NICK PROL AND THE PROLETARIANS

Yes indeed, PROL & THE PROLETS deliver some of the craziest modern zany music that is both highly complex and yet instantly catchy when you hear it yet the melodies are so abstract and obtuse that they don't make good ear worms. My kinda musical freakery for sure! A veritable mix of King Crimson guitar dissonance missed with indie rock ethos, indie pop hooks, Swancore staccato sweeps and math rock jittery riffing sessions, AN ERSTWISLE APLPHABESTIARY is the musical soundtrack to the imaginary world of ERSTWISLE which apparently is the surrealist's paradise that those of us demented enough to appreciate will visit after we pass from this Earthly realm. This is a nerdy concept album all the way complete with an accompanying guide that depicts the various creatures experienced and the overall feel when you're in this alternate reality.

What's that thing on the cover? What looks like an innocent piece of art made from ginger makes more sense when you watch the video for "Filnosses" which makes it clear it's some kind of nose that walks like a T-rex. Hey, this is crazy prog so anything goes! That's pretty much the attitude of NICK and company throughout ERSTWISLE as the music is just as wild as the imaginary creatures that populate this fictitious fantasy world. The album is actually quite outstanding with a guest list of heavy hitters in the world of avant-prog and experimental rock. Dave Newhouse of The Muffins and Manna/Mirage joins in on horns. Guitarist Mohadev from Stop Motion Orchestra. Bassist Oliver Cambell of The Mercury Tree. Trombonist Jerry King of Cloud Over Jupiter and none other than Thinking Plague's Bob Drake providing the introductory and exiting narrations (and others!). Also finding some brief narration duties is Thymme Jones from Cheer Accident.

Musically speaking this really is like entering the bestiary and it's been a good thing that i've waited so long to review this as it has taken a few years for this one to really sink in on the levels intended. Upon first exposure this will come off as some sort of silly indie rock meets avant-prog with a few punk and near metal moments. The Frank Zappa aspects of the first album are still in modus operandi but the album has a more cohesive feel despite the 14 tracks of nearly 44 minutes playing time showcasing many diverse elements. The core of the real band is NICK PROL on vocals and guitar, Ben Spees on bass and synth and Connor Reilly on drums therefore the indie rock aspects are ubiquitous throughout the album however each track adopts all kinds of clever ways to express the basic power trio indie rock scenario. Other than that pretty much anything goes except that basically pop hooks at least establish themselves before going for the avant-garde jugular.

PROL demonstrates some stellar math rock guitar moves with some hammer-on antics while the bass, drums and guest musicians provide off-kilter counterpoints that often crescendo in utter chaos. The album is a wild ride and evokes every bit of a fantasy world that it represents. One word sums it up and that is quirky. While the weirdness factor is turned up 11, the tracks are actually very logical in construct and the band focused on excellent melodic chord progressions that offer the weirdness through varying deviances from the established norm. The album is as hilarious as it is serious and reminds me of some of the 70s Canterbury whimsey but of course the zany world of Frank Zappa comes most to mind only the music is set to the various 21st musical styles that have become en vogue long after Mr Zappa's initial reign.

This is an utterly brilliant album that has moved from a 4 star pleasant curiosity to a full-fledged masterpiece over the last few years because now it's one of those albums i can listen to over and over and even twice in a row and never grow tired of. It's pretty cool that the band adopts so many styles and hints at so many influences yet remains firmly dozens of steps away in the musical playground of their making. This is the stuff avant-prog dreams are made of! While the nerdy über-angularities that one would experience in bands like Present or Yugen are tamped down in favor of more accessible elements, the juxtaposition of the contrasts is what makes this one so addictive. Also you will notice that the tracks beginning with the third track "Apropods" follow alphabetically and each track describes some imaginary beast. A brilliant idea and so prog!

The album is amazing in how many guitar styles, bass grooves, drumming patterns and diversity the basic trio provides with all the extra guest musicians simply providing icing for an already delectable cake. The songwriting is not on unique but utterly infectious but then delivers heavy doses of psychedelia and prog complexities to keep you coming back for more! This is an instantly lovable album but in order to access the true charm just like the forbidden fantastical world of ERSTWISLE, you must let this percolate into your conciseness over a period of time and repeated listening. Think early Ween meets Univers Zero, the Mothers of Invention and Thank You! Scientist and you're getting close! This was definitely a grower but ultimately has become an all-time favorite on my outside weirdo music list. Definitely one for the adventurous thrill-seekers looking for something unique and dynamic. Totally recommended!

