ACCORDO DEI CONTRARI

ACCORDO DEI CONTRARI are a young Jazz/Fusion band out of Italy.This is an all-instrumenatal album, although we do get a little blurb with each song which indicates that these guys are highly educated to say the least.Basically a four piece band with some guest violin and sax to compliment their sound. "Lester" is named after Lester Bangs an American music critic who died in 1982.They hit us hard and fast on this one before it settles quickly.Great sound! Contrasts continue.Nice bass before 3 1/2 minutes with some excellent guitar in tow that starts to light it up.Sax before 5 1/2 minutes. "Meghiste Kinesis" opens with piano and a good beat as violin joins in.It settles 2 minutes in but then starts to build 3 1/2 minutes in, guitar takes the lead a minute later.A nice heavy sound at 6 minutes as the song continues to change. "ScalaQuadro" is the longest track at almost 9 minutes.It builds with drums leading the charge as organ comes in.It settles before 2 minutes then builds again.Violin 3 1/2 minutes in.It's heavy a minute later as the organ returns.It settles with piano 8 minutes in. "Gondwana" is heavy with some great guitar.It settles with violin before 1 1/2 minutes but it kicks back in quickly.The tempo continues to shift the rest of the way.Some nice contrasts on this one. "Anexelenkton" is led by organ and drums early before guitar and keys follow.Again tempo changes are a plenty.I like the organ on this one.A drum solo to end it. "OM" opens with piano as guitar and drums come in strongly.It settles with piano.Excellent sound 2 1/2 minutes in then the guitar starts to rip it up.Piano before 4 minutes and then it kicks in a minute later before piano ends it. There's enough here to warrant 4 stars in my opinion but this didn't blow me away or anything.

Part of the new wave, Italian band Accordo dei Contrari impresses as much as what they follow, as distinct direction, is of a good manner: their main joy is to combine jazz with prog rock, paying attention to the "virtue" of finding an original approach as well; they respect a bunch of influent classic bands from both orientations, although, in music, they intriguingly mask much of these marks in a faint, intervallic way - in other words, although interested and influenced by classics, they play modern intense music. Formed in 2001, it took some time for them to finally produce a first work and the way Accordo dei Contrari evolved to be a full-power ensemble also turned to be a complex process. It has come down anyway to a quartet + guests: Marco Marza on guitars, Daniele Piccini on bass, Cristian Franchi on drums and Giovanni Parmeggiani on a variety of keys to record Kinesis, with violinist Fabio Berti and saxophonist Giorgio Trtefilleti being invited to play on several tracks, upon a refinement of the original recorded material.

Kinesis was recorded in mid-2006 and finished around the last months of the same year, still it's cued as a 2007 album - which is actually why I myself picked it up in the first place, out of the desire to listen then to as much freshly new prog as possible. Curiously, this would be a record meant "for promo and label searching purposes"; however, as far as music tells us best, it's a definitive and solid enough creation. As a debut for the band, it's both optimistically moving, appealing and humanly lacking, deficient things that can't be skipped and neither can avoid pulling down a bit the album from high places.

The experience lasts neither long neither quick, with six total compositions that range from 6 to 8 minutes. It's enough to call the work both consistent and complex. Consistent in the way that each track means something and was carefully conceived to value much; complex in terms of music and even musicianship. But while the work looks serious and steadfast, its complexity scripts the main pros and cons of Kinesis. In terms of forms and structure, two things come out on top: the jazz-characteristic way of improvising and the long processed time modern signatures; in contrast, Accordo dei Contrari's game here isn't so much about melodies (which, taken individually, are either tad chaotic, either unimpressive), but about an intricate, technical or expressive, language of jazz and rock. Of course, everything that sounds good in Kinesis compensates the musical vision, but not everything is of a grand sound.

Moving on, in terms of style, influences don't make out entirely for how the band raves its play. Even if we hear prolong grave rhythms that remind of King Crimson, even if some jazz old symbols (Mahavishnu, Cheery Five - if we take the band's word for it) do justify something from the band's inner sound, it's still a too modern and visibly interiorized expression. Now, I'd also note that, frankly, the jazz side of this music is more diluted by power, eclectic and even slightly heavy rock impulses, and even much more by the 'prog rock' cream top. You'll feel energy, lots of musical parts that make up the sum of one piece, detailed playing and exteriorized sounding.but jazz-rock is just sustained by regular things, like the chain of improvisations, the fusion of some beats, the atmosphere et caetera. Closing in this chapter, in terms of instrumentality, I hate to, but must break the fact that the piano/electric keys/organ entire "presentation" has some serious flaws or tries a strange, strident sound in comparison with the rest; only rare and obscure moments, of a Return To Forever-like fusion keyboard swift dangle, is what counts. Franchi delivers some good to great drumming, the guitar improvisation is at the lead, but with mixed results - but, to end in a really good note, that one entry saxophonist Trtetilleti has in the first piece is very nice.

After a first, extravagant and rickety piece called Lester, Meghiste Kinesis is truly valorous, with a pleasant prog-define rhythm on which metal and jazz alternate in uptight, but delectable ways. ScalaQuadro is even more progressive in its instrumental music, sounding of a good art rock/heavy-pulsing kind. Gondwana has both explosive and cooling nuances, but it's rather inconsequential. And, to add, both this and the previous piece gravitate too much on the same key and don't take you too far, if talking about the experience within the music. It counts as a loss. Finally, Anexelenkton focuses again on "prog jazz", while OM is an artistic, of a slightly different edge, fiber, with, however, some of the most complex, diffusing dialogues from the entire set.

To resume, Kinesis is visibly one hell of a hard work, mixing generally power, jazz, progressive, heavy and (as an extreme) alternative rock. But not everything is good.

