Watching the funk, soul band Higher Hands play is like watching Olympic synchronized high divers nailing a back triple with four twists from the 10 meter platform. Vertical entry. No splash. This is a tight group of musicians. They play in lockstep. Their songs are full of syncopated rhythms, dynamics, accents, breaks, break downs... they squeeze in all the tricks that make songs interesting and different. But what stands out is how easily the music flows, despite the high degree of difficulty. To us, this is the epitome of funk.

When you look a little more closely at a musical group or the players in the group, you start to see connections. The bassist was in this other band, their record was produced by the guy who did that big hit record, they toured with that European group, and so on... A lot of what you get is random, but interesting connections always come up. When we met Baltimore area jam rockers Willie's Light recently, we found one degree of separation from The Grateful Dead. One degree!

Musicians strive for "a sound". There's the basic desire to have a unique sonic identity. There's also the pride and satisfaction that comes when others recognize the sound. But it's not the easiest thing to pin down. It can take time to develop "a sound", and even so, there's no clear sign that it exists. But at some point a group of musicians like indie rockers stereosleep listens to what they're doing and realizes they've found their sound.