EMKOG SAMPLER

This Emkog Records CD sampler essentially shows the work of Dan Britton, a keyboard player and composer from the United States, playing with four different bands. I think that most of the music is composed by him, with only one band being the exception. It is not easy for me to write a review about four bands which have the same keyboard player, because his influence and sound is very similar in each band. Maybe the thing which makes the differences between each band is the style of the music and the configuration in instruments and personnel. I´m going to write about each band with more detail: "Deluge Grander", which is represented by two tracks .This band is a quartet (keyboards, guitars, bass and drums).I think that their style is very influenced by the music of Emerson Lake and Palmer, Triumvirat and even by some Folk Rock music from England like Jethro Tull (but without using flute). Complicated music with complicated rhythms. Maybe it is the band in this sampler which has the most complicated and dense Progressive Rock music. "Birds and Buildings": represented by three tracks. Their line-up is also a quartet on which Britton and the bassist also play some guitars. They also have a drummer, but the main difference in this band is a musician who plays flute and sax. Their musical style is more Jazz-Rock and it is the band in this CD which is the most interesting for me. "All Over Everywhere": represented by two tracks. This band is essentially a collaboration between Britton and lead singer Trinna Kesner, who are the composers in this band. They were helped by a variable line-up of other eight musicians, five of them which are women, and the instrumentation is more varied because they use some string instruments like cello and violin , some wind instruments like oboe, clarinet and flute, and some old instruments like dulcimer and zither. Their style is more influenced by Medieval music and also some English Folk music. "Cerebus Effect": represented by one track. It is a quartet of a guitarist who also plays keyboards, a bassist, a drummer and of course with Britton on keyboards. Their style is also more Jazz-Rock oriented but in this case there is a guitarist who plays some heavy guitar parts. The final 20 minutes of the CD are dedicated to show some new forthcoming music in Demo form which I think is mainly from Dan Britton´s ideas. I have to say that at least for my musical taste this CD wasn´t an easy listening experience. The music is sometimes very complicated and in some moments I felt "saturated" a bit by the music. But as a whole the music is good, and the musicians also are very good. The recordings and mixings of all the songs are very good. The cover design of this CD sampler is very good, with some good graphic design and paintings, also showing miniatures of the different 6 album covers from which the tracks were taken. Even the CD itself has a good painting used as a label. As a whole, the package shows very good quality, even if it didn´t show detailed information about the bands´ personnel. I visited emkog.com to read about the bands with more detail. In that website you also can listen to this CD online and even buy it.