The Hip Abduction are from my hometown of St. Petersburg, Florida. I used to see the world-pop sextet play on the beach at popular watering hole Jimmy B’s. They were one of the few groups that incorporated their own original material in with the hotel bar’s required cover selections. Tourists were the majority of the audience, but they loved whatever THA churned out, whether they knew the songs or not. Fast-forward several years, and the group is touring nationally behind their fourth full-length, To the Ends of the Earth. It’s a bit heavier on the pop than the world vibes, though their usual fusion of dub, roots reggae, funk, rock, and Afrobeat are in there beneath all the polished production. But it’s not so much about their recordings as it is the live show. They always slay—in a brass-blasted, feel-good, get-down kind of way. by Leilani Polk