DINS O CUOL

Having crafted one of the world's most bizarre lounge jazz albums that tossed aside the rule books and crafted slinky Chopin-esque classical chops into jazz-infused chamber rock dressed up with punk energy and Zappa fueled antics, POIL continued their legacy of hyperactive zany and unhinged musical madness that has been one of the prime movers of the new strain of avant-prog taking root in 21st century France. This Lyon based trio has become quite the live act finding their way onto the Rock In Opposition festival in Carmaux, France where they shared the stage with likes of Soft Machine Legacy, Faust, Univers Zero, Present, miRthkon, and Guapo. Not bad for a crazy trio that's one step away from the looney bin.

For a sophomore performance POIL unleashed the equally bizarre DINS O CUOL (uh, in the ass?) which finds the trio in less of a Chopin goes to the lounge jazz mode but rather a let's create the most frenetically wild avant-prog possible music! And with that they succeed. While a much shorter album than the debut "L'Ire Des Papes," DINS O CUOL nevertheless packs enough of a punch to detonate a warehouse of fireworks. Fronted by the charismatic piano wizard Antoine Amera, his piano rolls still dominate the soundscape but this time around the other members step up to add equal doses of instrumental explorations. Boris Cassone is just as spastic on bass and Guilhem Meier once again bedazzles with percussive drives that baffle the mind. Suspiciously absent are any guitar sounds.

POIL is in a much more playful mood on DINS O CUOL. While they exercised their famous vocal antics on their debut where they sing, harmonize, chant, grunt, scream, shout and get all weird on ya, on this sophomore album the vocal charm really lets loose and becomes the dominate force which drags the music along. Humorous design is the name of this game and every whacky utterance seems to be geared towards a 21st century slapstick comedic routine that evokes the Charlie Chaplin influences that offer a zany cartoonish mood that finds itself focused through a complex progressively infused rock that tackles chamber rock, math rock and avant-prog in time signature rich workouts. In fact, at times this sounds like an avant-prog version of Oingo Boingo.

Guaranteed to raise the dead, POIL goes for the avant-prog jugular on DINS O CUOL with incessantly brutal prog keyboard antics, zolo infused herky-jerky spastic deliveries, vocals freakiness so weird that even the Samla Mammas Manna would blush in response. Zappa would roll over in his grave if he could hear this and those who aren't inclined to experience music that is designed to aggravate and stimulate like a million doses of caffeine are bound to be quite irritated by this music. To call this adventurous would be an understatement and it's truthfully quite unlike anything i've ever experienced. DINS O CUOL erases any pleasantries of the debut and adds heavy doses of abrasiveness in every corner.

Just check out the ending of the title track where the groove is set on some sort of avant-disco beat only with abrasive dissonance and million-mile-per-second time sig changes on steroids. Oh, this is indeed the stuff avant-prog dreams are made of. Perched somewhere between the confines of "L'ire Des Papes" and the more compositional brilliant "Brossaklitt," DINS O CUOL is quite the interesting plunge into the bizarre, the humorous all wrapped up in brutal prog dressing. This is a ruthless type of parade of sounds that offers rewards for those who can hang with it and punishment for those unwilling souls who happened to fall into its gravitational force.

I'm on the love it side of the equation but be warned that this music contains some seriously demented musical trips that are reserved for only the hardcore crowds out there who love their avant-prog with a punk infused energy that is steeped in unrelenting time signature attacks. Stick around for the ending of the album. The fourth track seemingly ends around the nine minute mark but endure some silence and you are treated to a most bizarre series of sounds that include Zen meditative sounds as well as LOTS of belching sounds! That is only one surprise to be experienced for those patient enough to wait. Sophisticated potty music is what we have here! Yay!!!!