Finally the music is mirroring inspiration and joy of playing definitely. All this is kept on an album consisting of 14 relatively tight compositions, brimful of ideas, while obviously having the focus on multiple guitar wizzardness. This comes just like a wonderfully coloured puzzle, set together by Nick Prol utilizing a bunch of little quirky pieces. Occasionally some jazzy appeal is available due to the use of wind instruments. And diverse samples are incorporated. Foreword By The Author reminds me of some Welsh (Man) guitars coming to the fore. Loshnongs - the best remains for the final. An extraordinary tune offering a forward-looking message at the end. 'Book One' is a great album, almost overwhelming, nothing wrong here. The next is already in the print house, I assume.

Background check first. NICK PROL currently resides in Tucson, Arizona but originates from Maryland, the state where he pays homage on this album's final track "O Merry Land." NICK has been inspired by many an artist from the way back machine but found the most love in the world of the RIO / avant-prog camp with bands like Cardiacs, Henry Cow and Frank Zappa topping the list. Having crafted a wily batch of demos for further development, NICK got the wild idea to reach out to some of his favorite musicians in the biz and politely asked them to record various tracks for his debut album LOON ATTIC. To NICK's surprise the various members accepted the challenge and thus NICK PROL & THE PROLETARIANS was born!

NICK's musical tastes cast a wide net and the various lineups on LOON ATTIC reflect that quite well. Of the 23 tracks included each has a completely different array of musicians adding their personal stamp and thus LOON ATTIC has an extremely eclectic feel as it mutates from one track to another. The core band known as THE PROLETARIANS consists of NICK PROL (vocals, guitar, compositions), Ben Spees (bass and plays in The Mercury Tree), Connor Reilly (drums and also plays in The Mercury Tree) and Dave Newhouse (woodwinds and plays with The Muffins) and some of the many guests involve include:

-Charlie Cawood of "Knifeworld" played bass on Carvings On the Wall. -Moe Staiano of "Sleepytime Gorilla Museum" played misc. percussion on multiple tracks. -Dave Willey of "Thinking Plague" and "Hamster Theater" played accordion on 8th Wonder. -Paul Sears of "The Muffins" played drums on 8th Wonder. -Mohadev of "Stop Motion Orchestra" played guitar solos on multiple songs. - Thymme Jones of "Cheer-Accident" played drums, trumpet, and moog on Shiny and Round. -Bob Drake of "5uus/Thinking Plague/Solo work" sang (and spoke) on Box of Flies. -Matt Lebofsky of "Secret Chiefs 3" provided keyboards on multiple tracks. - Gavin Wallace-Ailsworth of "Bent Knee" played drums on Another Groan -Rob Crow of "Pinback/Heavy Vegetable/Thingy/etc" sang and played guitar on Beekeeper's Suit. -R. Stevie Moore of DIY pop music fame sang, played guitar, drummed, and added the sad pitiful trumpet to Beekeeper's Suit. All guests are listed for each track on the Bandcamp page.

LOON ATTIC isn't just a random album of scattered ideas floating around but as PROL himself describes it: "The album's concept was a cabinet of curiosities of sorts, with songs about old, strange, broken things. It was also inspired by the film "The Hourglass Sanatorium" by Wojciech Has." If you're not in the know, that film follows a young Jewish man who visits his father in a mystical sanatorium where time does not behave normally. It won the Jury Prize at the 1973 Cannes Film Festival. So how's that for a concept? Weirdness awaits! Despite the wacky concepts and the avant-garde inspirations, LOON ATTIC is a fairly accessible listening experience by typical RIO / avant-prog standards as it also incorporates ample servings of progressive pop elements to make it all so addictively accessible. Detectable influences include XTC, Prefab Sprout, Brian Eno, Sparks and even The Beach Boys! The style has been self-described as Pop In Opposition!

