RIO/AVANT-PROG

These two records are compared a lot as they are Zorn compositions that Trey Spruance has changed and altered, with Zorn overseeing as the executive producer on both records. "Malkhut" surprised me for not having any extreme moments at all, very surprising. So naturally you would think this would be my favourite release by them, but like OPETH, you need those extreme moments to bring out the best of the more atmospheric and relaxed sections. In fact this album came across as being too normal, and not as complex. I have a top four that I'm so into that I'll talk about, but I find the rest very hit and miss.

This is where I need to quote Matt Lebofsky the keyboardist here. First of all he relates that the music on "Malkhut" is much more complex than the music on "Xaphan". Playing the material live many times from both albums he says "Malkhut contains some of the most difficult material I ever had to digest and perform with SC3". He says "Xaphan is great but more of a jam album". Matt also says that both albums were created in a similar manner with Zorn composing the music, then Spruance changing things up, but he adhered more to the original Zorn compositions with "Xaphan". While on "Malkhut" he changed them to the nth degree, giving himself more creative leeway, while expanding the Zorn charts to full blown arrangements.

It's an interesting album this one. I found a lot of tracks were hit and miss. So there was something to really like on tracks 1, 5, 7 & 8 especially, but also that middle eastern, arabic vibe that I'm not as into. "Makif" is short thankfully as it is too much fun for this style of music. Eyebrows were raised. Some powerful and uptempo stuff on "Atzmut" and slide guitar. Uptempo and violin too. Lots of intensity on that closer as well, but some good contrasts too. I have to say that Spruance's baritone guitar work here really stands out. Such a warm vibe to it.

While I'm not surprised that my top four have little in the way of ethnic sounds, it's just surprising that there are songs on here like that. And they truly are a joy to listen to with these incredible musicians doing their best. Hey, with Zorn overseeing this project I'd be practising a lot, let alone that Trey Spruance has put on his finishing touches, and he is in the room. "Chitzonuyut" reminds me of "Tubular Bells" with that piano, and I love how themes and sounds are repeated throughout this track. So impressed. The baritone guitar is a nice touch. "Shadim" has these brief explosive sounds that come and go. I like the mellow sections here, and in particular the atmosphere after 3 minutes. "Netzokim" opens with baritone guitar, percussion and more before turning powerful. This one is all over the place to be honest but it works. Repeated themes and electric piano heaven half way through. Lastly "Netzach" with the organ, vibes and warm atmosphere. A relaxed sound with violin as well.

A four star album but "Xaphan" is my favourite from this extremely talented band. And I don't think they are done yet.

I'm not going to say a lot about this one as I just reviewed their debut "Sonic Gastronomy Volume 1" and the music is very similar. In other words flip a coin, both are great for those into that extreme style of music. The singer is the wild card in my opinion with his screaming, shouting and growling. So talented. I was surprised to see that second EP on the site here with so many ratings, when their other recordings have been virtually ignored save for the debut. Until I realized it was a free download. Smart in my opinion, as it at least gave music fans a chance to hear how amazing they were. But again, from those opinions there are those like myself who aren't "all in" on extreme vocals, and to a lesser degree extreme music.

They managed to release six recording over about a ten year period. So 3 stars is all I got, but man if you are into the extreme you need to check out their music.

What is really cool about hearing the music on this album, is that it is performed before they had released any albums. This was early in their careers and they knew getting a spot on John Peel's BBC show would give them exposure they just couldn't get anywhere else. So after harassing the producers and sending a demo tape they made late in 1976, Peel agreed to have them on. Like all of these sessions done on BBC 1 radio the band were given about 20 minutes of air time to do their thing. They were given two slots to perform with the first being late in March of 1977, and then the other in late October of the same year.

So while these sessions were recorded in 1977 they wouldn't be "made available" until 1996, so an archival release. And while I have huge respect for their first two studio albums, especially the second one "Deceit", this one tops them both. They clearly were well prepared for that first session and they nailed it. I like that the first session was more "normal" with the three tracks they played showing up on their debut. When they came back the second time they really went into that experimental direction, and were not invited back(haha).

