VÈCI

Another lovley obscurity that I digged up during my venture into RIO/Avant-Prog music!

Combo FH (shortened from Combo Franty Hromady) plays a very unusal and eclectic style of music, toying with the avantgarde with a Canterburian approach. Traces of folk and classical can be heard as well, mostly because of the slightly chamber oriented instrumentation, including bassoon and violin. But if I shall compare this band to other RIO bands/artists, I would say Begnagrad, Samla Mammas Manna, Frank Zappa and Albert Marcoeur would come close, with similar humoristic and absurd elements in the music, and their own unique take on experimentation. A very notable thing with this band is their VERY unorthodox use of "percussions" inclluding scissors, bicycle pumps, clocks, and carpets to spice up the music from time to time. It works incredibly well. The music is very lighthearted, with a very gentle use of dissonance, but still maintaining a very odd and RIO-ish approach, done in a way that surely would make RIO fans drool. The arrangements are fairly complex, not unlike Henry Cow, and are mostly written by leader/keyboardist Daniel Fikejz who stands out as one of the most interesting composers I've heard recently. He's also a very established name in the Czech Jazz and movie score scene. The rest of the band shines as well, and I really admire the music and instrumentation very much!

To quote their Last.fm bio, 'the band were purely a part-time activity, all the while the band members kept their day jobs as everything from academic mathematicians and computer programmers to waiters and janitors'. Makes me think how their other albums would be if they released more of this kind, hehe. Anyways, this is a very unique, interesting and fun album that really should be heard. 4.5/5.