OVERCOMING THE MONSTER

I was on Facebook one night, when I was interested to find someone telling everyone about this great German prog band that he had come across called KingBathMat. As I pointed out, the last time I looked they were very British (and according to their website are from Hastings), so I am somewhat intrigued to understand why someone thought they were from across the Channel? But, it does go to show that after multiple albums and a discography going back to 1998 (when the band was just John Bassett) these guys have somehow stayed very much under the radar for most people. But, with some bands starting to get more recognition possibly this could be their time. If only I could work out how to describe their music.

Here we have music that at times is heavily dosed in psychedelia, then at others it is Muse at full blast, then it is space rock, then art, then it is all mixed up so that I have no way at all of working out what to say, but smiling while I'm typing it. If you want keyboards mixed with harmony vocals and lots of clapping then this is the album for you, at least on "Reality Mining". It is progressive in the truest sense of the word, bringing in multiple styles and types of music then mixing them all together in a way that is different and exciting, vibrant and fresh, without ever losing sight of their musical roots.

"Kubrick Moon" has some wonderful guitar (and is that a theremin I hear in the background?) that is delicate and spacey, full of emotion and restraint that also contains a naivety that is quite late 70's indie alternative in many ways, while also containing some Twelfth Night moves to boot! That is one of the joys of this album for me, in that it refuses to conform to any particular genre or sub genre, and instead the band take great delight in just doing whatever they like and if it is enjoyed by others then that is fine, and if no-one gets it then that is fine as well.

This won't be to everyone's tastes, and certainly not to those who say that they enjoy 'progressive' music when they mean 'regressive', but to these ears this is easily the most ambitious album of theirs that I have heard to date, and is well worth discovering. www.kingbathmat.com