We get three multi-instrumentalists, but this is basically a drum, guitar and keyboard/bass setup. We get drummer and leader Charles Hayward formerly from QUIET SUN, along with Charles Bullen adding clarinet and viola to his guitar work. And lastly Gareth Williams the tape master who adds bass and keyboards as well. Now playing live on the first session they kept it fairly simple, it was that second go around that the tape stuff was used and there's more improvising happening.

The first session which consisted of three tracks features two of my top three tracks. "Horizontal Hold" and "The Fall Of Saigon" especially standing out but "Not Waving" is great too. All three tracks would show up on their self-titled debut from 1979. As far as the second sessions go I really like "Makeshift" which would show up on "Deceit" from 1981. I love how powerful and intense this recording is. Even some of the vocals are just off the charts. You have to hear this! And while the three short tracks to end this recording are my least favourites, I'm so glad they included them because they would be an important part of their "sound" going forward.

John Peel was quoted as saying "I get asked to play more music like This Heat but to my knowledge, there is no other music like This Heat." This album is part of my "best of" Avant recordings, and 5 stars it truly is.

I own this one and the followup from 2010 called "Roqueforte" where even more changes occurred with that seven piece dropping to a five piece with one of the violinists and the piano player leaving. But adding several guests including viola, two piano players and a drummer. A drummer? Yes, and it's Dave Kerman, while one of the pianists is Pierre Chevalier. I'm pretty happy with these two records and feel the 2010 release is the better one for my tastes. "Songs From Mirage" is fairly rhythmic and piano and string led. But the female vocals really do dominate the most. And they are ethereal, almost gothic, even though they are female. A lot of wordless vocals too.

And while they do veer from that sound at times, this is a uniform sounding record. It's also a very melancholic record, almost to a fault. We get 14 tracks and it's just under an hour long. Track six is my first top three and it's called "Airesym". Mainly for being the first departure in sound as we get moments of intensity. "Lever In Plakjes" impresses with those slicing violins as the vocals come and go along with the piano. And the closer "Finale" rounds out my top three, and it's also the longest at over ten minutes. The recurring themes and those dark sounding melodies draw me in.

This band was about class and quality. And I honestly just found out today that they disbanded after their "Smells Like Aranis" record from 2017. Still, they gave us seven studio albums and a lot of classy music, so thankyou.

And what a lineup! Two drummers plus a percussionist, guitar, keyboards, electronics, bass and sax. An eight piece that was not only was in tune with each other, but with Zorn, who with hand signals would change the direction of a song in real time. So while it may seem redundant to have two shows on this recording with pretty much the same tracks, these tracks are different enough to make both shows essential. And I like that I can grab one disc or the other to listen to, it doesn't matter, both are off the charts. Disc one is the 2004 show from Moscow, and disc two from the 2004 show from the capital of Slovenia.

I am just starting to get familiar with the musicians involved with Zorn's various projects. And of course I've seen these musicians pop up in different like-minded bands as well like MR BUNGLE, SECRET CHIEFS 3 etc. The music here is a combination of Klezmer, Avant, Free jazz, Brutal Prog and more. I like the change of pace as well. It's not all in your face, but we get space and mellow sections as well. A nice balance. Guitarist Marc Ribot gave the performance of his life here I think. So impressive. Zorn is often doing his best Pharoah Sanders impression.

My favourite track from the Moscow show is "Kedem". The electronics and atmosphere to start. Sax after 2 minutes and it does get a little crazy. A trippy section takes over then it turns more powerful 7 minutes in. It settles again with electric piano over top. So good! Just grooving then a calm 11 minutes in. The guitar comes in lighting up the soundscape then the sax returns around 14 minutes in.

