HAMSTER THEATRE

the Public execution

If I would've been asked to describe HT music with a culinarian example, as we reviewers used to do just few years ago, I would say that the most suitable food for that would be an Israeli salad (or Arabian/middle east one, choose your preferred option). I don't mean a European salad, cut to some big pieces with a pale sauce (apologize for that). I mean to a basic component of tomatoes and cucumbers, added by onion, some other arbitrary vegetables, spiced generously with salt and pepper, and spritzed by lemon juice and olive oil. A crunchy one, which fill your mouth with abundance of tastes and textures. Such is Hamster Theatre music, juicy and mixed out from a lot of elements. Sometimes it's puzzling, sometimes not clear, but always interesting and unexpected. And even amusing, in a way.

In this album, we can find various compositions, most of them written by Dave Willey, (accordion and many other instruments), few by Jon Stubbs (trombone, keyboards and more) and one by Mike Johnson (guitars, mandolin, banjo). Some of the materials were written by Willey for a dance and multimedia show, so there is a mixed bag here. There are short pieces that clock in at even less than 2 minutes, but loaded with content and beautifully crafted and harmonized. Some are longer, with strange passages, and various moods and orchestrations. The two last pieces are quieter and simpler than most of the materials, and set the listener down to a calmer and peaceful mood.

Two or three tracks are catchier, clearly followed and easily recognized by 'what's going on' terms. 'Reddy 4 luv' (by Willey) sound relatively simplified at first, until you got the rhythmical tricks there, and the ever-changing simple notes, toward the unexpected end. 'Oye Comatose' (by Johnson) is carried on a twisted Latin rhythm and a two-note melody, a pastoral middle part that cut cruelly and humorous, and a pleasant guitar improvisation toward the end.

A very important characteristic of this band is the long list of instruments including some exotic ones such as harmonium, guitarron, prepared piano, and various percussion. All is ruled by Dave Willey's Accordion. What I like the most, are the woodwinds played by Mark Harris, who shines here with his clarinet, saxophones and flute.

In all, a very nice album, but I would like that for the next time, (if ever occurs, it's been 8 years already!) things will be a bit more organized, and dare I say, even 'conceptual'. However, I'm aware that this might stand in contradiction to the Hamsterian mood, which recalls for a deliberate blurriness, and built-in disorder. And after all, this is part of the magic in this music.

For beginners I would recommend to start with 'Carnival detournement' and then make their way up to this latter album. 'Carnival' seems to be a bit more focused. But don't count too much on that.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4, due to my sentiments.

the Quasi day room

That CD comes along with 'the Public execution' CD, and hold a live show in a place that actually called 'the Quasi day room'. Well it's a beast of a show. IMO Hamster Theatre is a band that, like a good Jazz effort, must be heard live, in addition to studio albums. There are many nuances that reveals better than the studio version, in a live form. The compositions leave enough room for improvisations, but not in a jazz manner, with its long solos and back to the standard. It's done here in those little variations on the tunes, where each player takes on their instruments. The musicianship, the interplays, the 'togetherness', are all outstanding. No doubt, there's a lot to dive into, not abandoning a great joy.

About a half of the show is dedicated to the 'Carnival detournement' album. It is unexpected to realize, how those 'weird' compositions, turned, as time passed, to a sort of classics, at least for me. Indeed, about 8 years have been passed since the first time I've heard HT, as 'the Dave Willey's band, that guy from Thinking Plague', as introduced to me at the local record store. I've listened a bit and thought to myself 'What the hell is going on here? Oh, I'll have to take it home and check it out'. Needless to say, the record store does not exist anymore, unfortunately, and it's a sign of the time, I guess.

The rest of the show is dedicated to earlier materials, which sound less complicated, more improvised, and a bit amateur, but I'm not counting that as a disadvantage, on the contrary. One piece worth mentioning is 'the Hamster dance', which also could be heard in the Thinking Plague's live album 'Upon both your houses', which sound quite different (another things where done there). Here it sound more natural, catchier, and with the strength of a full band.

So, since I've been a bit unfocused, I'll make a long story short: It's a one helluva show, that, if you are not convinced yet to go for this bargain, here you have a very good reason for doing so. (For now this 2CD set can be found at a reasonable price, at the Wayside store). The whole package is very worthy.

I'm glad they named the person they will publicly execute, because if not, I might have done them. Given that I hate hamsters (stupid rodents who exercise in their creaky wheels at night), the fact that this unit compose extremely obtuse ethnic Eastern- European circus-jazz, with unnecessary complex (and constant) time sig changes, these guys actually do absolutely nothing new, but they do it extremely well. But that is simply not enough for this writer as there are dozens of such albums coming out every year, nowadays.

Comprised of two different "albums", this release present a studio and a live disc, it is most likely impossible to play both disc consecutively unless being a circus junkie. And since I am not an accordion fan, HT is not likely to get much sympathy from me. The live and studio sound like a cross of "bal musette" music (something I simply abhor, and one of the most horrendous side of French culture) and more Eastern (Hungarian) Tzigan/gypsy jazz. While I have some respect for the guys from Thinking Plague, this HT music is nothing like their RIO, miles away. HT is not about jazz-rock, not about RIO (although there are some instants of related traces scattered here and there, but best classified in Avant-prog, where we (PA) fit that kind of group, but usually an important percentage of more meaningful ones.

Often sounding like early acoustic UZ (but second-rate, IMHO), with that irritating accordion (162), and sometimes without (Lost Book), the studio disc is more inspired than the horrendously dull and repetitititititititve live disc. The live disc's highlight is the wild Lake Lausane, but overall, while exemplarily executed, this type of music played live over two hours can only overdose you. And those Hamsters have irritated after a half-hour of it.

