Chef'Special - Amigo (2018)

Peppered with ska, rap, and funk, Dutch quintet Chef'Special's party-friendly brand of cheery indie pop was born in Haarlem, The Netherlands in 2008 with lead vocalist Joshua Nolet, guitarist Guido Joseph, keyboardist Wouter Heeren, bassist Jan Derks, and drummer Wouter Prudon. After touring Western Europe in a bus nicknamed "The Mrs.," they released an EP, Hungry, in late 2009. The following year, the band won a festival audience award for their video for the single "Too Far Gone," which led to an appearance on the Dutch television talk show De Wereld Draait Door. Their full-length debut, One for the Mrs., arrived in 2011, and during the 2011-2012 season, they were featured as the Friday-night house band for De Wereld Draait Door. Chef'Special's sophomore album, Passing Through, followed in 2014 and debuted at the top of the Dutch album chart. An EP titled Shot in the Dark was released in the spring of 2015. ~ Marcy Donelson