ADC

The AdC music I hear on AdC has finally achieved what their previous albums failed to do: engaged and pleased me. Melodies I actually remember after songs are over, songs I actually know by name and chose specifically, willingly, longingly to put on my iPod playlists. They have always felt accomplished as musicians--technical wizards, each--but something was missing. As it turns out, it was the fresh, original and memorable constructs that I hear on this album. I've heard that AdC's concert appearances are quite impressive--other reviewers seem to always write with a bit of a stunned awe at what they observed and heard live. Perhaps with this album they have finally captured that jaw-dropping, awe-inspiring sound that they've been reported to convey on stage. Perhaps the roles and contributions of each of the seemingly-committed band members have been clearly established so that they can write and record cohesive, joy- expressing music. If I have any complaints it is that the recording sometimes feels a bit sterile, lacking human frailty.

Favorite songs: the SANTANA/STEELY DAN-like jam, 1. "Nadir" (9/10), the Hendrix-plays-with- The-Softs-sounding, 2. "Dandelion" (9/10), the slow-building DIAGONAL-like 5. "Tiglath" (8:28) (9/10), and the lovely Windham Hill-sounding pastoral acoustic ensemble of 6. Piu Limpida e Chiara di Ogni Impressione Vissuta (Pt.2) (3:21) (8/10).

Nice work, Contrarians!

4 stars.

Three albums in for Bologona band Accordo dei Contrari, and as expected of this Italian group, sublime and frenetic fusion displays are the order of the day (I'm fairly reluctant to use the `jazz' with that usual description though), and they've truly stepped up and taken their music in bigger directions than ever before. In addition to this perhaps being their busiest, noisiest fusion work yet, they've also added sophisticated classical flights, Post-Rock cinematic flavours, more Rock in Opposition/Avant textures and ambient passages to truly offer no better definition of a `fusion' of styles! Enviable technical displays played with passion and fire, it's constant never-ending musical eruptions effortlessly flowing from one seamless movement to the next and back, always melodic and endlessly groovy. There's still little references to other Italian fusion acts like D.F.A, Arti e Mestieri and the Canterbury sounds from the previous album, but the Accordo members are definitely forging their own path and have never sounded so tight and focused.

`Nadir' opens with groaning unfolding spacey electronics and ends on serrated jagged feedback, with wild guitar strums, slow-building giddy drumming, liquid bass and glistening electric pianos spiralling into controlled chaos throughout the centre of the piece. Some bits are like a schizophrenic take on the `Abraxis/III'-era Santana band, with moments of heavy grunt and softly building ambient builds back and forth too. The infectious playful `Dandelion' offers muscular twisting electric guitar/bass grooves over an exhausting mix of tempos that will have you grinning wildly! Violin and piano pirouette around the opening of `Seth Zeugma', offering a surprising dose of R.I.O/Avant Garde experimentation, but before long snappy drum lunges, molten bass spasms and hellfire Hammond rip through the fanciful classical sophistication, racing dizzying circles around the listener. Some of the Hammond aggression near the end even briefly calls to mind parts of Delirium's classic third album.

The overwhelming `Dua' will drive you to madness with a wicked glee, with surprisingly intimidating suffocating Hammond madness over endless looping piano/bass attacks. Improvisation `Tiglath' opens and closes with creeping late-night tip-toeing electric piano suspense to reverberating ambience along the lines of the Soft Machine's pitch-black `Fifth' album, with snarling slow-burn electric guitar strangulations, violated Hammond runs and intimidating rumbling percussion crescendos rising up from the pits of the Earth. `Piu' Limpida...part 2' closes the album with some sedate acoustic guitar, piano and droning cello Post-rock prettiness.

Sometimes a self-titled work can suggest an artist running low on inspiration, other times it can mean they are so confident with the results that they feel it's worthy of being considered their defining statement. The latter must certainly be the case for Accordo Dei Contrari here, and on the strength of `AdC', it's proof of a band slowly redefining what jazz/fusion can mean, not only for themselves, but for their listeners and lovers of the genre. Three great works from this talented band so far, and I still feel their best is yet to come!

Four stars.

Coming back from their heavily Cantebury influenced sophomore album, Kublai, the Italian band Accordo dei Contrari sets out to change their game a bit with their newest record, AdC. The evolution of this Bologna based group has them moving forward to explore new territory, this time stepping heavily into the avant-rock/RIO land. In my estimation, the direction of AdC shows a group that continues to mature, both in composition and production as they deliver a head-spinning album with enough emotion to ensure their listeners take them seriously.

In effect, "Nadir" is the perfect opening for the album, a song which contains many of the elements that make this release a powerful one. The ominous intro of harmonized synth leads provides a stark contrast to the bright chords and punchy drums that suddenly interrupt and launch the track into an explosion of aggressive jazz-rock. Through twists and turns, such as the delicate middle section that capitalizes on echoing Rhodes piano under tremolo guitar that breathes out a sort of chilling water effect, "Nadir" shows how to lay down a variety of moods while still staying very in your face. Continuing in the bold tradition, the followup, "Dandelion," wastes no time to bring pulsating riffs to the forefront. Intense interplay of instruments and dissonant bursts lead the way to an eventual heavy, Deep Purple gone prog style riffing, replete with grinding Hammond and more groove than you can imagine amid its truncated measures.

The next couple of tracks, "Seth Zeugma" and "Dua," take us a bit more in a quirky direction. The former channels a bit of the avant-garde classical in its furious attack of piano, cellos, and violin with a heavy emphasis on rhythm and repeated motifs. As the rock band comes in, a RIO sound abounds, but if you listen carefully you'll even hear a bit of Gentle Giant groove in there as well. "Dua" takes us on a bit of a fun ride where piano and guitar lay down variations on a catchy theme amid jolting rhythms and polyrhythms, not forgetting to ease things up once in a while with some good ol' classic style riffing. Holding some great moments, especialy in the dialoguing between instruments, "Dua" gives a strong portrayal of solid intermixing of the familiar and the exploratory.

