HOOFFOOT

3.5 stars. On their 2015 debut this Swedish band were a six piece with two guest horn players. Album number two from 2019 shows the band dropping to a four piece but with four guests adding trumpet, trombone, sax, percussion and violin. The two members who left were the AGUSA and ORESUND COLLECTIVE guys who were the extra guitarist and keyboardist on the debut. The music very much pays homage to 70's Jazz for the most part mixed with 70's Prog. The debut had two long suites while here it's four long pieces.

The coolest thing about this release for me is the cover art and a re-staging of that cover art with the four guys from HOOFFOOT in the picture of the re-do inside. The picture on the cover was done by a Swedish artist and is called "Malmo Noir" and it took him three years to create and is of a street in Malmo, Sweden which is exactly what the band was looking for in the cover art, a reference to their home town.

And after talking to the artist who gave his permission to use it they let him listen to some demo tapes of this album and he mentioned that this music reminded him of what he was listening to during the 3 years of painting this picture which was a lot of CAN, AMON DUUL II and TANGERINE DREAM. What are the odds! That second picture inside is pretty cool too and the vehicle is identical to the one in the original but not the exact same car even though they did find that car but it was in too rough a shape to use, but the owner had this spare car they used that was the very same.

The title of the album is a reference to this music which can be a light in these times of darkness. Recorded live in studio this is 46 minutes long and like the debut I really like this but I don't love it. There was an insert in my package talking about how this was originally pressed by mistake in mono only which is not what the band wanted of course so these were pulled off the market until the mistake was corrected and re-released in stereo.

Like the debut I feel like there's so much to enjoy as far as my tastes in music go but also stuff I could do without. I was drawn more to the music of the debut overall but also feel it's not as consistent as this latest. Good quality of music of course but both records cross into the more commercial aspects of Jazz at times. So flip a coin between these two studio albums but I give the edge to the debut, and this is where I get off the bus as I was wavering about picking this up as it was. A lot of jamming it feels like and again I like this style but it's just not connecting to me like I had hoped.

Lots to like here and I have no doubt that there are some big fans of this band and their retro style.

Four roomy instrumental tracks. These very capable musicians from Malmo, Sweden have made a big impression with fans of hot playing with that certain sound of 70s instrumentation. I heard their previous album but although you gotta love the sound of Rhodes, organ and the warm vibes, I wasn't captivated by their writing, and that hasn't changed here. One stretch of groove gives way to another unrelated stretch of groove. So tracks start out very intriguing but become an unremarkable musical tundra before too long, ambling in the background as the mind has wandered to bills and politics. I should blame myself and not them I guess. Some nice atmospheres and pleasant relaxed soloing by collaborating wind players. There's more Latin flavor here than I remember from the previous album, but it's been a while. They're really a quality outfit, so your mileage may very dramatically from mine.

Are we sure Hooffoot aren't time travellers? This little album consists of two extended jams perfectly optimised for vinyl - not just vinyl, but old early-1970s vinyl where to avoid compressing the dynamic range unduly you don't want to take up the full length of the side - and it's jam-packed with tasty jazz fusion that wouldn't sound amiss on a festival stage slotted between Third-era Soft Machine and Caravanserai-era Santana.

Though Hooffoot have their connections to Øresund Space Collective and the family of bands around it (Gösta Berlings Saga, Mantric Muse, etc.), the material here is somewhat less neo-psychedelic than the centre of gravity of that particular sonic universe, though it's still a fine album to pick up if you appreciate works of other members of that extended family - or if you like old school jazz-prog the way they served it in 1971.

This is what you get when you're a prog/jazz rock/fusion band that records at Aerosol Grey Machine Studios in Sweden. The studio is ran by Christoffer Lundquist, and it's probably safe to say he's a big Van der Graaf Generator fan to name his studio after that album (although much of the acts that appeared in his studio isn't prog, Roxette a rather obvious example). Also the studio is largely analog, sorta like Toe Rag in London, so you can see why a retro act like Hooffoot would record there, but unlike Toe Rag they don't seem to object to plug-ins, especially something like the Mellotron, known to be unreliable.