As far as the Slovenia show I have to go with the opener called "Tefukah", and it's the longest piece on this whole recording at 18 staggering minutes. Mind you there are five more tracks on this double disc that are around 15 minutes in length. This one opens with some heaviness and rumbling drums, upfront guitar before Zorn comes in screaming. Intense. Well, until the electric piano takes over but the intensity returns before 8 minutes. More screaming sax and ripping guitar to follow as this plays out.

An incredible recording that is both trippy and very powerful. I do like hearing the audience's reactions as well. A stunning live document.

We get a four piece here with a sax player, and the bassist also adds sax. The music is inspired by RIO, and post punk is a strong flavour. This band formed in 1980 and released a mini album in 1983 before this their only studio album of the 80's called "Who's Afreud". They released a compilation album in 1986 on cassette only. They did reunite and release an album in 2019 that I haven't heard. The music here is often catchy and uptempo, with plenty of humour. I would think that SAMLA MAMMAS MANNA were a big influence.

We get seven tracks per side with the second side being a side long suite broken down into seven parts. The liner notes have the lyrics for this suite translated into english and titled "Seven Sleepers Of Ephesus". As far as side one goes my favourite is that closer "Sken Av Alg". It has this catchy rhythm with horns over top along with strings and vocals. The intro for it is quite atmospheric. As far as the side long suite goes, I like a couple of tracks including "Tid Bredvid" for the depth of sound thanks to the bass. Vocals and whistling follow. Lastly "Ater Uppstandelse" rounds out my top three. This one has multi-vocals, pulsating organ and drums standing out.

All in all a pretty good album but I get why Lars was more focussed on UR KAOS after this release. And in my opinion the best thing that Lars is on is that final release from UR KAOS in 1999, a masterpiece of avant. "Who's Afreud" is good, but not 4 stars good in my musical world.

This missing link between the One Size All and Zoot Allures eras finds Zappa shifting to a more muscular sound with more traditional rock instrumentation (farewell, Ruth Underwood and her galaxy of percussion instruments) and making the most of that sort of setup. We get updates on old songs, and we get some new material like Black Napkins, Zoot Alures, and the Illinois Enema Bandit, the latter being one of Zappa's more misjudged lyrics (is it really funny to laugh at sexual assault?). Chunga's Revenge gets a long and pretty decent workout, at that. In the end, this might not be one of Zappa's more essential live albums, but it's worth it if you're interested in this lineup, since the closest other live release I'm aware of featuring it is FZ:OZ, and Norma Bell isn't on that (a shame, because her sax contributions here are on point).

Said so, it's possible that this album is full of tropos, but my ears aren't educated enough to decide wheter it's true. Anyway, "Il Libro dei Tropi" is an Italian sentence and it means exactly "The book of the Tropos".

Whatever the meaning is, this album is great. There are no fillers, no uselessly dissonant passages, and everything sounds perfectly planned.

The first thing that impressed me, is how it has switched my Canterbury sensors on. Throughout the album there are songs, or parts of songs, that remind me to Soft Machine, Gentle Giant and GonG, with the exeption of the long last track which has a simil-reggae tempo of the kind that's usual in Quantum Fantay albums. On the final part of "Night Crossing" the keys sound like Rick Wright on "The Piper at the Gates of Dawn", too.

The album is extremely consistent. You can listen to the whole without gaps and it flows perfectly. Of course, it's not an easy album, but it's not too challenging: the less harmonic parts are well balanced and most of all, you can perceive the structure behind each track. This makes it very enjoyable.

"Passed The Storm", "Brunette" and in particular "Undertow" are excellent. I would love to see this album analyzed by Doug Helvering or any true expert able torecognize the tropos which I suspect are in every track.

I've never heard Tom Aldrich and Zolder Ellipsis before, now I know that I was missing something. For lovers of Avant and Canterbury, but also accessible to any other listener.

This is the last album of that five album run that began with 2009's "Fear Draws Misfortune" that is right in my wheelhouse when it comes to their music. And this one might be my favourite along with that 2009 album and "Fades", my top three from them. We get eight tracks worth under 38 minutes, and once again they have surprised me. This is such a catchy and melodic album, but of course there are plenty of avant moments as well. I was just surprised at hearing song after song that has a heavy groove, are mid-paced, and are vocal led. Very uniform this recording, and it's been a while that I've had a song stuck in my head, but "Life Rings Hollow" accomplished that. More on that later.

