VON FRICKLE

This is a delightful and intriguing collection of songs. The zaniest Zappa instrumentals seem to have an influence ; as well as a nod to King Crimson, Oingo Boingo, and Led Bib. The song "miles" showcases the incredible bass playing of Dan Myer and the drummer John Ganser wailing feeding the organic computer is a prog masterpiece. This song has a Primus type bass line ; spacey horn solos ; and atmospheric echoes of space. In the last third of the song the band shifts direction and slows down into a jazzy interlude replete with theremin and cascading rhythms.

I first came across this band at a prog festival called Prog in the Park in Rochester, NY. A couple of years later I saw them at the annual outdoor progressive rock festival called Progday located in Chapel Hill North Carolina. Obviously because of Covid it was held remotely last year but at least they still technically had it. Von Frickle played at one of the last times I went back in the 2000's. One thing that makes them stand apart from other bands is the fact that they dress in all white uniforms that hide their faces. I don't know for sure but I believe the reason they do this is so that people focus on the music and not the way the musicians look. I believe the Residents may have been anonymous for the same reason although I don't know this for sure.

This album(cd)was sent to me by someone from the Chicago area(where the band are from) who unfortunately passed away not too long ago. The music is entirely instrumental but with the way they play you really don't miss the vocals. Sometimes instrumental music can be boring. That's not the case with Von Frickle.

Although they aren't listed in the cd booklet the tracks are mostly mid length (5-8 minutes or so)and are mostly centered around the guitar. There is synthesizer and guitar synthesizer credited but the instrument that seems to stand out is the guitar. For the first few tracks there doesn't seem to be much in the way of guitar solos. However, a few good ones do show up a bit later on. Also, while keyboards do surface from time to time they are used mostly for texture and are usually somewhat in the background. Also, there are no really overly elaborate musical structures. Instead you get solid and often intense riff driven melodic progressive rock that is well done and fun to listen to. If you are a fan of Djam Karet or the instrumental tracks of later King Crimson then this may be up your alley.

Despite their brief time in the prog spotlight this band is unfortunately largely forgotten these days. That's a shame because they were very good at what they did. While I can't speak for their other releases this is a great album of purely instrumental progressive rock. Unfortunately, this one might be pretty tough to find. Some of their other albums are on amazon but you might have to do a lot of digging to find this one which is a shame. It's also too bad that this was their last album(over ten years ago now) but at least they went out with a bang.