Monthly Archives: April 2018

Dromology

“There is something gloriously primal about this recording, evident from the moment the jagged edges of the otherwise chooglin’ pop moves of spiky album opener Dark Sleep Fortress rip out the speakers and tear at your consciousness. Dromology is an infectious album, and these songs have a pop sensibility married to an experimental ear, akin to the Hatfields jamming with XTC, while Uncle Frank looks on smiling benignly. Dark Sleep Fortress is atypical in its full on attack, the rest of the songs that follow preferring for the most part a less strident approach, although laid back is never a term that would cross my mind in attempting a description of this all-encompassing music. Mind you, for an album opener it does what it should, oh yes!”

The prog archives

http://theprogressiveaspect.net/blog/2017/11/07/inner-ear-brigade-dromology/

http://www.expose.org/index.php/articles/display/inner-ear-bridage-dromology-2.html

You know how some albums take time to grow on you before you appreciate them? This is not one of those albums. I loved it from the first notes that hit my ears. “Dark Sleep Fortress” jumps out with a driving beat, multiple saxophones, and an unpredictable melody sung by Melody Ferris. The music occupies an interesting space somewhere in between modern progressive rock of the post-Porcupine Tree variety or Italian revival and more overtly avant-prog like Thinking Plague. This puts them in a similar territory to Cheer-Accident. Touches of jazz often lead to a Canterbury flavor, with Ferris playing the part of Barbara Gaskin to the band’s National Health. The vocal lines are often acrobatic, and she handles the parts well, barring a few places where she has to jump to an exceptionally high note out of the blue, and it just sounds awkward. Ivor Holloway’s saxes are a big part of the arrangements, and one of the band’s best features. They appear not just providing punchy chords and the occasional solo, but playing countermelodies that weave around the vocal lines to beautiful effect. Trumpet (played by either Theo Padouvas or David Shaff) also features in these arrangements, but the saxes stand out more, as well as getting more solo spots. Bill Wolter’s guitar often takes part in these polyphonic lines, though he does also play chords and riffs at other times. Two keyboard players contribute — Eli Wallace or Andrew Vernon, track depending — with lots of good electric piano parts in evidence. Chris Lauf (drums) and Stephen Wright (bass) provide a supple rhythmic backing, with unobtrusive flourishes that fill in just the right amount without overshadowing everything else. The balance between accessibility and complexity is quite appealing, and the quality of the writing and arrangements should find fans among those who recall Hatfield & the North with fondness but aren’t looking for a slavish rehash.

https://autopoietican.blogspot.com/2018/02/inner-ear-brigade-fuerza-de-aceleracion.html

After all, “Dromology” is a discazo, and this is the fundamental truth of the present review. The people of INNER EAR BRIGADE have left us with a (late) first impression really excellent and it is only fair that we recommend all lovers of avant-garde rock to investigate carefully and studiously in the work being done by these new giants of the avant-garde scene. contemporary progressive. Today, the group has had alignment changes in the vocal department and in the role of keyboard player (with Alison Niedbalski and Andrew Jamieson, respectively), so we will have to see what their future phonographic work holds for us, but with the work that for now we have at our disposal we have an authentic force of acceleration in the musical vanguard of the third millennium.

HOLA, AMIGOS DE AUTOPOIETICAN, LES SALUDA CÉSAR INCA.

En esta ocasión presentamos a la banda estadounidense INNER EAR BRIGADE por motivo de su más reciente disco, el cual se titula “Dromology” y fue publicado en el primer día de octubre del pasado año 2017 por vía del sello italiano AltrOck Records. INNER EAR BRIGADE, banda oriunda de San Francisco, estaba conformada por el guitarrista Bill Wolter, el baterista Chris Lauf, el bajista Stephen Wright, la cantante Melody Ferris, el saxofonista Ivor Holloway y el teclista Eli Wallace cuando hizo este disco. Su línea de trabajo es avant-progresiva en base a una confluencia de rock-in-opposition y jazz-rock. Para algunos temas del disco que estamos comentando ahora, era Andrew Vernon quien se hacía cargo de los teclados, mientras que en todos los temas, el departamento de los vientos se ampliaba con la presencia de un trompetista, ya sea Theo Padouvas, ya David Shaff. También contó el grupo con la colaboración del músico Aharon Wheels Bolsta a la tabla en el quinto tema del disco. Wolter se hace cargo de las composiciones casi íntegramente, aunque también la cantante Ferris ha colaborado en la letra de una de las canciones del disco que tenemos en nuestras manos. El grupo debutó fonográficamente en el año 2005 con un EP homónimo, pero fue su primer disco de larga duración Rainbro, que data de fines del año 2011, el que hizo que el grupo obtuviera bastante atención en las redes de difusión del rock experimental y el jazz de vanguardia, por lo que las expectativas relativas a este nuevo disco de seis años después eran bastante altas… ¡y es un hecho que la gente de INNER EAR BRIGADE cumplió con creces! Bueno, veamos ahora de qué va cada tema individual incluido en “Dromology”.

