WITH A LITTLE HELL FROM MY FRIENDS

A diverse collection of modern Avant Garde/RIO songs from a collaboration of a veritable who's who of RIO, Zeuhl, and Avant Jazz artists under the leadership Mexican Greco Bastien--an artist who was hitherto unknown to me. (Is the album title a reference to the 2006 film of the same title from Suzanne Shepherd? If so, it would explain some of the cinematic moods and themes expressed in Greco's music.)

1. "Proteo Revampirizado" (6:30) I don't like the hollow and plastic drum-machine sounding sounds coming from Tatsuya Yoshida's drums but the weave of dobro/banjo and tuned percussives (including piano) is pretty engaging. The electric guitar solo at the end of the second minute is harsh while the weave that follows almost sounds like Flim and the BBs. The bass, up front and center, is great to hear but it's a little repetitious--and the banjo/dobro is also quite forward while the saxophone(s) are mixed behind. Interesting. I'm not sure I'm picking up on the vampire reference despite the horror movie plodding and chaos. Any relation to early Bondage Fruit? (8.75/10)

2. "Zidane Racist" (6:29) I've never been able to find much like/tolerance for a klezmer-type of music--even when it is trying to be Peter Gunn-like. Also, though the collective pace and cohesive synchronization of the instrumentalists' melody lines is impressive, much of it feels either auto-aligned or MIDI(VST)ed. I wonder if the "band" could perform this tightly live. And the bass sounds so isolated, even weirdly compressed. A stop and left turn at 4:20 feels NIL-ish. Interesting. There is, of course, a lot of Zeuhlishness to the music as well. (Love the BEATLES reference with the final piano hit and long hold!) (8.75/10)

3. "Zeuhlito Lindo" (5:27) I hate these plastic-sounding tom-tom heads that Tatsuya Yoshida is using. (They remind me so much of Markus Pajakkala's Brutopianisti album from 2017.) Yech! Again, the klezmer freneticism of the opening pace and whole-band weave is not my favorite style to listen to, but, luckily, some spacious isolation of various instruments (over the very busy drums, bass, and piano) occurs enough to let me relax. Matt Lebofsky's bass play is right up front and center but not chunky enough to be Zeuhlish and not creative enough for my expectations. Again I am very much reminded of the music of Markus Pajakkala--especially in his Brutopianisti release--though there are also motifs reminding me of black midi's Cavalcade. The musicianship is excellent--so tight and so precise. I wish the drums didn't drive me to distraction. (8.75/10)

4. "Oniontown" (5:44) released in 2019, this is virtually the same MIDI(VST)ed composition performed and recorded by Greco back then with friends and members of his old band, Cobalto Circus. The stop-and-go format is more spacious than the other stuff on this new album. (8.5/10)

5. "Aclowntrenós" (4:44) rolling bas line, grating saw-guitar chord strums, xylophone and piano and, later, VST (Virtual Studio Technology) horns. Sounds like an exercise in math rock. (8.5/10)

6. "My First Metal Swing Set" (2:09) lower octave piano arpeggio starts this one before ATOMIC APE-like cinematic chase music takes over. Lead electric guitar and xylophone stand out with wailing guitar playing in a Robert Fripp/KING CRIMSON style and sound palette--which is cool, except ? it's been done before. (Think: instrumental sections between Adrian Belew's vocals on "Indiscipline"). Hard driving and brief. (4.25/5)

7. "D.A.S" (1:42) rolling bass, syncopated drums, and screeching saw guitar gives this a very MIDI(VST) sound. (4.25/5)

8. "Don't Open Til Xmas" (3:13) a variation/play upon the "Jingle Bells" melody line, though the sound palette has changed quite a bit--with some fuzzy sax and synths playing the crazy lead weave with the piano--but it all sounds too tight--like it's MIDIed. (8.5/10)

9. "Exit Filming for a Muse" (4:59) quite a cinematic song--and fit for the soundtrack to a slow processional in a carnival or small town parade. Besides the drums, this one is all computer created, all Greco solo. It's actually pretty good--pretty easy to access and sync with--especially the searing "guitar" soloing over the top over everything. (8.75/10)

Total Time 40:57

My main complaint with much of this album is the frenetic pace, the use of "cold" plastic tom heads (when used), and the often too-precise synchrony of the herd of stampeding instruments--which makes me second guess the engineering: whether instruments are interlocked by engineering "auto-tune" like computer mechanisms or by being MIDIed (here called "Virtual Studio Technology") to Bastián's keyboard.

B/four stars; a nice, though perhaps challenging, addition to any prog lover's music collection.