This type of album is not likely to increase Cuneiform's fortunes if you ask me, unless there are many fans for awkward, goofy, grotesque, obtuse and humourless music. Best avoided, but I think I am in a minority on this one.

Reddy For Luv - A Recipe

1. Hire a band from Cirque du Soliel 2. Fire them 3. Keep their instruments 4. Break half their instruments 5. Hire some much better musicians 6. Give them a lot of drinks 7. Put a really hard piece of music in front of them. 8. Record

... this is Hamster Theatre.

This music is sublime, charming, confusing and ridiculously complex. Think you know odd time signatures? You know nothing. And yet, there's a lovely, swaying, drunken beat to try and dance to.

Are you a student of orchestration? Tell us how the timbre of the melody was accomplished. It's as if each instrument was recorded in a different dimension and then comp'ed together - sort of.

This music is weird and compelling. It's addictive. It deserves every bit of your concentration and consideration. Can I give it six stars?

IN PRAISE OF ROTTERS

Intricate, restless, and on occasion quite funny, this combination of studio and live work ( from the severely under-attended 2002 Progman event in Seattle -- and yes, I was there ) presents some expert excursions in non-stop musical transformations. Moving from the exceedingly hectic and frenetic to the nearly serene through seemingly effortless gestures, Hamster Theatre all the while maintains a highly refined sense of tension between reassuring and disturbing tonalities. Atypical writing, atypical instrumentation and an ear for non-linear transitions supported by virtuoso playing all allude to some of the finest moments that might result from crossing an apolitical Henry Cow with a still witty Hatfield and the North and a few genuine folk shadings that could easily place it somewhere during that most golden age of Canterbury. My apologies for the comparison -- HT comes out of all this as a thing unto itself, of course.

Musics such as this refuse to die, refuse to go away. By demanding close listening, Hamster Theatre offers music among that rare kind of stuff that continues to reveal nuances and details with repeated listening over long periods. In so doing, Hamster Theatre keeps alive the tradition that quality work wins out in the end -- thanks to its uncanny ability to attract only those listeners who know what it means to actually listen. Especially in this case, because of the way in which the elements interact within pieces as well as between pieces. Just one more collection of great music added to the already overwhelmingly compelling case to be ever farther removed from the deadening predictability of the mainstream.

Categorizing this kind of music would be a quite difficult task. This kind of music belong in fact to Rio/Avant from its folkish side, maybe as Samla, (not sure about that, that's what I feel right now), along with many more influences, rather to the old school and roots of progressive rock. Carnival contains very complicated compositions, with many kinds of modern classical techniques, rock elements, Marches bands, klayzmer, folk/traditional music, and that's not all... It could not be defined as classical music, and actually, what could be more excited than that? Art rock at the highest level, that pushing the boundaries while remain haunting and captivating.

The jumps between styles occur even at the same track. Personally I prefer the more relaxed compositions and less jumpy, even though the jumps are justified, it doesn't occur because someone lost control, it create "andralamusia" environment, kind of carnival.

I liked the calmer compositions, especially those with the klayzmer parts which are performed very well, such as "Jeanne Marie", "Tick Fever", kind of a valse, "Drunken Penguin Tango", which suit exactly to the name description, "the Cat Song", wonderful klayzmer, and the last track, "a Reluctant Farewell" which ends with some wonderful accordion notes in the unique style of Dave Willey. Dave Willey, together with John Stubbs, is also responsible for the compositions.

There are lot of unusual instruments combinations which unpredictably works: trombone goes with toys instruments like harmonium, melodica, guitarron , cheap electric guitar against real electric guitar, woodwinds, mandolin, acoustic bass, drums, and to add spice to that, a little bit electronica. All of it creates a very colorful and original environment.

In short, these guys are remarkably talented and creative. It is highly recommended to follow them in their various bands and projects. For all who look for original and innovative music that do not just repeat on things done in the past, it is worthwhile to look after these people. They are all come from the west of US, which seemed to be THE geographical era right now for any innovative and original music.

What can I say about this brilliant album, the best discovery of last year for me? (And there were a lot of them). They are progressive in the best sense of the word, not beholden to any cliché traditions of 70s progressive, but entirely open to many musical styles, which they juggle with the virtuosity of circus performers. Circus and carnival seem to be themes here, suggested by the very title, and there are often traces of Nino Rota and the circus, as well as elements of French and Balkan folk music. But that doen't mean there's no hard edges, as guitar virtuoso Mike Johnson provides the necessary edge when appropriate. Dave Willey and he are both key members of Thinking Plague as well, and this album shares the same totally uncomprimising spirit.

Opening with "Vermillion Hue over Lausanne", you think you're dealing with a funky Reggae album, until Johnson enters with some crunching crimsonoid guitar, making clear that for all its delicacy, Hamster is a force to be reckoned with. "Jeanne-Marie" has a most unusual setting for a progressive composition, with accordion, clarinet, and glockenspiel, but develops into one of the most intricate and beautiful pieces I've heard in years. "The Breach" sounds almost like an avant-garde tune by the great brasilian composer Jobim, with it's soaring flute melodies over kalimba and electric sitar, but is sadly too short. "Tick Fever" is really deep, melancholy carnival music, as moody as it gets, and "The Carrot is a Hologram" is closer to modern classical and Rota's score for Fellini's "Casanova". "The Cat Song" is like a Klezmer stomp meeting Raymond Scott at night in a deserted alley.

All in all, the album is so varied that each listening is like hearing a new album, it's one of those rare albums (like Thinking Plagues "In Extremis") that never gets tiresome or too familiar. Most astounding of all is the fact that this very European music originated in the United States.