I don't personally feel Kinesis will click from the first time to every listener, because of its hard edges that, in real time, raise a bit of difficulty or even feel awkward - it didn't work for me at least -, but while this only means that more and more thoroughness into the moderately complex chemistry of this music will pay off, there's also a risky reverse: as the album should sound more and more enjoyable, it might lead in the same time to a bit of a total ease; while the overall quality is okay, this act needs to constantly surprise you - in time, this would stop happening. Either way, it can't be said that the warm connection between music and its listeners is perfectly soothing.

More for prog rockers than for jazz aficionados, this album can grow into an hour of good music. Not to misinform, we're talking a work that does fit jazz-rock modern tastes. For Accordo dei Contrari, Kinesis is a happy success, whilst thinking straight ahead, all that has been done here means a basic style and quality upon which to create even better moments.

Let me start by saying that I regard "Kinesis" as a prog masterpiece: Accordo dei Contrari has delivered a real musical gem for the year 2007, refurbishing the jazz-prog area with vigor, creativity and powerful colorfulness. Going beyond the typical sound of a quartet of guitar/bass/Keyboard/drums with the additions of guests on sax and violin, the band sets its style with inspiration from Area, Return to Forever, Deus ex Machina, Gentle Giant, and to a lesser degree, ELP and Happy the Man. 'Lester' kicks off the album with ravishing splendor, stating an exciting jazz-oriented vibe that at times borders on the power sound of contemporary hard jazz-rock. The sax solo gives a special warm undertone to the track during its short duration. 'Meghiste Kinesis' (meaning "greatest speed" in ancient Greek) goes to more energetic places, in this way capitalizing the previous track's fire. The notable use of dissonant chord progressions and the presence of a guest violinist make the band lean really close to pre-"Cinque" era Deus ex Machina. The intensity is interrupted by a subtle piano solo that relies on the empty spaces to provide an air of mystery: the following crescendo reminds me of a jazzed Gentle Giant, which in turn leads to a reprise of the opening motif for the coda. A special mention goes to the synth solo, an exhibition of Hammer-meets-Duke. This is an undisputed highlight. 'Scala Quadro' puts an emphasis in the rock side of jazz-prog rock: the recurrent motif is quite catchy, and then, for the last two minutes, the keyboardsman leads the way in an unmistakable Emersonian fashion. 'Gondwana' bears a similar structure to that of track 2 - a strong motif sets the pace and a much calmer interlude creates a well-ordained variation. This track's interlude sort of emulates the most serene passages of Happy the Man's repertoire, while the main motif displays a mixture of classic Gentle Giant and 80s King Crimson. 'Anexelenkton', in turn, brings back the robust spirit of track 3: the rhythm duo's peculiar dynamics and the partially sinister moods displayed in Parmeggiani's keyboards (once again, quite Minnear-like) are the track's most featured factors. With an interlude focused on a clever crescendo adorned with a certain extravagance and an impressive drum solo near the end, this track reaches a compelling climax. The album's last 6 ¼ minutes are occupied by 'O.M.', a number that keeps pace with the tracklist's overall punch, even enhancing it at times. In many ways, 'O.M.' is a condensed retake of the band's main references: Area, Return to Forever, Gentle Giant. The excellence of Accordo dei Contrari is based on a tight confluence of all individuals' virtuosic endeavors - their "Kinesis" is, IMHO, a must in any decent prog collection.

The Kinetics Of Sound

3.5 stars

The third band from the Altr0ck house of progressive rock is another Italian band, but this one is not at all like the first release on this label by country mates Yugen. Accordo Dei Contrari (AdC henceforth) are a dynamic group of (changing lineup of) musicians (drums, guitar, keyboards and bass; reinforced by guests on violin and sax) and their comfort zone is in the instrumental fusion territory. No need to go into biographical details as those can be read on their Myspace, but I will quite to you what their promo material says about their influences and sound: "The album "Kinesis" is the result of two days of live-recording in studio in june 2006, with short overdubs of violin and sax in october-november 2006. "Accordo dei Contrari"'s influences range from rock progressive music and rock-jazz of seventies, to contemporary jazz and classic music of 20th century (Strawinsky, Messiaen). Influences : Area, Mahavishnu Orchestra, King Crimson, Cherry Five, Deus ex Machina, Premiata Forneria Marconi, Frank Zappa, Soft Machine and many others."

Of all those, I'd say the jazz-rock influences are the most prominent and obvious, but those other names do come to mind and their overall sound is quite varied and rich. What a great and intense ride AdC deliver in this album. They are as entertaining and melodic as they are energetic and upbeat. AdC's sound comes from various styles as jazz-rock but bringing in a variety of other sounds to spice up the affairs with great keyboard playing (reminiscing some past prog days and bands) and a fierce guitar emphasizing the rock edge among others.

The listening experience with this album is great as it conjures up memories of other bands and yet doesn't feel like they are a retro-prog sort of band, but one that relies on certain roots and uses them to make their own fresh sound.

With this album, I kept discovering new intricacies and small features in the music with each further listen. I could suddenly notice a particular movement I didn't realize was there before. A link to one of their influences suddenly became clear (for instance, King Crimson which at first wasn't clear to me where they draw from them, all of a sudden became clear). This can be said about many prog albums, and for this one it is veyr much the case in particular since as I listened more and more, the melodies sank in, leaving an imprint on my listening area in my brain, making me want to listen to it again, which is exactly what I expect from an album.

For a great thrill of an album; an album that mixes fusion with prog-rock characteristics of the past and present; for good musicianship; for a rich and enveloping sound; for a well-balanced mix of melody and technicality - this album will satisfy your needs and more. This album is a highlight in this year's releases and another excellent release from Altr0ck.