This time we present the American band INNER EAR BRIGADE for their latest album, which is titled “Dromology” and was published on the first day of October of last year 2017 through the Italian label AltrOck Records. INNER EAR BRIGADE, a band from San Francisco, was made up of guitarist Bill Wolter, drummer Chris Lauf, bassist Stephen Wright, singer Melody Ferris, saxophonist Ivor Holloway and keyboardist Eli Wallace when he made this record. His line of work is avant-progressive based on a confluence of rock-in-opposition and jazz-rock. For some of the tracks on the album that we are commenting now, it was Andrew Vernon who took charge of the keyboards, while in all the themes, the wind department was expanded with the presence of a trumpet player, either Theo Padouvas, and David Shaff . He also told the group with the collaboration of musician Aharon Wheels Bolsta to the table in the fifth track of the album. Wolter takes charge of the compositions almost entirely, although the singer Ferris has also collaborated on the lyrics of one of the songs on the album that we have in our hands. The group debuted phonographically in 2005 with a self-titled EP, but it was their first full-length album, Rainbro, which dates back to the end of 2011, which made the group get a lot of attention in the experimental rock broadcasting networks and the avant-garde jazz, so the expectations of this new record six years later were quite high … and it is a fact that the people of INNER EAR BRIGADE fulfilled! Well, let’s see now what each individual topic included in “Dromology” is about.

El poderoso tema ‘Dark Sleep Fortress’ se hace cargo de abrir el repertorio haciendo uso de una energía expresiva muy peculiar. Desde el punto de arranque se nota que la dinámica compartida  entre los guitarreos y el crucial swing sincopado armado por la dupla rítmica predispone a esta pieza de apertura a ostentar una espiritualidad tan señorial como adusta. El canto de Ferris, a despecho de su nervio vitalista, aporta algo de efectivo lirismo al asunto mientras que los ornatos de los metales completan el groove general del bloque instrumental con neurótica elegancia. Muy bien se puede describir a esta pieza como una huella  del eslabón perdido entre los ART BEARS y los BENT KNEE con algunos artilugios añadidos desde el paradigma de los GUTBUCKET. Recogiendo la cosecha de la pieza de apertura y dándole mayores recursos de sofisticación musical, ‘Black And White Taste’ opera como una eficaz muestra del modo en que el ensamble elabora y gestiona contrastes entre pasajes ágiles y otros más mesurados, a la par que conserva una vitalidad cohesiva e irrebatible. Una mención especial debe ir para el solo de trompeta: sus nerviosos centelleos reflejan parte de las dimensiones más oscuras del espíritu humano sobre un ágil groove marcado por la más motivadora extroversión. La secuencia de estos dos primeros temas del disco es una vía de ascensión hacia el tercero, ‘Shaman Coin Toss’, el cual lleva la dinámica habitual del grupo hacia un nuevo nivel de frenesí expresionista: parte de este truco es el empleo de algunos esquemas rítmicos genuinamente viscerales, en cercano parentesco con lo que hacen los italianos de R-11 y los británicos de LED BIB. A mitad de camino hay un interludio sereno que permite al bloque instrumental asumir un garbo calmado antes de volver al motif central: durante ese interludio, la guitarra explora unos matices muy interesantes que bordean claramente al modelo del space-rock. Tenemos aquí un primer cénit definitorio del repertorio. ‘Bobotut’ está a cargo de aportar una cuota de jovial gracilidad desde la cual se puede aliviar cualquier cuota de tensión expresiva que ha brotado en la ilación de las tres piezas precedentes.

The powerful song ‘Dark Sleep Fortress’ is in charge of opening the repertoire using a very peculiar expressive energy. From the starting point, we can see that the shared dynamics between the guitars and the crucial syncopated swing armed by the rhythmic pair predisposes this piece of openness to show a spirituality as stately as it is dour. The song of Ferris, in spite of its vitalist nerve, brings something of effective lyricism to the subject while the ornaments of the metals complete the general groove of the instrumental block with neurotic elegance. Very well you can describe this piece as a trace of the missing link between ART BEARS and BENT KNEE with some gadgets added from the paradigm of the GUTBUCKET. Picking up the harvest of the opening piece and giving it greater resources of musical sophistication, ‘Black And White Taste’ operates as an effective example of the way the ensemble elaborates and manages contrasts between agile passages and other more measured passages, while preserving a cohesive and irrefutable vitality. A special mention must go to the trumpet solo: its nervous twinkles reflect part of the darkest dimensions of the human spirit on a nimble groove marked by the most motivating extroversion. The sequence of these two first tracks of the album is a way of ascension towards the third, ‘Shaman Coin Toss’, which takes the group’s usual dynamics towards a new level of expressionist frenzy: part of this trick is the use of some schemes genuinely visceral rhythms, in close kinship with what the Italians of R-11 and the British of LED BIB do. Halfway there is a serene interlude that allows the instrumental block to assume a calm panache before returning to the central motif: during that interlude, the guitar explores some very interesting nuances that clearly border the space-rock model. We have here a first defining zenith of the repertoire. ‘Bobotut’ is in charge of contributing a share of jovial gracility from which any quota of expressive tension that has sprung up in the movement of the three preceding pieces can be alleviated.

