ADOPT A MONKEY

I love reviewing albums from bands from places that are not actually known for making progressive rock. One of them is Iceland, a country with an iconic electronic-pop singer/musician, but a country with not so renowned but great acts such as Caterpillarmen. If you are curious enough, I invite you to get their albums via Bandcamp, in the pay what you want mode. That's how I got this one, which is their debut album released in 2010 and entitled "Adopt a Monkey", which consists of six compositions that make a total time of 38 minutes.

This band delights us since their first track, with the curious title of "Sexy Shit in my Brain but Piss in my Ass". The music borders in the RIO, avant-garde with some rock and even symphonic elements, and with an inherent ironic, yet funny sound in some moments. I like the raw, strong sound of the bass and how it is accompanied by a softer keyboard scheme; the vocals also play an important role here.

"Ode to Aleister Crowley" starts soft with a gentle and friendly keyboard sound, later it makes an explosion and a new structure is being built. The keyboards don't disappear, and now they are complemented by drums, bass and vocals. After three minutes there is a change, a moment of thinking, a passage of suspense.

"Noe the Man Can Can Can't Not Cat" starts with only a guitar playing repetitive notes, later bass and drums join. The music reminds me of Gentle Giant in moments, later with the vocals I cannot help but thinking of the early Pink Floyd, in the Barrett era. This song is nice overall, however I feel there are some weaker moments where I lost interest a little bit, in the final minute it returns to its best form, and finishes like that.

"Cloverhead" starts with a bass, later vocals and keyboard create that funny and ironic sound (here is where I answer Zappa, does humor belong in music? Yes) The symphonic sound is evident here due to the keyboards, in moments reminding me of some of those 90s-00s Nordic bands.

"Idle Hands / Monkey See Monkey Do" is the longest track here with 11 minutes length. The first two minutes have vocals, a slow rhythm with nice drums and strings. Later there is a minute of silence, and then little by little new elements are added by keyboards, creating a brief spacey moment. After four minutes the best part arrives when a chaotic, fast and explosive symphonic-RIO sound is implemented, this brief moment might actually be my favorite from the whole album. Later the song continues, with different mini-passages and an attractive structure. The last track is "End Now", just a 40-second intense piece with a repetitive rhythm and nice sudden changes.

A nice debut from these Icelandic men, though it is not a truly memorable album (sorry if I am being harsh) it is good without a doubt, so as I mentioned earlier, if you can, go to their site and get their music. My final grade will be three stars.

Enjoy it!

Another one of these recent Icelandic entries, this quartet was formed in late-2008 in Reykjavik by brothers Isak Orn Gudmundsson (guitar) and Ingimundur Gudmundsson (keyboards) and drummer Andri Porhallson, while searching for a musically progressive direction (all played in a Blues Rock band), when they recruited bassist Zakarias Herman Gunnarsson.The following year they came up with the debut album ''Adopt a monkey'' on the local Brak Hljomplotur label.

The band cites Yes, King Crimson, Gentle Giant, Giraffes and The Battles as main sources of inspiration and all facts indicate to a sound close to the Classic Prog Rock lines.Basically things are so, it's just that Caterpillarmen sometimes show some emphasis on the looser side of Prog Rock, in that sense their music appears to have a slight jazzy feel, but the basic leading forces are all those vintage references, adding some strong psychedelic essence in the process.Hammond organ is ised in heavy proportions, vocals come mostly in a sweet/sarcastic British/Canterbury style and guitars/bass are certainly having a powerul KING CRIMSON vibe with complex tricks and the throbbing, monster bass sound often covering the whole band.Their style is very quirky with unusual structures and tempo variations, while the more atmospheric passages are definitely pretty dark with an ANEKDOTEN-like similarity.Long instrumental segments with a jamming approach, experimental echoes and pounding work on guitar and organ, propelled by the love for odd time signatures and neurotic executions.Vocals actually are used only sporadically, the focus here is on intense, 70's-flavored prog instrumentals with discreet jazzy and Fusion influences and a slightly heavier sound than the average prog fan is used to.

Would even call this Retro Prog at some point, but the production is pretty modern and the overall feeling comes closer to Anekdoten than 70's-King Crimson.Nonetheless this is a pretty cool work of complicated prog tricks with a nostalgic aura, warmly recommended indeed.