody & processed vocals recall early Daft Punk or MGMT by way of Derrick Carter and The Au Pairs. It ’s a beautiful song; perfect for the late night (or early morning) car ride home from the club.