Klangstorm (London, England) is a British
band with an original and innovative sound. Formed by
visual artists Phil Cervi and Jim Roberts in 1996, the
band has since gone through some changes while releasing
four esoteric and highly interesting studio albums. The
first album, Isiscrisis, is a conceptual piece on
the 1956 Suez Canal Crisis; surprisingly enough, it was
an underground favorite. While Britain doesn’t really
have a jam scene, Klangstorm has emerged as one of the
forerunners of improvised music. The band is presently a
seven-piece with Gid Johnson (guitar), Rob Wood
(guitar), Tim Tolkien (bass, and the great nephew of
the Tolkien), Jim Roberts (drums), Phil Cervi
(analog keys and soundscape construction), Vic Jones
(sax) and Mick Oliver (guerilla poet).
The ensemble
creates a myriad of cinematic soundscapes that have
origins in peculiar places. You can hear searing
acid-rock guitar, hints of the better elements of ‘70s
progressive rock, exotic industrial-type percussion as
well as spoken passages and ambient electronics,
snippets of Frank Zappa-like eccentricities and some
Kraut-rock. Jim Roberts says the band loves the music of
the Grateful Dead and the West Coast but also cites
European electronic outfits Can, Faust and Neu as
influences. In addition to their spacey instrumental
music in concert, he says they incorporate visual
projections as well as choreography to match the
music.
Each of the band’s studio albums contain some
majestic music that’s interactive and improvisational
and shows that these are accomplished players who are
not afraid to experiment. In some ways they bring to
mind early experimental Pink Floyd crossed with Can or
Faust with melodic guitar passages. There’s a strange
juxtaposition of sounds but there’s also a symbiotic
relationship between everything they do - there’s a lot
going on but it doesn’t sound chaotic or
cluttered.
If you enjoy the "space" explorations of
the Grateful Dead, Djam Karet or any of the bands
already mentioned, Klangstorm will provide you with some
satisfying listening. Start with their last studio disc,
2HiTek4LoTek, which includes the exploratory,
18-minute "Piece Of Cake" and the quirky,
Middle-East-meets-electronic grooves of "Gid’s Bazaar."
The band’s CDs are available in the U.S. through
www.eurock.com.
www.klangstorm.com
The John Butler Trio (Melbourne, Australia) is
led by guitarist/songwriter/vocalist John Butler, who
was born in the U.S. and moved with his family to
Australia when he was 10. JBT is already very successful
in Australia, having sold over 70,000 CDs (this equals
platinum in Australia). Butler has a warm, raspy voice
and writes intelligent songs with environmental and
political concerns that are laced with searing slide
guitar work. The trio draws on blues and folk as well as
incorporating more eclectic Indian and other ethnic
flavors. Butler’s guitar work has a distinctive feel
with a sense of openness. It’s more what he doesn’t play
that makes it interesting, but he does like to stretch
things out. For the U.S. market, the band has combined
its mini-album JBT and its latest disc Three,
which provide a good overall picture of what is probably
the best band to come out of Australia in many a year.
Watch for them opening for the likes of Gov’t Mule, the
Dave Matthews Band and others. Highly recommended.
www.Johnbutlertrio.com
Dinosaur Construction Unit (West Palm Beach,
Florida) is an eccentric trio that performs
unpredictable and experimental music. Its sound is much
less structured than the average jamband - kind of
fusion-meets the most experimental areas of progressive
rock, and to this they add jazz and avant-garde;
certainly one for the more adventurous souls out there.
The trio’s latest album is From the Caves Volume
I, a three-track live set. In it DCU push the limits
of the guitar/bass/drums format with some sparkling
improvisations. The first is the 47-minute "First
Improvisation," which is followed by a beautiful version
of Miles Davis’ "Nardis." The closing cut is the
17-and-a-half minute "Second Improvisation."
www.dinosaurconstructionunit.com
Spookie Daly Pride (Boston, Massachusetts):
Supercharged, high energy funk is what this eclectic
quartet delivers, although it goes through its own
musical blender first. Vocalist Spookie has a voice
that’s not a million miles from Dr. John or a more
tuneful Captain Beefheart with a hint of Tom Waits
singing from the bottom of a well. The band’s music is
super-lively, with lots of danceable rhythms and a big,
fat sound. Thundering rhythms are punctuated by soulful
horns and snazzy guitar and keyboard fills, running the
gamut of sounds from Dixieland to big band and from soul
to rock and hip-hop, with a pastiche of European pop and
pre-World War II cabaret. Since forming about two years
ago, SDP has been touring to rave reviews throughout the
country. When the band writes songs, it leaves plenty of
room for improvisation and during a live show, that’s
what the audience gets. On record, they keep it in the
four- to five-minute range; in concert, they’re apt to
go off on some sparkling and unexpected improvisations.
The most pleasing aspect of this band is that they have
a vibrant and energetic sound that really isn’t like
anything else out there. They have one highly
recommended album, Marshmallow Pie, which was
released last year.
www.spookiedalypride.com
Stuffis (Boston, Massachusetts) is a quartet
that with an atypical sound. Twin guitars are propelled
by super funky bass, while songs have a good guttural
groove that’s kept pretty tight. The band shows it has a
sense of humor with its debut album, Call It What You
Want - and most people probably will. It’s a
promising, solid effort without jam-scene improvisations
and it’s decidedly more appealing than what’s termed
"alternative" (actually, just another moniker for
"commercial radio"). The band has good musical chops and
some good songs - not unlike some shorter moe. songs.
Stuffis can be found playing in clubs around Boston as
well as throughout New England.
www.stuffis.com
Hacha (Encino, California) is a hard hitting
four-piece rock band with a bluesy undertone. There’s
nothing modern about the band’s sound yet they drink
from the same musical well as the likes of The Faces and
the Black Crowes with a tad of Gov’t Mule influence. The
band actually formed back in Connecticut in 1997 and
eventually moved to the West Coast where they currently
reside. Their music is simple but energetic and
in-your-face rock that’s laced with some impressive
guitar work. Hacha keeps most of its songs within the
four-minute range but packs a lot of power into them.
The vocals are a little on the raw side but the band has
some memorable songs with strong hooks and guttural
grooves. They have two albums out to date and are
presently working on material for a third disc. Their
self-titled album has some good material, especially the
cacophonous tones of the instrumental "Take A Bow" and
the infectious "What About Bo," which features
impressive guitar work.
www.hacha.net
Ten Ton Chicken (Berkeley, California) is a
funky five-piece jam/improvisational band from the Bay
Area. Like many of their predecessors from the area,
they add a tad of psychedelica to an infectious
jazz-rock sound. The band features bass, guitar, drums,
keyboards and sax. Its recent album, Just Like in the
Old Country, shows much promise. This mostly live
set demonstrates that Ten Ton Chicken can jam with the
best of them, although the vocal cut "Handle" is the
highlight. More vocal cuts would certainly balance out
the sound but nonetheless some of the improvs are quite
superb, in particular the swaggering grooves of "Soup Is
Good Food."
www.tentonchicken.com
Nero (Ottawa, Canada) is a trio that fuses
jazz, improvisational rock and electronica. Since its
inception four years ago it has steadily made a name for
itself playing clubs and festivals throughout Canada
(they’ve also played some U.S. gigs.) David Lauzon is a
guitarist with vision - he wrings some eerie and unusual
tones from his guitar, sometimes flowing and melodic,
other times sonic onslaughts, while the rhythm section
lays down hypnotic, ever-changing grooves. The band has
an interesting studio album available called Is it
Morning, that’s well worth investigating.
www.neroland.com
