The Natural Selection

Now based in Denver the Natural Selection was until recently at St. Louis band. Bassist Nick Jost, a graduate of SIUE's Jazz Studies program, has played with Steve Ewing and some of the best jazzbos around town, while singer Samuel Glover has released several soul- and jazz-inflected albums. Denver's gain is our loss, though: A show here several weeks ago at the Billiken Club turned into a high-quality, booty-bumping dance party. Jost (who sported sparkly football pants and long hair any metalhead would kill for) made Flea's manic stage moves and funky low-end seem amateurish, while Glover strutted around the stage like a lithe, graceful b-boy. If Chromeo lost its vocoder and self-conscious hipster pose — or if Minus the Bear embraced its inner Stevie Wonder — they might start to approximate the Natural Selection's funk-pop-a-roll.