While recording music often involves preproduction, sound design, multitracking, editing, mixing and mastering, among other things, there is an additional step in the collaborative affairs of psychedelic funk trio Khruangbin: breaking bread.

For the group, which comprises Laura Lee Ochoa on bass, Donald Johnson on drums and Mark Speer on guitar, grabbing a bite to eat together was foundational in Khruangbin’s (pronounced krung-bin) inception in Houston. Three years before Ochoa learned to play bass, she had dinner with Johnson and Speer every Tuesday, where they would eat burgers, tots and tacos while discussing the music playing through the restaurant’s speakers.

“I think food is music,” Ochoa said in a recent Zoom interview. “The art forms are the same thing to me, and universal. In Khruangbin, we see music as a means to bring people together, and that’s what food does. Donald, Mark and I are very different people. We live our lives differently, but we all eat.”

“What’s so beautiful about it,” she continued, “is that our friendship existed at that moment, on Tuesday nights, separately from the rest of the world.”Nearly two decades later, the group has evolved from a Tuesday night dinner club to a niche instrumental group to now, a prominent act performing at massive Southern California fests like the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and the Desert Daze Festival. The trio have also performed international shows like Primavera Sound Barcelona. Khruangbin will hit the stage at the iconic Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles on Aug. 10 and 11.

“I would prefer people come in with no expectations and an open mind and heart,” Johnson said. “All kinds of people from all walks of life, different ages and races gather at our shows, and everyone has a good time. I think that’s a beautiful dream and experience.”

The group, which creates ethereal instrumental music that transports listeners from region to region, is a testament to the band’s name, which translates to “airplane” in Thai. New listeners might need help pinpointing exactly where it lands on the spectrum of musical genres: Khruangbin incorporates elements of dub, West African funk, Ethiopian instrumentation, Middle Eastern melodies, surf rock, R&B and other sounds from around the world.

While the group may not easily be defined by genre, its sound is so distinct that once familiarized, it is difficult to dissociate. Khruangbin’s recognizable sound was built on years of chemistry and performing together. The musicians push each other when recording and jamming to ensure that their approach remains fresh and free from the confines of routine.

The group has also been helped by collaborations, such as teaming up with R&B soul singer and songwriter Leon Bridges for two EPs and with Vieux Farka Touré, son of legendary Malian guitarist Ali Farka Touré, for an album. Yet when it comes to creating with others, Ochoa said it’s more than figuring out if each act would jive well with the trio.

“The three of us feels like home, so anytime somebody else comes in our space, it definitely feels like we’re inviting them over for dinner,” Ochoa said.

Before a collaboration, the band likes to spend time with the prospective artists to gauge whether it feels right. Johnson said the group usually feels more comfortable inviting a vocalist than another musician. Speer’s guitar licks often work as a substitute for vocals and seek to tell a story through melodies that contrast with the bass and drums.

When they collaborated with Bridges, it was the first time they went into a studio together and had to work around a vocalist. Usually, vocal tracks are the last thing the group focuses on during the recording process. Ochoa said the studio sessions were extensive but aligned with the group’s values of chemistry and motivating each other to put out their best efforts.

Khruangbin’s most recent collaboration was “Happy Survival,” a track on Childish Gambino’s latest album, “Bando Stone & the New World.” The group had already met Donald Glover, spent time with him and his family and, of course, shared a meal.

“It wasn’t just like putting two playing pieces together on a table,” Ochoa said. “There was chemistry between us as musicians and as people, so when he approached us about doing the collaboration, it felt right not only because of the human connection but also because the project made sense. We were inspired by his inspiration.”

The recording of the mostly instrumental track “Happy Survival” was crafted a bit differently, as each member of the group lives far from the others: Ochoa in Brooklyn, Speer in a small town north of San Francisco, and Johnson in Houston. Ochoa and Johnson happened to be together at the same time in Houston and were able to record the track together, while Speer and Glover added their contributions remotely.

“It was the first time we approached a recording that way,” Johnson said. “I was nervous because I thought I would have to cut drums on that by myself, and I’d never done that before. I was so glad that Laura popped in and could play with me and make the whole process smoother.”

Khruangbin is on tour supporting its fourth album, “A La Sala,” a project built on a stockpile of off-the-cuff recordings such as voice memos made at sound checks or while on tour. The three revived and reworked them in the studio to create a dreamy and airy, 12-song album that’s a call back to their early days that were less synthy and more about ’70s psych rock and funk, with other influences from Thailand and Niger.

The title, “A La Sala,” translates as “To the Living Room” in Spanish and is inspired by Ochoa’s childhood memories of spending time with her grandparents and extended family in Brownsville, Texas. She remembers there never being a shortage of family bonding and food. The memories that stick out most were of spending time with her four great-aunts, who never got married and shared a sleeping space in a living room.

“When I would come back home to Houston to be with my immediate family, I wanted that same feeling,” Ochoa said. “So I would run around screaming ‘A La Sala’ to get everybody in one room because that felt good to me.”

The Spanish titles in Khruangbin’s music also come from Ochoa’s upbringing; she’s not entirely fluent in the language, so she sometimes calls her mother to make sure the lyrics or titles are correct. However, Ochoa believes there are times when translations don’t always have to be clear-cut — in the same way Khruangbin’s instrumental music is borderless and doesn’t have to be defined by a sole genre.

“In Khruangbin, we listen to music in other languages, and we appreciate when music isn’t tied to a specific language, but we also appreciate not fully knowing the language,” she said. “When you hear English people speak French or French people speak English, there’s a beautiful thing that happens when the words aren’t always exactly right. The point still gets across and that’s lovely.”