@@@ Jameszoo: Bugatti (Brainfeeder, 2022) I got to this via last week’s All Music notable release email. The track below is the second on the record and it opens up R2D2 style before bringing in a pounding piano and a flying saxophone. When all the players enter, the drummer last, it’s a rockin’ jazz, proggy thing with as of yet no electronic flavors added. I’m listening to the piano player the most, then the drummer, and the sax player started out but then not much if anything. I thought this was going to be an integrated piece with playing and electronic sounds and there is as there are occasional low frequency blasts, notably at the beginning and the end of the tune. It is slotted as jazz on the Apple Music, so maybe I was a bit putting the electronic before the jazz with my expectations. I’m guessing comfortably that Jameszoo is the keyboard player here as the keys/piano playing is off the hook, mad chops for all to see. One thing I appreciate here is the focus on playing and not on the vibes, it’s not a fusion-y vibed out record, homie can play for real. There are some really engaging passages here while I’m not sure how I feel about the record as a whole.
@@@ Dying Wish: Fragments of a Bitter Memory (Sharptone, 2021) Inspired by yesterday’s discovery of the Pupil Slicer we continue on with the Invisible Oranges top 20 metalcore records of the year, and yowsa this shit is right up in yer face right out of the gate with a buttload of aggression and a little desperation and just a wee pubic hair of sadness in there. The singer is quite mad, screaming his face off, emo style but intertwined with a lot of heavy guitar riffage I’m finding quite interesting all propelled by the drummer who got a Red Bull enema before recording this music. There’s plenty of playing here, spots where the singer sits out and the rest of the band gets to flash their wares and boy they’re super up to the task. I’m just in the third track and there hasn’t been a boring section yet. Slabs of guitar, everything sounds the way you would imagine a drill that puts a major hole in your skull. Have at it ya shittaz!!! This is a circle back blog post where I started something a bit ago and am finishing it up now and I’m checking these guys out again and they have it going on, check them out.
Deep In the Music 