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Dreadnaught - Musica En Flagrante CD (album) cover

MUSICA EN FLAGRANTE

Dreadnaught

Eclectic Prog


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hdfisch
PROG REVIEWER
5 stars Avant-Garde?? Fusion? Never mind! Certainly an awesome masterpiece in progressive music!!

DREADNAUGHT is a very interesting unique band and as far as I read none of their albums is similar to another, moreover there are no comparisons possible to any other band. Nevertheless when listening carefully to their music one can detect direct influences like Zappa, King Crimson, Country, Hillbilly, Blues, Jazz and modern electronic as well as some modern chamber music. Actually their sound is in a way impossible to describe. I would call it something like Avant-Fusion if there would be such a thing, not really like the mostly hard to be digested stuff usually presented in Avant-Garde but some innovative music that can be absolutely enjoying for anyone with an open mind and open ears.

"Musica En Flagrante" contains 19 tracks most of them being shorter than 3 minutes. This fact might bring to mind artists like Mike Patton or Mike Keneally showing similar structures on their albums. But I've to say that Dreadnaught's music is much more pleasant to the ears and I dare say (without putting those musicians down) it is of superior quality. Although styles are being changed at times within seconds the seemingly constant flow of the music is not disrupted at any moment. One could say that they thoroughly reconstructed their influences by adding them up to their very own material and created like this an entirely independent truly self-contained music style. Sometimes there are motifs placed next to each other that never have been joined in that way and even no one before would have thought that they fit together. But like a big wondrous surprise it really works and the result is just astounding. Though it's really almost impossible to describe the music offered here I'll try to give at least a rough overview of the CD. But anyway I'd like to advice everybody just to listen to it and to expect the unexpected.

The slightly ambient opener "R. Daneel Olivaw" (title taken from a novel by Isaac Asimov) is with its laidback groove a perfect introduction to the band's sound. Thereafter the styles are going from surf sound over some type of semi-improvised avant-garde with moderate dissonance played on piano and brass to the highly playful "Tiny Machines" sounding like a weird alienated modern and rocking version of ancient movie score track "The Clou" (if I'm not wrong). Then comes one of my favorites on here the kinda acid jazz piece "Northern Pike" with an amazingly cool harmonica revealing a bit the style called "Progabilly" they had become known for after their album "The American Standard". This is the longest track on here and really great stuff I just can say. The short "Gulf of Tonkin" is rocking off to something called "Pants Down" (in two pieces) that sounds again quite avant-gardistic, dark and rather industrial-alike. "Big Cats" and "Threnody." are opening in a way second half of the album which is overall less upbeat with a more orchestral and film score like approach. Some people call the second half somehow weaker and less interesting than the first one. I would say it's just different, not as quirky as the first couple of pieces having a more lush and symphonic atmosphere but without any apparent decrease in quality. "Fanfare for a losing team" is a kind of Zappa-tinged modern chamber rock whereas "The Boston Crab" is returning to a more guitar and bass dominated sound with some metal-alike eruptions. "Elba", another one of the few longer tracks is another favorite of mine, a piece dominated by a dark keyboard sound and bass. Before the album is closed by "Royal Jelly", a guitar dominated rather upbeat track there is the chamber rock piece "The Sirens Of Titan" which is subdivided by four parts and offers some great violin sound in gypsy style.

To summarize my impression of this work I just can say that there isn't any moment of boredom present neither are there any parts filled with everlasting soloing or enervating dissonance and oddity. I'm not sure if my review can help anyone to get an idea what this CD sounds like. I just hope so and possibly I could at least quicken the appetite of some people with an affinity for some innovative and adventurous music done with extremely artistic skills and talents. I can't see any reason for resisting to give the highest score for this.

Report this review (#79822)
Posted Tuesday, May 30, 2006 | Review Permalink
Sagichim
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR
Honorary Collaborator
5 stars Dreadnaught's last album to date is a different ball game from anything they released up till now. Musica En Flagrante assures Dreadnaught is one the best bands out there, but still as obscure as an early 70's self promoted Italian progressive band. I'll give them all the credit in the world for reaching so far out and still manage to present us with such a clever and sensitive instrumental work. Where several bands get hundreds of reviews the first week of releasing an album, this one is so forgotten it makes me very sad and frustrated. As a lot of bands follow formulas and releases kind of the same album over and over again, dreadnaught is focusing on how they are going to do it differently, which makes progressive rock definition complete, not only the music is progressive it's also new! something the band haven't yet experienced with, reminding me in spirit of King Crimson.

