Vulfpeck

The band's first release was titled "Beastly". It was released in April 2011 as a YouTube video. The track was noted for its bass performance by No Treble, an online magazine for bass players.[6] The band released its first EP, Mit Peck, in December 2011, and a second EP, Vollmilch, in December 2012. In 2013, three band members backed Darren Criss on his national tour, and Katzman was the musical director of the tour.[7][8] In 2013, Joe Dart was ranked as No Treble's 5th-favorite bassist.[9] Vulfpeck's first live performance was at the Blind Pig in Ann Arbor, Michigan, followed by a performance in New York City at the Rockwood Music Hall in October 2013.[3][10] The band released its third EP, My First Car, in August 2013. The EP features Antwaun Stanley on the band's first vocal track. A review of My First Car called it less energetic compared to the band's first two EPs but "still a fitting addition to a unique catalogue of music".[11]

In March 2014, Vulfpeck released Sleepify, a ten-track silent album on Spotify, in order to raise funds for an admission-free tour. The album generated $20,000 in royalties over a two-month period.[7][12] Subsequently Spotify removed the album stating it violated their terms of content.[13] The band's royalty generation scheme received international press coverage.[14] In July the band received the royalties and announced that they would follow through and organize a tour.[15]

In August 2014, the band announced the Sleepify Tour and released its fourth EP, Fugue State.[16] The EP's second track "1612" is styled after Wardell Quezergue's works and features Antwaun Stanley on vocals.[17] The song's title was inspired by the entrance code to an Airbnb Stratton was subletting.[18] The admission-free Sleepify Tour was scheduled for September 2014. Tour locations included San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Ann Arbor and New York City.[19] In 2015, Stratton proposed a more equitable model for Spotify payout distribution in which each artist's payout is based solely on that artist's listeners, rather than every listener using the service.[20]

Vulfpeck released Thrill of the Arts in October 2015. The album featured contributions by several artists including David T. Walker, Charles Jones and Blake Mills. Jim Fusilli of The Wall Street Journal called the music "gritty, in-your-face, not-prettified funk played with fire" and an homage to old school funk and soul.[21] The album debuted at number 16 on the U.S. R&B Albums chart.[22] The album's second track "Back Pocket" was used on a TV commercial for iPhone.[23] The band and Goodhertz Inc. released a production plug-in called Vulf Compressor.[24] The band performed on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in November 2015.[25]

Vulfpeck performed regularly with Antwaun Stanley and guest artists including several shows with Bernard Purdie and Ziggy Modeliste.[26][27][28] The band performed a cover of "Boogie On Reggae Woman" on SiriusXM radio.[18] The band's second album The Beautiful Game was released in October 2016. It featured contributions by several artists including Cory Wong and Adam Levy.[29] The album debuted at number 10 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.[30] The band's third album, Mr Finish Line, was released in November 2017. It featured veteran instrumentalists James Gadson, Bootsy Collins, Michael Bland, David T. Walker, and vocalists Coco O., Antwaun Stanley, Joey Dosik, Christine Hucal, and Charles Jones.[31]

Vulfpeck's fourth album, Hill Climber, was released in December 2018 and featured Cory Wong, Joey Dosik, Antwaun Stanley, Ryan Lerman, Larry Goldings, Mike Viola, Monica Martin, and Louis Cole.[32] In 2019, the Music Man guitar company introduced the Joe Dart Bass signature guitar.[33] Dart was ranked first by Bass Guitar magazine as the coolest new bassist.[34]

In September 2019, the band headlined a sold-out concert at Madison Square Garden, one of the first to do so without a manager or record label.[35] Recording of the performance was released as the band's fifth album Live at Madison Square Garden in December 2019, along with a full concert film. The live performance featured touring partners Stanley, Wong, Dosik, and guest artists Charles Jones, Chris Thile, Dave Koz, Nate Smith, Mark Dover, Richie Rodriguez and others.[36][37]

In 2020, the band issued a compilation album of eight songs featuring Antwaun Stanley, and a compilation album of eleven songs written[lower-alpha 1] by Woody Goss.[38][39] In August 2020, the band auctioned off the record space of the tenth track on their sixth album The Joy of Music, the Job of Real Estate to the New York City-based band Earthquake Lights. The album was released in October 2020.[40]