In the press release the band states that they maybe shouldn't be rocking out so much at their advanced ages. You have to appreciate the humour of this band. Off the charts. They describe this album as "Harmony and dissonance, love and hate, oboes and drums...they all help to form this delicious and strange bed fellowship." They also mention that this might be their most gripping album vocally, and I agree, with three singers bringing the goods. Including drummer and band leader Thymme Jones, Greg Beemster who sings on but one track, and the main singer Carmen Armillas who impresses big time. Thymme plays a surprising amount of trumpet on this one, along with keyboards, of course drums, and more.

The 2 minute opener "Intimacy" features angular sounds that are almost industrial sounding, bringing about a strange combination of sounds that remind me of THE RESIDENTS and THE LEGENDARY PINK DOTS. I really like the 80's vibe with those bass synths on "Diatoms" that 3 minute third track. The synths pretty much growl here. Vocals join in and then an instrumental break that is experimental. I like when that guitar line kicks in around 2 minutes. My favourite track is "Life Rings Hollow". It was recorded in a different location that the rest of the songs and features a singer and musician who are only on this tune. That musician playing mellotron of all things. This song has been in my head on and off all last week. "So I took a little ride on the side of I won't be there". Love this one including the bass and mellotron.

"I Don't Believe" is the longest piece at over 7 1/2 minutes and is a top three with the previous track. It's not exactly ear friendly to start, but 1 1/2 minutes in to the end is all gravy. "Plea Bargain" and the earlier song "Diatoms" are in a tie for that third spot when it comes to favourite songs on here. I wish the next track "Things" was the closer, it would have been perfect. I put such a high emphasis on the opening and closing tracks and the closer here "Slowly For Awhile" just doesn't do it or me. A skippable finale unfortunately. It's slower than the rest and the vocals are annoying.

What an album though! So glad I picked this up this year, and how about that art work! Bringing CHICAGO's most famous band to mind with the script being in that same style as CHICAGO used to use. I really like what CHEER ACCIDENT created here. What a band!

It's about a 34 minute album with nine tracks. MIO Records did a good job with that 2003 re- issue adding those demo tracks from 1977, as well as a couple of live tracks, one from 1976 and one from 1977. We get four short pieces being around the 2 minute mark but they are excellent. Three of the four musicians here are multi-instrumentalists, and there are some french vocals, mostly on that closer. While the brothers had been gigging, doing covers for a couple of years, it was in 1974 that they got serious, adding both a guitarist/ keyboardist and bass player, and naming themselves MOSAIC for the first time.

I love that they did auditions for that bass player and had high expectations, wanting someone who could solo. The last one to audition was Philippe Lemongne aka P.L.M.G.. He must be good! He adds cello, acoustic guitar, synths, and he is a composer. Yeah they got the right one. I like Yves Brebion's description of their music. "Using musical violence, vocal paroxysm, and some frantic and frenzied guitar parts. committed to refined musical developments, MOSAIC was a part of that avant-garde progressive rock with a strong taste for complex, polished, adventerous, aggressive and delirious music!"

That opener "Un Trop" is a highlight for sure. More in the jazz/fusion realm this one with some standout guitar and powerful moments. That third song with the long title contrasts some dark and experimental passages with the more powerful sections. Almost a chamber music vibe here and elsewhere(like the next track) the way they slow it down and go mostly acoustic. My favourite might be "Rue Tabaga" because it's so jazzy sounding. Then there's that four part, almost 9 minute track called "Le Torero Dialu". I like the contrasts of styles on this song with more of that chamber style plus some rocking sections. The closer is a tough one with those punk vocals shouting at us. A post-punk track with plenty of energy. Hey it's 1978.

I had a blast re-visiting this one last week. And it's a solid 4 stars.