SUBURBAN SAVAGES: KORE WA!

Formerly tr-Ond and the Suburban Savages, Kore Wa! shows this Norwegian band refining their sound into great quirky, poppy, sometimes nujazz-feeling prog. The keys to this band seem to be in the quirky synthesizer sounds and styles, exceptional bass play, solid drum play and wide diversity of song presentations (Japanese, English, instrumental, with JAGA JAGGIST, ARTHUR BROWN, Zeuhl, GENTLE GIANT, NEMO, ATOMIC APE, JOE JACKSON just a few of the styles and sounds I hear glimpses of).

1. "Fade Into Obscurity" (5:02) mid-paced jazzy rock closer to JAGA JAZZIST than JOE JACKSON with a first vocalist who sounds like the gentler side of Joe Jackson and a third who sounds like Frank Zappa! An extended albeit simple "saw" synth solo in the middle is backed by cool industrial percussion. The final third is again split between the two vocalists with some poppy "ba-ba" background vocalists. Catchy! (8.5/10) 2. "Pronk" (3:57) again, a kind of pop-Nujazz feel with odd time signatures opens with a long happy intro before some odd harmonized vocals enunciating some words in English very slowly. Creepy synth solo with cool flute runs and trills running around behind is followed by a guitar-led section. It almost sounds like Arthur Brown at the end! (8.5/10)

3. "As I Am Dying" (6:00) the opening sounds not like the Beach Boys, but... the vocal section is almost GENTLE GIANT-ish while the instrumental sections in between are very synth & organ heavy proggy. The background "aahhs" are creepy and almost comical. The song grows on you! Definitely the most proggy song on the album. The second half is great--sounding like something from a NEMO album. One of my top three. (9/10)

4. "Guzarondan" (5:29) another fave--an instrumental with some nice melodies woven together, again in the kind of Nujazz style that JAGA JAZZIST has been using for some time. (9/10)

5. "Von Two" (4:24) another song very much in the JJ Nujazz vein. Well composed and performed with some nice intricacies, nuances, shifts and melodies. The other top three. (9/10)

6. "Kore Wa!" (4:12) opens with the establishment of a rumbling bass riff that repeats pretty much throughout the song. Soon it is joined by drums keys and guitars and spoken lyrics in Japanese! Reminds me of the sci-fi B-movie soundtrack music of American band Atomic Ape! This is awesome. Even has a Zeuhl passage (tongue-in-cheek?) at the end of the third minute and into the fourth. Quite a cool song! Smiles all the way! My favorite song on the album. (9.5/10)

7. "Docteur Mago" (8:44) another excellent instrumental more on the proggy side. Nice changes and solos and precision timing and dynamic shifts. There's even a quiet interlude in the middle! And some more UNIVERSAL TOTEM ORCHESTRA/SHUB-NIGGURATH stuff in the second half. (8.5/10)

4.5 stars, a near masterpiece of progressive rock music.

So what's missing? I'm not sure. Perhaps it's in the repetitive nature of the Nujazz style that I sometimes loose interest. Perhaps it's in the typically restrained and unspectacular (unemotional) soloing from the instrumentalists. The vocals (are they supposed to be tongue-in-cheek/comical) are a real entertainment highlight for me. I wish every song had some.