Despite 23 tracks on board of this wild roller coast ride, LOON ATTIC just misses the 50 minute playing time and most tracks hover around the 2 minute mark. Only "Carvings On The Wall" and "Beekeeper's Suit" exceed the 4 minute mark and then just barely. Musically LOON ATTIC is an excellent mix of jittery angular avant-prog but smoothed out with the quirky pop characteristics of 70s Brian Eno's art pop phase and the zolo quirkiness of 70s Sparks. With a veritable mix of modern avant-prog talent joining in, each guest musician brings their own idiosyncratic playing style to the work table but yet somehow despite all odds, LOON ATTIC comes off as a fairly linear albeit jittery quirked filled run from beginning to end. While the album ranges from off-kilter avant-pop to over- the-top RIO dipping into Henry Cow territory along with Zappa-esque silliness and psychedelic cuddliness, the wacky yet strange album never strays into the chaosphere or too far from the gravitational pull of emotional connections.

Generally speaking, the tracks all have an indie pop / rock sort of vocal delivery with dissonant guitar chords / riffs and although steeped in pop hooks still retain that good old-fashioned avant-prog feel with quirky stop / start time signatures and hairpin turns into strangeness. Certain tracks like "It Bodes Well" even dive into metal territory for brief moments but overall the album has a rather jocular circus vibe to it despite not exuding circus music per se. When all is said and done, NICK PROL & THE PROLETARIANS deliver a solid album of wickedly wild avant-pop laced with progressive rock and indie rock sensibilities. Dripping with humorous touches and esoteric references, LOON ATTIC can be entertaining as a light-hearted no nonsense listening experience or taken on a deeper level if you want to find hidden meanings in all these tracks and lyrics. I prefer the former! Definitely for fans of Cardiacs and Bungle related projects but will certainly appeal to the Zappa crowds as well.

A huge part of the pleasure here is the excellent musicianship. A quick look at the personnel involved in this project may very well reveal some familiar names from other notable projects. The roll call alone would be enough to whet my appetite. Another is the adventurous recording and mixing, by main collaborators, bassist Ben Spees and Ian Beabout.

The playing is nonetheless loose enough to veer off into accident, or apparent accident. The ghost of Trout Mask Replica seems to haunt several pieces, and there's a real RIO-improvisational feel about some parts. As for the actual songs, just when some notion that a genre has begun to be expressed (even if ironically), completely new figures are likely to invade the ground, sometimes like jesting streakers, sometimes like viking hoards.

At these moments, the sense that 'the wheels will fall off at any moment' comes urgently, channeling the spirit of Bob Drake who even makes a kind of hallucinatory cameo at one point. I'd like to say "he was there in person" but the sound space at that moment is so outlandish that it would be impossible to say quite where "there" might be.

And then before the inevitable breakdown or runaway happens it's over, and we pass on to the next exhibit in this bewlidering cabinet of curiosities... or what is it? A menagerie? A pick-n-mix counter of thorned fruit? A frieze of grotesques? A garden of heterogeneous vignettes? What else to call it but a "Loon Attic"!

There's a lot of humour in this set. Nobody could accuse the Proletarians of taking themselves too seriously. And amongst all of the zany racket, are a good handful of really great new-wave type art-rock songs, with flavours of 10cc, XTC, Cardiacs, and many others. Some of these are as beautifully melodic as the best work by those artists, which makes the digressions into dissonance all the more awesome.

The humour does not detract in any way from the strength of the performances, the sense of adventure, and the evident attention to sonic detail. What could be a bunch of unrelated experiments seem to be working together, like circus sideshow people, apparently unaware how deliciously creepy they all are.

In addition to Nick on guitar and vocals the band is made up of saxophonist Dave Newhouse of classic avant- jazz rock group The Muffins, who has collaborated with the likes of Fred Frith and Sun Ra's Arkestra as well as bassist/multi-instrumentalist Ben Spees and drummer Connor Reilly of adroit progressive/experimental rock group, The Mercury Tree.

The guest list is a literal who's who of the avant scene, including but not limited to, Bob Drake (solo, Thinking Plague, 5uus, etc), Thymme Jones (Cheer-Accident), Moe! Staiano (Sleepytime Gorilla Museum), Matt Lebofsky (Secret Chiefs 3, Mirthkon, MoeTar), Dave Willey (Thinking Plague, Hamster Theater), Gavin Wallace-Ailsworth (Bent Knee), Paul Sears (The Muffins). All ably pulled together by the producers Ian Beabout & Ben Spees.

A funny, bouncy, punch peach of an album.