Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Track Reviews: Medeski Martin and Wood, John Ellis, JFJO, and more

OK, well besides having a nice long title, this post will be some reviews of seperate tracks I recently purchased.

First off will be John Ellis and Double Wide's "Dream Mosh" from Dance Like There's No Tomorrow

John Ellis - Dance Like There's No Tomorrow - Dream & Mosh This track has some great haunting melody and harmonies that for some reason remind me a bit of Weather Report. Right at the beginning there's a evil riff over a heavy beat, then when Ellis comes in on sax, the whole thing reverts to the main groove, the drummer taking over a quiet but driving and fast beat. Matt Perine's sousaphone takes over the bassline which fits very nicely with the haunting in/out chords on organ played by Gary Versace. Overall, it's great instrumentation and even better playing and writing.

"Uninvisible"- Medeski, Martin, and Wood Medeski, Martin & Wood - Uninvisible - Uninvisible Echo-y horns and ambient noise are taken over after 5 seconds by a synth bass bassline which soon after leads into the song, where Medeski immediatley takes the "melody" (if you can define one throughout the song). After a minute, we get intervention from some funky horn playing, then back to the organ solo. By the end of the song, all that's left is that ambient noise and the horns.

"I Wanna Ride You"- Medeski, Martin, and Wood Medeski, Martin & Wood - Uninvisible - I Wanna Ride You After a bluesy keyboard solo (with just a hint of pitch bend at the end), we get into the groove which is unrelentingly funky. The whole song finds it's way back to the chorus every once in a while which is a great riff and the constantly descending bassline makes it all the funkier. In fact, this is like Jazz-Based Sampledelic Groove Funk without the samples.

And finally...

"Fables of Faubus" by Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey. Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey - The Sameness of Difference - Fables of Faubus This is one of my favorite songs, and one of my favorite versions of the song. Living up to their usual antics, strangeness, and experimentation, JFJO sneaks it's way through the song. Expect half-time, hillbilly cartoon riffs, and what not.


Alritey then. Have a great day, and maybe I'll show up again later!

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