Danny Mayer | "Basic Goodness"

In his debut solo release coming out via Color Red on August 6, 2021, Danny Mayer (Eric Krasno Band, Alan Evans Trio) concocts a mixture of old-school psychedelic funk blended with a “Go-Go”-style drumbeat in “Basic Goodness.” The song title is inspired by a concept coined by Tibetan spiritual teacher Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche. “Basic Goodness” observes that humans beings are wired to experience joy through entities as simple as sound and color. The concept extends into how nature provides the basic needs for human survival.

"That awareness that our needs are being met, that we’re being taken care of on a basic level, tends to lend itself nicely to a more relaxed state where things don’t feel so threatening and at which point you can kind of start grooving with the world around you. That’s really all this song is—a relaxed and playful groove based on the concept of basic goodness," says Mayer.

Originating from a drum groove his friend Colin Jalbert sent him, Mayer utilized the downtime of the past year to learn how to record from home. He made a loop from Colin’s groove, added Moog bass, bass guitar, and percussion, which laid the rhythmic groundwork. The guitar parts came next, with relative ease, but they really come together beautifully with some harmonized melodies out of the guitar solo. This track is the lead single off of a full-length record composed by Mayer during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.

In addition to the release of "Basic Goodness," Mayer will be playing a pair of shows at Denver's Knew Conscious on August 13th & 14th with Star Kitchen, psychedelic funk band also featuring Marc Brownstein (The Disco Biscuits) on bass, Rob Marscher (Matisyahu) on keyboards, and Marlon Lewis (Lauryn Hill) on drums. While in Denver, the group will be recording additional material at Color Red Studios to appear on a forthcoming EP.