Lawrence.com

"Kindergarten underwear."

It's one of the more unusual descriptions of a group's sound, but that's exactly how Phat Albert drummer Freak-A-Delic describes his band's sonic boom.

Bassist Anthony Barnett offers a more detailed explanation: "We try to keep it danceable, try to keep it catchy. We try not to do something too many times, try not to have every song sound the same. We try not to get pigeonholed, so the band is consistently evolving."

Urban dance squad

Phat Albert formed in 1996 in Manhattan, Kan., as a three-piece, expanding slowly over the years into its current lineup. The members of the band's horn section (saxophonist Brendan O'Bryhim, trombonist Pete Proctor, trumpetist Ben Rhoden) were already playing together in the Kansas State University jazz band when Barnett recruited them. The addition of the guitarist Mike Yunghans solidified the lineup soon after and Phat Albert was on its way. For simplicity's sake, the group's early music was steeped in ska, an influence that remains integral to its sound.

"There was a lot of ska in the beginning," O'Bryhim says. "Two years ago that's almost all we did. Now, we have hip-hop in there, funk, plus our songs became a lot more melodic."

For the last couple of years, Phat Albert has been putting in overtime, trying to catch a break in a regional scene that occasionally eats new acts for breakfast. One early track, "Hindsight," appeared on a compilation of Manhattan-based bands a while back and Phat Albert has increased its profile through gigging alongside Manhattan groups such as Pomeroy and Ruskabank. Lawrence, on the other hand, has proved to be a greater challenge.

"Breaking into the Lawrence scene is hard to do," Yunghans says. "It's very political."

"A lot of the local groups around here just hate," Freak-A-Delic declares.

"I don't like the aggressive, cannibalistic nature of it," Barnett adds. "Everybody seems to be trying to pull everybody else down and trying to get to the top. Nobody seems to realize that if everybody helped everybody else out and promoted everybody's shows ... If one band made it out of Lawrence, then all the sudden Lawrence is on the map."

Phat Albert may very well find itself on the map soon. After years of struggle and setback, the band has finally issued its eponymous debut CD. Recorded last year at Chapman Studios in Kansas City, Mo., the album charts Phat Albert's progression from ska skankers to hip-hopping funky monks.

"It's four years of writing," Yunghans explains. "If you put all the tracks in order of when they were written, you can see a definite evolution."

Though "Phat Albert" packs a host of styles and genres into its 15 tracks, there's little method to the band's madness. Instead, the group lets the music guide it through uncharted sonic waters, creating a whole larger than the sum of its parts. Barnett's slapping bass work often recalls Flea at his funkiest, crashing perfectly into Freak-A-Delic's bong-baked grooves. The horn section throws humor and flavor into the mix, creating a Greek chorus wall-of-sound that brings tunes like "Typical Party Song" and "Best Friend" to life, while Yunghans' chicken scratch licks pecks at the backbeat of "Brand New." Vocalist John Ragsdale (who departed the group last fall) alternates between singing and rapping, often within a single song.

"Historically, our songs have started in the rhythm section," Barnett says. "As we're maturing as a group, we're starting to move out. Melodies, horn lines and harmonies are coming out."

Devious minded

The album's pinnacle moment comes at the end with "Devious," a last-minute addition that underscores just how far Phat Albert is willing to stretch its sound in a quest for sonic fulfillment. "Devious" is one of the year's hottest collaborations, a track that effortlessly blends funk, rap, and reggae into a stomping, rump-shaking groove that refuses to quit.

Featuring rip-snorting raps from DL (DVS Mindz), Deadly (The Zou) and the sublime vocal stylings of Aaron D (KB Posse), the song has quickly jumped into the public consciousness. It's spent the last several weeks at No. 1 on MP3.com's local hip-hop charts and has maneuvered its way onto area airwaves via"Classic Underground Sound" and "Breakfast For Beat Lovers," radio shows found on KJHK 90.7 FM. The song also has been downloaded thousands of times from the band's Web site, www.phatalbert.net.

Though "Devious" has an easygoing aura, putting the song together was no walk in the park, coming about during Phat Albert's search for a new vocalist. Barnett heard Aaron D singing with the now-defunct Evil N on MP3.com and spent the next several weeks hunting for him, eventually phoning the local Hall of Records for contact information.

"Anthony tracked me down," D recalls wryly. "I was like, 'I ain't delinquent on some bills or some (expletive), am I?' So I went down to 17th and Wy. and (they) were like, 'All right, we got a dub section here. Throw some (expletive) down.' I spent like an hour chillin' in this side room, scribbling like mad. So it happened right there. It wasn't freestyled on the mike, but I had nothing coming into it."

Deadly's verse was added with an equal lack of precision.

"I was rapping with Anthony at a party last year," the emcee remembers. "I told him I wanted to do some work with him but I didn't think he was serious. The next week, he comes over to my apartment and says, 'You got two days.'"

DL ran into Barnett at a DVS Mindz gig in Topeka and quickly signed on board.

"It was something that was cool," Barnett says, when asked if "Devious" marks a new direction for the band. "But I wouldn't want to say that we're restricting ourselves by moving in a particular direction. As we grow as musicians, we're all having more input and more ideas and we want to keep expanding. Whatever styles are around now are a mixture of other styles. When rock 'n' roll came out, it was a mixture of other things."

For now, Phat Albert will continue to mix it up on the local scene, grabbing gigs where it can and looking for a permanent singer. At recent shows, the band has been joined onstage by its various musical comrades, leading to extended freestyle rap and vocal sessions that have hip-hop heads and funk fans paying attention.

"The live show is where music is at," O'Bryhim says. "Everything else � the CDs, the Web site, the MP3s, radio � are all things to drive people to the live show."