Even though "Nadir" as the opener gives a sort of broad picture of the album, in my estimation a lot of what Accordo dei Contrari is doing throughout the album is actually leading up to and encapsulated in "Tiglath." From its darkly evocative intro of scattered chords, hauntingly hammered on the Rhodes piano, alongside the delicate atmospheric building of cymbal swells, echoing tom hits, and dynamic rolls, to its head-spinning themes of unison guitar/synth alongside dancing bass, "Tiglath," really shows an intricate balance between free-form to carefully composed material. Best of all, it's pieces like this that show these Bolognesi to be skilled performers with a keen sense of depth and nuance in their representation of their pieces.

As the album closes with "Piu Limpida e Chiara di Ogni Impressione Vissuta, part II," we get a bit of a glimpse of what is perhaps in the future of the band. Plucky guitars over a soothing canvas of droning cello and violin paint a nostalgic post-rock picture while providing a relaxing way to end the album. Yes, this piece did exist in sketch form during earlier years, as did a couple of other pieces, but as the liner notes state, "It is perhaps true that an album, carefully planned in all its details as it may be, is in fact the child of the very moment of its recording." The three days spent in the studio recording this record, several songs of which were first takes, most certainly shows a band whose sense of expression point towards the future while bringing along what was good from the past.

Italian band ACCORDO DEI CONTRARI (ADC hereinafter) has existed since 2001, at the time consisting of three musicians. Following an initial phase of line-up alterations, the band settles around a core of four members, with additional guests contributing on their recordings. The band have released three studio albums so far. "AdC" from 2014, the most recent of these, was issued by the Italian label Altrock Records.

Instrumental progressive rock that ranges from frail chamber rock to '70s jazz-rock and progressive hard rock is what ADC explores on their third studio recording "AdC". An intriguing blend of musical styles, explored with care and consideration by high quality musicians. If you have a soft spot for instrumental progressive rock and a taste for variety, this is a disc that merits a closer inspection.

Adc is the third studio album by Accordo dei Contrari, a band from Bologna. It was released in 2014 on the independent label Altrock with a consolidated line up featuring Marco Marzo (electric and acoustic guitar), Daniele Piccinini (bass), Cristian Franchi (drums) and Giovanni Parmeggiani (Fender Rhodes, Hammond organ, Minimoog, acoustic piano). According to the liner notes, the album was recorded live in studio in Riolo Terme, a small town in the province of Ravenna. The recording sessions took only three days with short overdubs and this work is the expression of a very cohesive collective. It reflects the positive atmosphere of the period the members of the band spent together with the aim of depicting the dynamics or the contrasts you see in everyday life through sounds... The result is an excellent instrumental album recommended to fans of bands such as Area, D.F.A or Perigeo.

The opener "Nadir" begins softly, the mood is dreamy. The title refers to a word coming from Arab that defines the direction pointing directly below a particular location... After a while the dreamy atmosphere changes, the rhythm becomes nervous before calming down again, but it's just a momentary pause before a new electric, frenzied ride towards deep underground spaces...

According to the liner notes, the following "Dandelion" is dedicated to Geoff Logsdon, the founder of Pleasant Green Records. The title refers to a large genus of flowering plants native to Eurasia and North America usually found as commonplace wild flowers worldwide. It's a tense, dynamic piece full of energy that could recall the soundtracks of Italian 70s action films...

The mysterious "Seth Zeugma" is enhanced by the contribute of two guest musicians, Vladimiro Cantaluppi (violin) and Enrico Guerzoni (cello). This piece blends with excellent results classical music elements with electric, jazzy inspirations and Middle Eastern touches of colour. There are many changes in tempos and mood and some passages could recall Area. The title comes from two words taken from the Ancient Greek. Seth refers to the god of the desert, storms, disorder, violence and foreigners in ancient Egyptian religion while Zeugma is a figure of speech in which one single phrase or word joins different parts of a sentence...

The lively, pulsing "Dua" swings from funky passages to more obscure, disquieting moments and vice versa... The title seems to refer to an Arabic word meaning to "call out" or to "summon". According to wikipedia sources, in the terminology of Islam, dua is an act of supplication and Muslims regard this as a profound act of worship. Who or what is invoked here? The answer is up to you...

The title of the following "Tiglath" could refer to an ancient king of Assyria (in the liner notes there's no explanation). In some way listening to this beautiful piece makes think of the film The Scorpion King, even if it was set in Egypt and not in contemporary Syria. Try to imagine a mysterious, powerful king coming to life again to carry out his terrible vengeance against those found guilty of the raging war that is destroying everything, even the archaeological sites, in his former kingdom... Here the music features some Middle Eastern flavours and could recall again Area and their revolutionary energy and musical force.

The delicate, acoustic "Più limpida e chiara di ogni impressione vissuta, part II" (Clearer, brighter than any lived impression) features the guests Vladimiro Cantaluppi (violin) and Marina Scaramagli (cello) and ends the album with a dreamy mood. According to the liner notes, this piece is dedicated to a woman, Annachiara, and its atmosphere is very different from the frenzied, aggressive first part that was released on the previous album Kublai in 2011. If both parts try to describe in music the hopes and fears of everyone's life, this one is definitively more calm and optimistic and represents a perfect conclusion for a beautiful, intense work that is really worth listening to...

Have a try! You can listen to the complete album on bandcamp.