The Life and Times ofTru Thoughts ****

The Hot 8 Brass Band know how to throw a party. The New Orleans crew have seen their profile rise on the back of TV appearances on David Simon's Treme and Spike Lee's When the Levees Broke, but it's their rowdy, exuberant, all-horns-blazing live show that really spread the word. While there's no substitute for the live bump and stomp of a sweaty club, The Life Times Of… captures the Hot 8 essence just so. They tear into Basement Jaxx's Bingo Bango with wild abandon and turn The Specials' Ghost Town into a mighty second-line requiem for their own city, still dealing with its post-Katrina malaise. Other tracks (Let Me Do My ThinG, Can't Hide From the Truth) are similarly endowed with righteous jazz and funk mojo. The next best thing to seeing them in a N'awlins dive after midnight. hot8brassband.com

Download tracks:Ghost Town, Bingo Bango