SPROINGG

Cheerful Insanity

Sideways Psychedelia

What do you do when you are 1) a Big-Brain, 2) enormously gifted as a musician, 3) bored by the mundane and the ordinary, and 4) bristling with ideas to push Beyond?

Well, Hirnkäse. Yes sir, ma'am, or some variation: Hirnkäse.

SPROINGG

On the surface this trio of musical individuals are SPROINGG, Freiburg, Germany-based anarchic, restless, punk/angsty, sound-shaping, known-language eschewing unit.

"Hirnkäse" reflects their third output, in which we find the three seekers assembling ten- with a bonus eleventh- whimsical, fever-dreamy, dark, edgy, mysterious, delusion-psychedelia, grim, humorous tracks.

Boundaries

Whilst SPROINGG does NOT do conventional or ordinary, there are cheerfully insane lines, plans, and borders- perhaps boundaries within these rambling, changing, lunatic expositions. "Bruschmarian - the quasi-mythical, nearly forgotten tongues of the people of Bruschmaristan," they say. That is, the guttural, wooping, growling, ersatz- folksong, vocalizing of the 'lyrics' that occasionally emerge from the miasma in this sideways psychedelic stew.

Changing rhythms. Textures. Multi-tracked guitar lines from clean jangly chord accents to fuzzy, edgy mutters, to held notes. Drumming that features stolid single drums to complex fills to congas and bongos and tom-toms and cymbal play. Bass lines and synth lines and pizzicato string plucking and violin passages and almost-mellotron sounds.

Not Your Dad's Progressive Music

But then, MY dad didn't much care for progressive music, so there's that.

Point is, this isn't long and extended classical progressive rock from the late sixties on, the lush symphonic passages, the super-metallic bark of progressive metal being unfurled, or the twin-axe attack of high energy power music.

Nor Does SPROINGG Obey the Rules of Time

That is to say, we start with Gniorps 2 and end with Gniorps 1, both cheerfully insane and spoken/barked in that quasi- mythical tongue. Or conversely, we have "And Her Name Was 'Jo-Jo the Dog-faced Boy' Part 2", and damned if I can find Part 1- so there's that absurdist and whimsical spirit that animates this production.

My Conclusion

Here's the thing- it's not my cup of tea, but it might well be yours. Challenging. Restless. Complex. Subtle. Cheerful Insanity. Rating: 3.5 sideways stars.

Extraordinary Mayhem and Controlled Craziness

Here's a sprawling trio somehow comprised of two German dudes playing stick, baritone guitar, guitar, and electric violin- and a USA drummer.

Go figure.

And full disclosure: I'm not the sharpest pencil in the package, so I can't always tell which of these instruments are being manipulated, mangled, tormented, and explored with relentless restlessness.

I can usually pick out the percussion parts though.

Sophomore Release

"CLAM" is the second album to 'sproingg' from the fertile, febrile brains of these three far-flung musicians. Completely same line-up for both releases, and for me at least it at least partly explains the "Mind-Meld Explorations" handle I plonked down above.

Music like this requires some serious LISTENING SKILLS- these dudes need to pay attention (to each other), since there's so much going on in each whimsically titled track. There are vaping apes and gender-bending dogs, among other phenomenon, but these titles are simply icing over some quite adventurous musicianship happening.

And familiarity with each other's styles and proclivities certainly helps.

Mind-Meld Listening Skills

Yes, let me just reiterate- since the music rarely does- that such musical explorations, in which one guitarist on the left channel interacts with one Stickist (?) who 'seems' to be playing some stank dark bass-lines...and upper-register jangling chord patterns...or is that mellotron?!...duels with electric violin...and heavy-metal guitar...

My point being in case I'm not being clear: These musicians restlessly, relentlessly explore their instruments, wring sounds that beggar description, and push whatever boundaries they may encounter.

And Add to That

Well, percussion. Amidst, within, beneath, throughout the stringed synchronies and stardust-eries, the drums boldly, gently, vehemently, staunchly provide some kind of dextrous underpinnings and accents.

Words Fail

So, in about one hour, I found myself groping for footing, for descriptors, for some sense of the familiar.

No sooner did one eerie passage give way to more ominous lower-register riffage, than some vaguely recognizable sounds would leak out in the other earphone and add more layers of uncertainty.

Gloriously, maddeningly complex and challenging.

Rating?

I scoff at these ratings! How do you quantify this kind of mind-meld?

(But just because, I'll give it a try!). 4 frenzied, ferocious, fearless fandangos. "Excellent addition to any progressive rock collection- if you dare."