Durando casi 9 minutos, la quinta pieza del álbum es la que justamente da título a éste y la más  larga. ‘Dromology’ se caracteriza en buena medida en seguir por el sendero de mágica gracilidad de la pieza inmediatamente anterior, pero esta vez la reviste con una aureola de majestuosa prestancia y sofisticada fastuosidad, siendo así que este último factor acerca a esta canción a muchas de las estrategias sonoras empleadas en las dos primeras piezas del álbum. Algunos elementos Crimsonianos emanan de algunas  secciones de la guitarra. Otro cénit decisivo del álbum, y de hecho, funciona con perfecta eficacia como una sesuda síntesis de la mayoría de recursos y atmósferas que signaron a la mayoría de las composiciones precedentes. Nos acercamos al final del disco cuando llega el turno del instrumental ‘Targa Floria’, cuya ambientación general se proyecta hacia una especie de luminoso jolgorio suavemente alimentado con algunos matices dadaístas. En fin, las cosas llegan al cierre con ‘Birdie In The Wall’, canción de eminente tenor jazz-rockero y con una bien definida estructura, en cierto sentido «convencional». El solo de saxo que entra a tallar a mitad de camino es tal vez el más bello de todo el disco, dueño como es  de una lírica agilidad que lo hace irresistible para el oyente empático. El groove de ‘Birdie In The Wall’ es liviano y contagioso pero el carácter general del desarrollo melódico y del canto es claramente melancólico; además, el aire Crimsoniano – otra vez – de ciertos guitarreos ayuda a reforzar el aura inescrutable que también existe en esta canción. Teniendo en cuenta el carácter pausado de los últimos segundo, ¿será tal vez un poco anticlimático poner a esta canción al final del disco tras el esplendor masivo de ‘Dromology’ y el fulgor alegre de ‘Targa Floria’? Probablemente sí, pero es así como el grupo quiso que terminaran las cosas, con un talante más sereno envuelto con un suave aire misterioso.

Lasting almost 9 minutes, the fifth piece of the album is the one that rightly gives title to this one and the longest one. ‘Dromology’ is largely characterized by following the path of magical grace of the immediately preceding piece, but this time it has an aura of majestic elegance and sophisticated lavishness, and this last factor brings this song closer to many of the sound strategies used in the first two pieces of the album. Some Crimsonian elements emanate from some sections of the guitar. Another decisive zenith of the album, and in fact, works with perfect efficiency as a sound synthesis of the majority of resources and atmospheres that marked most of the preceding compositions. We are approaching the end of the album when it is the turn of the instrumental ‘Targa Floria’, whose general setting is projected towards a kind of luminous revelry gently fed with some Dadaist overtones. Finally, things come to a close with ‘Birdie In The Wall’, an eminent tenor jazz-rock song with a well-defined structure, in a certain “conventional” sense. The solo saxophone that enters to carve halfway is perhaps the most beautiful of the whole album, owner as it is of a lyrical agility that makes it irresistible for the empathic listener. The groove of ‘Birdie In The Wall’ is light and contagious but the general character of melodic development and singing is clearly melancholic; In addition, the Crimsonian air – again – of certain guitars helps reinforce the inscrutable aura that also exists in this song. Considering the paused character of the last few seconds, is it perhaps a little anticlimactic to put this song at the end of the album after the massive splendor of ‘Dromology’ and the cheerful glow of ‘Targa Floria’? Probably yes, but that is how the group wanted things to end, with a more serene mood wrapped with a soft mysterious air.

A fin de cuentas, “Dromology” es un discazo, y ésta es la verdad fundamental de la presente reseña. La gente de INNER EAR BRIGADE nos ha dejado una (tardía) primera impresión realmente excelente y es de justicia que recomendemos a todos los amantes del rock de vanguardia que investiguen minuciosa y sesudamente en la obra que vienen realizando estos nuevos gigantes de la escena avant-progresiva contemporánea. Hoy por hoy, el grupo ha tenido cambios de alineación en el departamento vocal y en el rol de teclista (con Alison Niedbalski y Andrew Jamieson, respectivamente), por lo que habrá que ver qué nos depara su eventual obra fonográfica futura, pero con la obra que por ahora tenemos a nuestra disposición disponemos de una auténtica fuerza de aceleración en la vanguardia musical del tercer milenio.

After all, “Dromology” is a discazo, and this is the fundamental truth of the present review. The people of INNER EAR BRIGADE have left us with a (late) first impression really excellent and it is only fair that we recommend all lovers of avant-garde rock to investigate carefully and studiously in the work being done by these new giants of the avant-garde scene. contemporary progressive. Today, the group has had alignment changes in the vocal department and in the role of keyboard player (with Alison Niedbalski and Andrew Jamieson, respectively), so we will have to see what their future phonographic work holds for us, but with the work that for now we have at our disposal we have an authentic force of acceleration in the musical vanguard of the third millennium.