Humble Grumble |
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justaguy
Forum Newbie Joined: January 11 2011 Status: Offline Points: 29 |
Topic: Humble Grumble Posted: August 18 2011 at 13:39 |
I've got review ready for this one:
Humble Grumble: Flanders Fields Release: 2011 Style: fusion Label: Altrock Productions Website: www.humblegrumble.com Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/humblegrumble Playing Time: 47:34 Cat. N°: Alt-016 Review by: Misha Rating: 10/10
The debut of Belgian Humble Grumble at Altrock Productions, “Flanders Fields” is not just a pleasant surprise for the lovers of alternative music, it is an undisputed fusion masterpiece. Yes, beware, this review will be a collection of superlatives, but this time, only because the record actually deserves them.
The vocal jazz-rock Humble Grumble produces is a jewel of an originality. There is no one band making this kind of music, that I am aware of. Of course, they didn’t come from another planet, and also have listened to the music we all listened. So, the references are all there. The playful vocal arrangements remind me most of the 10cc Cabaret-like masterpiece “Une nuit a Paris” from the album “The Original Soundtrack” back from 1975. The melodies are also at least that great, having lots of air play potential, if not for too jazzy arrangements around them. There, the fabulous play of two men on the reeds – Pol Mareen (sax) and Pedro Guridi (clarinets), and Pieter Claus on marimba and vibraphone define the sound of the band a lot.
But the most important for the band is the front man Gabor Humble Vörös. He is not only responsible for the band’s name and fine song writing, but he is also a fantastic vocalist with quite a vocal range, and an original guitarist, who also can show at times his techniques. It is nice though, that his guitar playing doesn’t dominate the record.
The fantastic instrumental arrangements give every member of the band just the right time to play tunes and do some little improvisations. Those last very controlled though, the finger was steady at the controls during the recording sessions, I believe. This delivers a cleverly composed and arranged record, once again, a masterpiece, where no one note is superfluous: everything is just right.
I am not going to dissect the album song by song. The record doesn’t just consist of numbers, it is a complete whole, which is a smart thing here, since the most of songs are composed in a different key, displaying a whole range of styles, from a heavier prog to a jazzy and lighter vocal-oriented songs. An important ingredient that binds it all, is humour. Both the lyrics and music are soaked with this fine matter, that makes the record that playful, bright and colourful object of pure joy.
Other references would be Daevid Allen’s Gong, Frank Zappa, Mr. Bungle, Modest Midget, Uz Jsme Doma.
Altrock just has this knack of discovering the absolute talents all over the world. Everything they produced so far is more than worth of digging. Think of Italian Yugen, Byelorussian Rational Diet, Argentinean Factor Burzaco and many many more, some of them already covered on this site. I wish you lots of pleasure discovering all of them by yourself. Tracklist: 1. Sirens Dance (3:52) 2. Aging Backwards (5:20) 3. Flanders Fields (5:05) 4. Sleepless Night (5:59) 5. Horny (2:57) 6. Little Bird (4:09) 7. Duck on a Walk (3:25) 8. The Greatest Kick of the Day (3:23) 9. Never Lose your Mind (2:43) 10. Love Song (5:27) 11. Purple Frog (5:05) Musicians: Jonathan Callens – drums, backing vocals (9) Jouni Isoherranen – bass, backing vocals (5, 9) Gabor Humble Vörös – guitar, vocals Pol Mareen – saxophone Pedro Guridi – clarinets, backing vocals (5) Pieter Claus – marimba, vibraphone, percussions
With: Lisa Jordens – backing vocals (3, 5, 6, 7, 8 ) Hanneke Osterlijnck – backing vocals (3, 6) Joriska Vanhaelewyn – backing vocals (2) Juan Carlos Torres Iturra – Spanish vocals (6) Leika Mochan – backing vocals (9) Attila Czigany – harmonica (6) Joris Buysse – flute (6) Fre Vandaele – whistle (3, 4) Wouter Vandenabeele – violin (4) Megan Quill – vocals (10, 11) Franciska Roose – vocals (10, 11) |
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Andy Webb
Special Collaborator Retired Admin Joined: June 04 2010 Location: Terria Status: Offline Points: 13298 |
Posted: August 18 2011 at 14:07 |
Welcome to the forum, and thanks for the information!
This reminds me of a combination of Frank Zappa, King Crimson, and even Jethro Tull... I'd say they could fit into either Avant or Eclectic. I'll alert the latter for evaluation.
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DamoXt7942
Forum & Site Admin Group Avant/Cross/Neo/Post Teams Joined: October 15 2008 Location: Okayama, Japan Status: Offline Points: 17459 |
Posted: August 18 2011 at 17:52 |
Already passed in RIO / Avant ... now under process for addition.
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Andy Webb
Special Collaborator Retired Admin Joined: June 04 2010 Location: Terria Status: Offline Points: 13298 |
Posted: August 18 2011 at 19:05 |
I really need to get into the habit of checking Progfreak first, don't I
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justaguy
Forum Newbie Joined: January 11 2011 Status: Offline Points: 29 |
Posted: August 25 2011 at 08:22 |
Great, can't wait to add the stars for the guys
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DamoXt7942
Forum & Site Admin Group Avant/Cross/Neo/Post Teams Joined: October 15 2008 Location: Okayama, Japan Status: Offline Points: 17459 |
Posted: August 27 2011 at 20:04 |
Added.
http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=6629 Edited by DamoXt7942 - August 27 2011 at 21:30 |
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Andy Webb
Special Collaborator Retired Admin Joined: June 04 2010 Location: Terria Status: Offline Points: 13298 |
Posted: August 27 2011 at 21:08 |
Got it
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