ARTEFACT

Marcus and Pals' World Jams

Marcus is a restless musical soul, and shows a wide palate of influences from which he draws. When he and Ben Bell- who also collaborated with Marcus on BROKEN PARACHUTE- get together, some pretty steamy, bluesy, jazzy musical emanations can occur.

Artefact Is no Exception

KASHGAR itself is a chance for Marcus, Ben, and fellow-musicians to explore a heady brew of Latin, Indian, Middle Eastern, and other World music, and this sophomore release from KASHGAR brings us some fine examples. And Marc Atkinson (RIVERSEA) adds vocals to three tracks for a change of pace.

Despite his fine vocals, these tracks are my least favorite part of the album. I favor the instrumentals here because of the way these musical miscreants weave influences into intriguing compositions. The lyrics and vocals simply didn't help, and didn't add much.

Standout Tracks

For me the opener, "Uncertainties", with its slow-burning entry that builds in passion, using varying tempos, and that chiming Hammond, really sizzles.

I liked the Santana vibes on tracks four and eight, "The Unholy Four" and "Libertad" respectively, and a feature throughout Artefact is unexpected flourishes and touches, especially to these ears, some of the choral work.

Marcus' Guitar

Marcus' playing is impressive throughout. He uses tasteful guitar settings including fat, soaring blues licks, razor- sharp lead lines, acoustic guitar jazz licks, and what sounds like hollow-body electric guitar work. It's never overdone, and it always strikes me that there's some hidden heavy-metal fire in his soul; for me, he could unchain that some because when he and the band cut loose, like on that first track- it's a treat.

MORE PLEASE!

Ben's Keyboards

One word: Hammond. OK...two words. Hammond Organ.

Oh man, if there's a sweet spot for me in progressive rock- and other genres too of course- it's that fat, growling, sweet, chiming suite of sounds only produced by the Hammond organ. I haven't inspected his keyboard rig, but it sounds like the real B3 deal.

And Ben knows how to throw in the tasty backing chords as well as the chiming, melodic leads.

He also uses synthesizer lines and choral settings to great effect. Tracks four and nine are highlights, but there are numerous places throughout this album.

James' Drums

Crisp. Tasteful. Adroit. Some fancy fills. I'm no drummer, but James is a drummer I might have liked to know back in the day- that sort of playing enriches the sound of KASHGAR.

In Conclusion

For me, this is close to a four-star effort: "Excellent addition to any prog rock music collection." The world-music touches, variety of percussion instruments, tight, meticulous playing and production, fine compositions, exceptional attention to details, variety, all make for a great listening experience.

The caveats bring it back some to 3.5 stars: Good (and the half-star makes it better than good) but non-essential (although it's essential for you if you love fusion music, jazz, and progressive rock mixed with world-music vibes.

Caveats: the tunes with vocals don't work for me, although the vocals are just fine. The last track, "No More Time", uses spoken and sung lyrics in what may have been inspired by Gentle Giant to some extent. It was interesting, but not my thing either.

And if you use lyrics for more than just another sound to add to the mix- if they have meaning- why not make them easily available?

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