(Photo by Benjamin Swisher)

Link: http://www.mystikos.com/

Things are about to change. Everything is going to be different. For the band Mystikos Quintet, they are at a pivotal point in their career and on October 16, at the Broad Ripple Music Fest, they will come to the crossroads of what the band is and what the band is becoming. And that becoming will open up all kinds of possibilities for the Mystikos’ sound.

The Jazz Kitchen will light up the 54th and College intersection with an eclectic lineup of electronic, soul, and international musical flavors. What Mystikos will bring to the night is  a debut of new songs and musical territory they have not ventured before. The live show will consist primarily of tunes from their upcoming album, tentatively titled Bend My Mind, to be released early 2011. The album will feature a lineup of talented vocalists while musically concentrating on downtempo, dub, and trip hop sounds that reflecdt and highlight these new vocalists.

This upcoming performance for the group is something that will be very special and pivotal for not only core members Greg Rode and Kyle Hodges, but to those who have been following the Indianapolis band throughout the 2000s.

“This live show has been two years in the making,” Hodges claims as both members’ eyes light up like they are anticipating Christmas morning.

(Photo by Benjamin Swisher)

I am sitting across the street from The Jazz Kitchen on an unusually warm autumn evening. At Moe and Johnny’s, the outdoor patio is alive with good spirits and great conversation. Hodges and Rode are both soaking it up and taking it all in.

If you are not familiar with Mystikos Quintet, they have been creating infectious instrumentals and predominantly downtempo and acid jazz since they dropped their self-titled release in 2006.

If you are familiar with the band, then you will know that they are always in a constant state of movement, twisting and turning their style that contorts to their current desire and never succumbing to a linear state of mind. The fluidity of the band is what makes them so intriguing since the beginning.

For 20 years, Rode played in rhythm and blues bar bands in the Seattle scene. Growing tired of it all, he discovered computer music.

“I met some young musicians who did computer music, and it was that moment I realized that it was possible to use computers to sound like a band,” he said. “It took me four years to learn the software and get myself together.”

In 2002, he moved from Seattle to Indianapolis. Hodges was working at Indy CD & Vinyl at the time. Rode’s frequent visits to the music shop allowed him to strike up a friendship with Hodges.

“I was doing a lot of house DJ-ing in Chicago,” said Hodges. “I realized I wanted to do something different. That’s when I started playing around with acid jazz, downtempo, etc. and formed the DJ powerhouse Twin Peaks with my brother.”

“Kyle and I found out that we both liked the same type of music,” said Rode. “He wanted to spin some of my music, and through tireless promotion and marketing, we formed a business partnership.”

(Photo by Benjamin Swisher)

That is when the albums started pouring out: Mystikos Quintet, The Second Record Album, Club Dub A Go Go, and Wup Bup. What each album has in common is a degree of style that moved from swank penthouse electro lounge to bumpin’ house to soulful expression.

This month, they have recently released an EP titled Tempo Deluxe,  currently out now at Indy CD & Vinyl and Luna locally, and nationally distributed on CD Baby and will soon be available on iTunes. Tempo Deluxe works more like a side project while creating a unique presence in the Mystikos discography. Blending house in some areas with a cool and danceable sway in others, the EP is devoted to the essence of club music.

“Kyle and I love house music,” said Rode. “Club Dub A Go Go had a few house songs on there. We had seven songs that we were trying to determine what to do with, so we decided to put out this CD dedicated to club music.”

And as the 2009 release of Wup Bup brought about the addition of Ryan “Sweaty B” Williams on bass and Richard “Sleepy” Floyd on drums, Tempo Deluxe also introduces the addition of vocalists to the band’s repertoire. And that is the most important development to Mystikos camp.

“I don’t want to downplay my abilities but we weren’t able to do everything other than a DJ set in the past,” said Hodges. “To communicate what we want to do live we would have had to get 12 people on stage. That’s why we can go this direction, have singers on stage and make it work the way we envision it to work. I don’t think we could have gotten away with this 10 years ago because people would not have been able to accept it.”

The vocals that you will become familiar with are the works of Ashley Butler, Gabrielle Flowers, Ed Lanier, and Crescent Ulmer. As they have been bouncing vocal and music demos back and forth, the Broad Ripple Music Fest will be the first opportunity for them to work with Butler, Flowers and Lanier in a live setting.

(Photo courtesy of Mystikos Quintet.)

“I want people to walk out of a Mystikos Quintet show and remember five or six songs. You cannot do that with instrumentals,” said Rode. “You need catchy hooks. The music I’m writing now is very soulful and poppy. An example of what I think is the greatest song ever is ‘Green Onions.’ When someone hears a song like that, they are going to go home and remember the chorus and the hooks. That’s what I want to accomplish.”

But don’t worry, there will be plenty of mystery and mystique within the quintet’s songs. It’s the soundtrack to the great American Gothic novel. It’s that drive to the end of the world. It’s the moment of redemption. It’s the feeling of alcohol on the breath. From dub to blues, it will give all give you goosebumps.