BARTÓK IN ROCK

What we have here is the latest release from Brazilian trio Dialeto, whose last album 'The Last Tribe' was excellent. I was a little surprised that it has taken four years for them to come back with the follow-up, but that may have something to do with the fact that only guitarist Nelson Coelho was in the band last time around. He has now been joined by drummer Fred Barley and bassist Gabriel Costa, which makes them more how they used to sound, as for the last album the bassist had been replaced by touch guitar. This album is an attempt by Dialeto to take compositions by Béla Bartók and then move them into their own genre, with lots of improvisation. Bartók is considered to be one of the most important Hungarian composers of the last century, and through his collection and analytical study of folk music, he was one of the founders of comparative musicology, which later became ethnomusicology.

With six of the ten songs named Roumanian Folk Dances it isn't hard to see where the music originally stemmed from, but here it has been taken to new levels as jazz fusion and progressive rock takes this as a base and then moves it into quite new areas. The whole album is fresh, exciting and interesting, taking the listener through many twists and turns, and by the end I found myself thinking that I loved this so much that I really ought to discover the originals and see just what Dialeto had done to them to transform them into this modern style of music. David Cross makes an appearance on the first number, and my only wish was that he had could have stayed for the complete album as he had so much impact, but as it is this really is an album to savour.

DIALETO is a band from Brazil who have changed their sound it seems almost from album to album. I have their debut and the one previous to this one I'm reviewing and really enjoyed both. "Bartok In Rock" is influenced by Bartok and his Folk stuff and it's all instrumental. A trio of drums, bass and guitar with a surprise guest in David Cross who plays violin on the opening song. The opener and closer are by far my favourites and for my tastes this one pales when compared to the two I have. Apparently there was a lot of improvising going on here I just wish Cross was on for the whole album.

"Mikrokosmos 113" opens with that violin slicing away as rumbling drums then a full sound kick in. Suddenly it's bass and drums only then the violin returns. Themes are repeated. I like the guitar before 3 minutes. A nice energetic opener. "Mikrokosmos 149" opens with bass and drums as the guitar joins in. I like the tone of it but that will change.

"An Evening In The Village" has some interesting sounds to start which are somewhat experimental before it kicks in after a minute. It ends like it began. "Roumanian Folk Dances" is divided into six parts ending with a catchy number. Not big on this suite but there is some variety and I like some of it. "The Young Bride" ends it. It sort of trips along and I keep thinking it's going to break out and we do get a heavier sound eventually.

This just doesn't do much for me sadly despite some stellar moments. Again you should check out that opening track with David Cross on it.