Their previous album The American Standard is certainly one of my favorite albums to date, and I was hoping they would release something as great, but nothing prepared me for this. As the previous album was rocky, eclectic fusing elements like funk, avant-garde and was quite hard to categorize, this album is fairly less rocky and goes towards more avant realms, accessible Rio maybe, but even harder to pin point. Knowing their discography I would never thought this was the same band, without recognizing their distinct sound. What makes this release sound so different is the inclusion of more evident keyboards than before, violin, sax, piano, harmonica and more. The band's sound is absolutely stunning, bass guitar and electric guitars sounds like no other, they have the crispest sound you could ever wish for, this is actually the band's signature sound and what makes them so fun to listen to, how do they manage to create it? Don't ask me. Guitarist Justin Walton comes with all kinds of schizoid runs and licks, showing you what would have happen if Steve Howe was born in Alabama. Bob Lord also unleashes a captivating sound and is definitely a gifted and an outstanding bassists, reminding me of Les Claypool on meds.

The music never goes in the same road nor travels popular paths, it's quite new and i can't honestly compare them to any band i know, while in the past Primus or Phish would come to mind, now only tiny traces are scattered around, sprouting out here and there. There are 19 tracks here, going through different styles and moods, while maintaining a perfect balance between everything, touching each style in his turn and in the right time. Like I said it's quite hard to define the music and everything I'll say won't even get you close to understand the complexity of the music but i'll try. I can say it falls between avant-garde (nothing freaky), jazz, rock, funk, electronic, chamber and experimental, but they are all too general definitions to really grasp what's going on inside this piece. Each track goes from several mood changes easily, or slides to another without noticing, I love the fact that one moment you are in a quirky rocky interlude and the next you are swept by orchestral breaks, or grooving to the coolest harmonica. While in the previous album I was struck by the phenomenal playing of the trio, now i'm amazed by their progressive writing, for they are not trying to shine at all, relying on their self playing prowess, they give a lot of credit to their hired musicians giving them a lot of space to express them selves. Compositions contains a lot of ideas and the playing is nothing less than top notch. Just check out 'Tiny Machines' which brings to mind The American Standard material, featuring their distinctive quirky playing and very imaginative writing, grabing you tight and not letting you off the train until it's safe. 'Northern Pike' follows this, but shoots you from a cannon to the other side of the scale, at first you don't know what to expect, but they hold you down with their subtle and exquisite playing and when that harmonica sweeps inside, you have to applaud them for they certainly knows the job. 'Big Cats' and'Threnody for the Victims of Brother Theodore' are two more highlights which I fail to describe cause there isn't anything quite like it, incorporating all the elements mentioned before and giving birth to something new. Fabulous really. 'The Sirens of Titan' is a short suite which demonstrates just how diverse and imaginative they can be, playing an avant-garde intro which breaks to a beautiful violin and goes back to the avant through the back door, throwing some beautiful saxophone to the mix and some more violin, you have to hear it to believe it. 'Royal Jelly' ends this ride with a great performance of what this trio knows best, another rockabilly or should I say progabilly excursion of freak out sounds, riffs and memorable playing.

Musica En Flagrante is a modern masterpiece of progressive rock, no doubt about it, and although I would prefer 70's progressive rock just about any day, this band is one of the few cases where I can question this statement. It just has it all from phenomenal playing, great sesibility, varied instrumentation, out of this world arrangements and just about 5 tons of creativity.

it's been too long since the band released anything, so I took the liberty of writing Bob an email, saying just how I enjoy their music and what the hell is taking them so long? he answered me saying thanks, and how hard it's been since he travels a lot and producing other music, but they do visit the studio, he also said and I quote "Know that you are interested will push us! Not enough positive feedback these days..." It's a real shame this kind of professional music does not get the right amount of attention, so if you do not own this, do yourself a big favour and buy a copy. 5+ stars!! a mark i give to very few releases. Thanks.

Report this review (#777269)
Posted Monday, June 25, 2012 | Review Permalink
5 stars Nothing Less Than 5 Stars

What a strange being, this one is. After the 'prog-billy' sound of The American Standard, they've come up with a calmer, quieter, but even MORE complex than before. The eerie atmosphere of avant-prog, though it always returns to a terrific melody (usually UNLIKE avant). There's only a few signs of 'prog-billy' remaining, it seems. Only the mad instrumentation on violin and harmonica gives indication of anything 'billy'. Here, there's a carefully-planned rhythmic strike of violins, keyboards floating through the background, unique guitar-interplay melting into the background, drums following a jazzy beat. What you have here is creative, technical brilliance.

R. Daneel Olivaw was posted up on Youtube, which was all I needed to know before making the daring feat and sending $9 through Amazon. Every song on the album is varied, (my favorite aspect) though still follows the same style. Impossible to describe. The mood could be a laid-back guitar ballad, then leads up to a collage of classical piano, sax, drums' unpredictable. The instrumentation is ecstatic and complex. Fans of Birds and Buildings would take comfort here. I hope soon the gang from Dreadnaught will release their American Standard as an MP3 release, I'd love to purchase it but $18 for a physical copy is way above my pay-grade. Thank you, there's albums I listen to once a year and there's albums I listen to repeatedly. This is the latter. Nothing less than 5 stars, ANYONE who gives this a listen will love it. I pray this band doesn't disappear into obscurity; there's a band who've reached their creative peak and this piece proves it.

Report this review (#1363470)
Posted Friday, February 6, 2015 | Review Permalink

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