You know a band can be labeled “progressive” when two of the three members have to create their own custom instruments in order to play their music.
Such is the case of Stick Men, with King Crimson alumnus Tony Levin picking away on his custom 12 string Chapman Stick, Markus Reuter tapping and strumming his Touch Guitar and a airline pilot collection of foot pedals and buttons supported by the avalanche of drums propelled by fellow Crimsonite Pat Mastelotto. The 75 minute set, featuring a hefty dose of material from their most recent release Umeda, seemed not only like the baton has been passed on by Robert Fripp, but these three gents make the harmonies, textures and complexities of Crimson almost quaint and stately in comparison.
Original material such as “Prog Noir” and “Ring Tone” featured searing guitar work by Reuter, creating sinewy and serpentine lines around Mastelotto’s thunderous riding of the whip, with dark and spacious textures swirling around, all coaxed on by Levin’s intricate bass lines. Levin and Mastelotto dug in deep for the metallic ricochet of “Cusp” while Levin’s fingers danced along the strings of the dark and gloomy boogie of “Schattenhaft”, caressing the stick’s neck like a Swedish masseuse. Joking that “this is the song all you musicians in the audience have come for,” Reuter and company riffed through fiendishly tricky time signatures and sharp hairpin turns on “Breathless” , with each member playing different time signatures on “Danger in the Workplace”. Listening to the music was akin to watching cars going through a 4 exit roundabout in different directions. WHEW!
As to revisits to the Court of the Crimson King, Reuter conjured up a metallically caromed “Red” underscored by Mastelotto’s deep rivulet, “Industry” included ethereal synth scapes (“just who is making which sound?!?) and the closing “Talking Drums” and “Larks Tongues in Aspic, Pt II” was a mix of the chariot scene in Ben Hur and more angles than a three dimensional parallelepiped. Just when 21st Century ears were accustomed to King Crimson, Stick Men came to the Baked Potato to throw down the gauntlet as if to say “You ain’t heard nuthin’ yet”. My ears are still trying to catch up!!
Upcoming shows at The Baked Potato include The Webb All Stars 02/23-24, Rafael Moreira 03/01, Bob Reynolds 03/02 and Thom Rotella 4tet 03/04