The Brooklyn-Vermont Troupe Make A Joyful Noise

Name: Rubblebucket

Active Since: 2008

Genre: Indie Dance

Most Like: Dirty Projectors, Beirut

The Sound: Like if your sleepaway camp band had a tight African percussion section.

Bandleader/trumpet player Alex and lead singer Kalmia met at the University of Vermont and later went on tour with a reggae band, but the idea of creating an orchestral indie dance group crystallized only when they met percussionist Craig in 2007.

Equal parts funk, psych rock, electropop, and big band, Rubblebucket specializes in wowing live audiences with their irrepressible stage groove and West African percussion. Kalmia’s confident belting gives weight to songs like “Silly Fathers” and “Came Out of A Lady,” whose titles reveal the bliss levels here are pretty intense. In the video for “Came Out of a Lady” the band actually bursts out of a tent in the shape of a lady for the climax. The name Rubblebucket comes from Craig, who used to be a stone mason and used rubblebuckets as a matter of course (they are, quite simply, buckets that carry rubble. And sludge.) He wanted it to be the name of a metal band, but Afro-dance pop orchestra isn’t a bad consolation prize.

Their third full-length Omega La La came out last summer, and to give you a sense of Rubblebucket’s goodwill towards man, they gave the whole thing away on their website before it was even available on iTunes.

Last but not least, Rubblebucket are a touring machine, and their most recent offering is a live DVD of a recent performance in Chicago. Spread the happiness.