Apparently the group has connections to Øresund Space Collective, just like Mantric Music, but don't expect space rock. What you get here is top-rate jazz rock and fusion with a clear prog rock approach to it. Think something like Santana, Miles Davis, Soft Machine, and Return to Forever and you're not too far off, but with a more prog rock approach to it. Expect lots of wind instruments like trumpet and sax, plus organ and electric piano, as well as the usual gear. "Last Flight of the Ratite" is the band in a nutshell. It's clear when there's a trumpet solo, the Miles influence can't be denied, just like where there's that Gregg Rollie type Hammond organ with Carlos Santana-type lead guitar work, you can't avoid the Santana comparison. Unlike their famous American counterparts, there's a more genuine prog rock approach to this music, where the music frequently goes through changes, rather than extended jams. "Take Five, Seven, Six, Eight, and Nine" seems to be a Dave Brubeck reference, but doesn't sound like Brubeck, don't even expect a quote from Brubeck's "Take Five" here. Instead it's more of the same great proggy jazzy rock and fusion, but here I detect a bit of a Scandinavian feel to the music, something you don't get with the American acts. There's even some nice use of sampled Mellotron flute (as I'm sure the band doesn't use a real Mellotron, and Aerosol Grey Machine does have a Mellotron plug-in at their disposal).

The album features some really nice artwork, very reminiscent of 1970s album covers, which I really think is nice, rather that awful, sterile computer generated artwork.

I, for some reason, totally missed out on this group when they released this album in 2015 (I never heard of them then), I am so glad in 2019 there were still a handful of vinyl copies left, which I purchased me a copy (this type of retro music really begs to be heard on vinyl). Really great stuff worthy of your attention!

Two tracks, 35 minutes of music, plenty of jazz...

Hooffoot are an interesting case in that they have produced an album which sounds like structured improvisation (as if there ever was such a thing!). Strictly sticking to analog recording, the sextet (+) go wild on two rather long ''compositions'' (pun intended), feeding the unaware listener with blasts of retro-original exciting jazz-rock/fusion. Spooky/spacey keyboards mixed with trumpets and saxophone, Miles Davis meets (mostly) Soft Machine, throw in some ZAPPA-esque and Mahavishnu oddity, carefully picked oriental and latin moments and you get an uplifting mix of (surpisingly) modern-sounding jazz.

Listening to this debut feels like the music is being played live in front of you (the beauty of analog?). Despite the length of the tracks and the levels of experimentation, ''Hooffoot'' retains a remarkably groovy pace and playful atmosphere, especially in the latter track where Santana seem to be making an appearance mid-way...

Invest without reservations, this is one of the highlights of 2016.

4+

It's interesting to read the bio of HOOFFOOT as the band's leader Par Hallgren discusses how late in life he discovered RPI, Krautrock and seventies Jazz. Out of that he lists IL BALETTO DI BRONZO's "YS" album as being life changing. I like this guy. As a result he and a couple of musicians met pretty much weekly until eventually there was a band doing live gigs and then this, their first studio album. By the way this is a six piece band plus we get a guest sax player and a trumpet player. Par is probably most known for being in ORESUND SPACE COLLECTIVE but he was also in THE CARPET KNIGHTS, two amazing bands right there. The lead guitarist also played in both of those bands. We get a rhythm guitarist who plays for AGUSA and then two keyboardists. Ola also from ORESUND SPACE COLLECTIVE plays synths, and the other keyboardist plays clavinet and Fender Rhodes. We get two long suites giving us just under 35 minutes of music.

"Last Flight Of The Ratite" is the 18 1/2 minute opener. Horns standout in the intro along with guitar before ending with organ as it turns calm and very jazzy. Great sound here. Love the Fender Rhodes and the horn playing over top. It starts to turn nasty before 3 1/2 minutes and I wish there was more of this with the evil organ sounds and upfront guitar after 5 minutes. A change before 7 1/2 minutes as clavinet takes over as the bass and drums do the ground-work. A horn joins in as well. It's intense 9 minutes in then it calms right down quickly. I like the bass and percussion here. Check out the guitar starting before 11 minutes as he lights it up. A calm after 12 minutes as we get a jazzy section with atmosphere, percussion, bass and Fender Rhodes. So good! Some deep fuzzed out sounds before 15 minutes as it continues to be laid back. I'm not into the change beginning before 17 minutes to the end. Horns blast away to end it.

"Five Seven Six Eight...And Nine" opens with percussion as intricate sounds join in including flute-like sounds then a horn. It picks up 2 minutes in then it becomes catchy before 3 minutes but I'm not into this. And "this" will be repeated at various times in this suite. The guitar starts to lead and now I'm impressed. Back to that catchy passage then we get a calm with atmosphere and flute-like sounds before 6 minutes. Back to that catchy theme before 9 minutes then another change as it picks up bringing ELEPHANT9 to mind with the incredible Fender Rhodes and drum work. Another change before 11 1/2 minutes as we get these intricate sounds but then it turns fuller a minute later. There's that catchy section again before 15 minutes to the end.

I want to rate this higher but those catchy moments that are repeated on the second track along with the way the first track ends is holding me back. A matter of taste I suppose but you guys have to hear this one.