OUR DELICATE STRANDED NIGHTMARE

My first experience with El Paso based instrumentalists Zechs Marquise came when they opened a show for the Omar Rodriguez-Lopez Group I attended a few months back. Having only heard a few clips of their music through ITunes, I was a relative stranger to ZM's work going to the concert. However, I was familiar with the fact that two of the band's members were brothers of Omar himself, a tidbit that left me both intrigued and hesitant. On one hand, I was excited to hear music from blood relatives of the man behind modern prog masterpieces like De-loused in the Comatorium and Frances the Mute, but on the other, the family ties between the two acts left little question in my mind as to how Zechs managed to nab the opening slot on Omar's tour.

I am pleased to say that I was more than pleasantly surprised with the band's performance. Their adventurous songs, played with keen precision, showed a clear influence of brother Omar's work while maintaining a unique identity all their own. Compositionally, Zechs avoided the pitfalls of needless repetition and lack of originality that many instrumental groups fall victim to. Instead, their songs were diligently crafted; built around strong melodies, smooth transitions, and impressive musicianship while still maintaining a jam band vibe. Being so impressed with what I had heard, I immediately went to ZM's merchandise table after their set to buy a copy of their debut (and for the time being, only) CD: Our Delicate Stranded Nightmare.

This record, however, is not a representation of the live performance I heard. Absent is fiery intensity, gone the sense of focus and drive. Left is a piece of music without a clear direction that suffers from a noticeable lack of variety. Many of the CD's tracks follow a similar pattern. Subtle bass and percussion lines will start a song off and remain relatively unchanged and unadorned for the duration of the track. While often interesting at first, the rhythms are repeated the point of becoming dull, and in some cases, downright monotonous. As these tracks go forward, noodleing guitar lines, waves of noisy synths, and the occasional horn gradually enter and exit the mix. Although this is a nifty way to construct a song, having so many tracks that adhere to this template on one disc makes ODSN seem a tad one-dimensional. Other tracks like the opener, "In Strange Love," or the seventh track, an eight minute sound collage titled, "Attack of the 40FT Wave," lack almost any sense of structure and drag on longer than they need to.

With all that being said, Our Delicate Stranded Nightmare does have a few standout songs, namely "Magmar," "Chase Scene," "Strapped to the Mast/Sirenum Scopuli," "The Sounds of El Morro" and "Black Ark Dub". These tunes have enough movement and individual character to catch and keep the listener's interest. However, moments like these are a rare find and too infrequently heard on this disc to warrant a higher rating.

Our Delicate Stranded Nightmare can be an interesting listen. Many of the sounds produced by the synthesizers and guitars create very eerie atmospheres that could work very well in a soundtrack setting. However, at sixty-three minutes, the album is longer than it should be and often feels bogged down by the repetitive psychedelic experiments that fill the majority of the disc. ZM's choice to sideline actual songwriting for discordant and often jarring soundscapes doesn't help matters either. This is a fair debut from a band who I believe have much more potential than can be detected from this release. I would recommend fans of The Mars Volta, instrumental music, and dissonant sounds to check out ODSN. There are definitely some enjoyable spots on this disc, I'm just hoping for a more consistent (and lively) record the next time through.

ZECHS MARQUIS are from El Paso, Texas and they've released two studio albums and one live record. This is the debut from 2008 while the followup is "Getting Paid" from 2011 and they could not be any different. This is more soundscape music with several energetic pieces while "Getting Paid" has a lot of variety and took me a while to get into it. This was love at first listen. Something about the mellotron maybe? I just love how this sounds and if it didn't sort of tail off late in my opinion this would be a 4.5 star album. A four piece band here with two of Omar Rodriguez- Lopez brothers on it. Yes THE MARS VOLTA guitarist isn't the only talented musician in the family in fact we get a third Rikardo guesting on trumpet here as well on 4 tracks. The other two brothers play bass(Marfred) and keyboards(Marcel) respectively. The other two members are guitarists. What no drummer? Yes we have a drummer labeled as a guest. Interesting that Marcel the keyboardist plays drums on the next album. And we get another guest adding sax and bass clarinet.

So we get 15 tracks over about 63 minutes and this is headphone music 101. So much going on at any given moment and many are adding percussion sounds and voices besides their usual stuff. Synths add atmosphere and much more along with the mellotron and it's often dark. The horns are adventerous, I mean this is one entertaining record. The first four tracks are what I just described, very much soundscape music then we get "Chase Scene" where one of the guitarists starts to light it up right away while the second plays in a different style while drums and bass support in this energetic piece. Some organ ripping it up too. Of the first five songs the second one "Magmar" is my favourite. Amazing track.

Track six is more in the electronic vein but the guitar is on fire at one point while the next one "Attack Of The 40 Ft-Wave" just kills. Headphone music and the longest at 8 minutes. How about the mellotron early coming out of the darkness then the trumpet! More mellotron and trumpet late to end it. Next is "Pigeon Shit" with that slow rhythm as distorted keys join in and other sounds that echo as it builds. Unique sounds and guitar expressions. How about that old school sounding trumpet on "Lady Endless". Some energy on "Strapped To The Mast" plus trumpet and sax. My favourite has to be "Sirenum Scopuli" which is more of a powerful rock tune but some great contrasts here and man the sax is screaming at one point. Organ too. An experimental guitar solo as well. "The Sounds Of El Morra" is just so interesting with those sounds to start and this goes on for a couple of minutes then it kicks in. This is crazy with all that is going on. Inventive with sax and trumpet later. The next two tracks are okay with the closer being an improvement over those.

I've had this at the front of my listening list for months but kept changing my mind but keeping it around after that initial spin. Finally got to spend some time with it and I am so impressed with what these guys created here.