A hip friend and music critic recently advised (or demanded) that I check out this very hip and young quintet. Long story short, the band’s latest album will sure be counted among my 2007 top-10 list. Powerful, articulate and teeming with youthful enthusiasm, this album is asymmetrical parts jazz, grunge, jazz-rock and punk. But the predominant component would be progressive-jazz as they stylishly rip through several genres while engineering an inimitable group-focused sound. According to the group’s website, the respective musicians have performed with well-known figures in the jazz, hip-hop and rock spectrum. But like-minded individuals usually generate some magic when aligned.
With a makeup consisting of horns, keys, and the bass-drums element, the band uncannily morphs punchy backbeats with colorific overtones and pesky, soloing spots. They’re a multidimensional unit for sure. And they navigate thru sinuous time signatures with the exactitude of a complex mathematical formula. It’s all energetically executed, where laid-back funk/blues motifs are seamlessly integrated with darting horns choruses, beefy fuzz-bass lines and memorably melodic riffs. At times, trumpeter Shane Endsley and saxophonist Ben Wendel roll of the rhythm section’s variable metrics with a smoothing edge.They project a panorama of scenarios here, as the quintet also injects a textural approach to these largely, up-tempo and pleasantly, in-your-face and ears pieces. But they tone matters down some on the genteel work titled "Of Course," then engage difficult rhythmic metrics via the hornists’ circular passages heard on the following number titled "Finlayson." In other spots, the musicians fuse EFX into their game-plan. And it’s all meaningful and simply adds to the thrust or tonalities of a particular mood or segment. Don’t miss out, folks. This gem is an antidote for those who periodically experience listening fatigue, thanks to a glut of ho-hum recordings emanating from the affordable aspects brought about by the digital age