Here’s a band that tries to mix various parts of funk, jazz and soul into one big BBQ sauce of a disc. Some of it works excitedly, some of it comes off as a jam band that doesn’t know when to end a tune. Of the former, the take of James Brown’s “Cold Sweat” has a hot New Orleanish feel like “Tipitina” with soulful voices veering around Lewis Flip Barnes’ trumpet. A latin drum groove allows the husky voice of Lisala” to deliver mystery and intrigue on “”I’ve Seen That Face Before” and before you know it, you get some other worldly chanting by Abby Dobson and Rene Akan on “Burning Crosses” and asoft spoken poem on ”The Guru’s Love,” segueing into a tribal feel of horns and percussion on the trance like “Claudine.” After that, material such as “Bliques Haff Moor Funn” (with Vijay Iyer’s piano) and the angry and aggressive “Whut Rough Beast?’ provide cataclysmic saxes and guitars that descend into a hard rock abyss. Funky grooves on “Blique Strategems” and Eno-inspired electronic noodles dominate “Throne of Blood 33 1/3” making the album listener wonder if there is one, two or three bands that got together here, as the atmospheres are as different on various songs as party hopping on New Years Eve.
Avantgroidd Music