This is instrumental music that borders between progressive rock and jazz. Nothing here really stands out as better than anything else, but it never feels redundant or samey. This music is not for everyone, but it’s quite cool.
This review is available in book format (hardcover and paperback) in Music Street Journal: 2011 Volume 6 at lulu.com/strangesound.
Track by Track Review
Partie XV
There’s a cool rock groove to this, but it’s built on serious jazz. It’s doesn’t wander far, but it’s very tasty.
Partie V This comes in more tentatively with weirder jazz and space rock textures creating a strange ambient element. It never really grows very far, staying in this mellower motif.
Partie XVIII Science fiction elements meet a rock groove and jazz overlayers on this killer piece. It’s a little weird, but also quite entertaining. Around the two and a half minute mark they take it into more melodic and electronic prog directions to great effect. The horns take it back to the jazzier sounds, but it seems to alternate between the more jazz and more prog sections. This is a lot longer than the previous pieces.
Partie VI They bring this one in with a rather ominous and somewhat weird musical tone. It powers out from there in some cool jazz stylings. By about the three minute mark they work it into some of the coolest and most energized jamming of the whole set.
Partie XVI This is slower and has a bit of Dixieland built into it, along with the more rock oriented fusion sounds. It works to a little bit of space to end.
Sans Papiers There’s all most a school band kind of texture to this number. It’s cool, but not as potent as the previous pieces. It gets somewhat better later, but still has an air of “not quite right” about it. It’s the first of two bonus tracks.
Clementine Feeling a bit more mysterious, this (the final track and final bonus track) one oozes cool, but is also a little strange. It’s a step up from the last number. There’s a bit of world music later in the piece, but overall it remains pretty constant.
