One of Umbra’s owners, Zach, celebrates his birthday by playing a set with each of his bands!

Blahsum is a psychedelic rap jam band based out of Brooklyn, NY. In the early days it was just frontman Garbo, writing lyrics and cutting together beats in his Chinatown home studio. He began to develop a following from a series of releases called the Moon Tapes — new collections of songs that debuted every full moon. Over the years the live band has taken on a life of its own, stretching the songs further and further out with freewheeling arrangements and a no-two-shows-are-the-same ethos of exploration and improvisation.

After almost ten years, Gridline continues to captivate audiences with their high-octane blend of funk, soul, and rock and roll. Their full-length debut album, Soul Brew, is a snapshot of a live band in motion. The eight original songs and arrangements were developed over years of performing late night sets as the house band of New York’s historic club, The Bitter End. The album features contributions from vocalist Corey Glover (Living Colour), Kim Miller (The Skatalites), Joel Thome (Frank Zappa), Mike Soprano (Streetlight Manifesto), and the Scorchio Quartet (David Bowie, Trey Anastasio).