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THE ASSEMBLAGE POINT

M-Artel

Jazz Rock/Fusion


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M-Artel The Assemblage Point album cover
3.98 | 11 ratings | 2 reviews | 9% 5 stars

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Studio Album, released in 2011

Songs / Tracks Listing


1. Kebab (7:18)
2. Princetrane (9:25)
3. 1980 Summer Olympics (7:36)
4. Prelude In C Minor (9:22)
5. Merry Elephants (9:29)
6. The Assemblage Point (6:43)

Total Time 49:53

Line-up / Musicians


- Michail Levanov / saxophone
- Alexander Vasilyev / guitar
- Oscar Chuntosov / keyboards
- Alex Ryslavsky / bass
- Peter Ivshin / drums

Releases information

ArtBeat Music Digital Download

Thanks to historian9 for the addition
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M-ARTEL The Assemblage Point ratings distribution


3.98
(11 ratings)
Essential: a masterpiece of progressive rock music(9%)
9%
Excellent addition to any prog rock music collection(73%)
73%
Good, but non-essential (18%)
18%
Collectors/fans only (0%)
0%
Poor. Only for completionists (0%)
0%

M-ARTEL The Assemblage Point reviews


Showing all collaborators reviews and last reviews preview | Show all reviews/ratings

Collaborators/Experts Reviews

Review by zravkapt
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Honorary Collaborator
4 stars M-Artel is a five piece instrumental band from Russia. This is their first album. Formed by saxophonist Michail Ivanov, the music is generally in a funky jazz-rock mode. Sometimes non-jazz and non-funk influences creep in, like a 'symphonic' keyboard or guitar part here or a folky rhythm there. One track has what I call a 'polka' part but it could be some kind of Russian folk influence while another track goes into reggae for a bit. I can't put my finger on it but I keep getting a 1980s vibe from the music sometimes. "Kebab" is a good intro to the album. Almost a prog metal like atmosphere (but with no distorted guitar) at the beginning with the tom-tom pounding and digital synth soloing. When the sax enters it is more funky and jazz-rock sounding. In the middle things mellow out with sax soloing and some piano.

The tempo picks up and everything gets very trad jazz sounding. Returns to the earlier funky jazz-rock part. "Princetrane" starts out very lite and funky with some nice organ work. Changes to a slow funky jam with great electric piano playing. The playing gets more intense and uptempo as the sax solos along before a symph prog style guitar solo. "1980 Summer Olympics" again starts out lite and funky. This has some hard rock guitar added (sometimes playing in unison with the sax). Nice guitar solo in the middle as the mood becomes more subdued. Includes a drum solo later on. "Prelude In C Minor" has a cool synth melody which gets reprised. More hard rock with funky bass oriented until the sax appears, then the music gets more jazzy. Alternates between the hard rock/synth melody and the more trad jazz parts.

"Merry Elephants" once again starts out lite and funky. Nice organ soloing at one point. Later changes to reggae with a guitar solo. Last track and title track begins and ends with vinyl surface noise. Very jazzy piece with lots of sax and electric piano soloing. Overall, great playing and great sound and production. The music sounds very 'live' for the most part but there are little studio tricks here and there. Should appeal to those into the funkier jazz-rock side of modern prog. I will give this a 3.5 rounded up to 4 stars.

Review by Guillermo
PROG REVIEWER
4 stars This is a band from Russia which plays mainly Jazz-Rock / Fusion music. In this, their first album, the band is a quintet which consists of Michail Levanov (saxophone ), Alexander Vasilyev (guitar ), Oscar Chuntosov (keyboards), Alex Ryslavsky (bass ) and Peter Ivshin (drums). They are very good musicians which sound like being trained musicians in some formal music schools.

Track by track:

"Kebab": a musical piece with some "Arabian" melodies.

"Princetrane": a Jazz-Rock Fusion musical piece with some Funky music rhythms and an electric piano which sounds like a Fender Rhodes, very much like the mid to late seventies piano sounds that some artists of that time used (Jean- Luc Ponty, Bob James, Jeff Beck, Weather Report), plus some sax and guitar solos.

"1980 Summer Olympics": another Jazz-Rock Fusion musical piece with again some seventies music influences. It includes a brief drums and percussion solo.

"Prelude In C Minor": a musical piece with sax melodies, a synthesizer, and with the contrast of some "quiet" and heavy parts, with a very good piano solo. It is one of the best musical pieces in this album for my taste.

"Merry Elephants": another musical piece with some Funky music influences from the seventies, with organ, sax and guitar solos.

"The Assemblage Point": It starts and ends with an LP scratch sound effect, like being played in a vinyl album! It stars with a sax solo with some drums playing. Then, the full band plays the song with some changes in the rhythm, and again with a Fender Rhodes's solo and a guitar solo. The influences from the Jazz-Rock /Fusion music of the seventies are again very clear in this song.

This is a very good album from this band, very melodic, very well recorded and mixed. It receives a four stars rating from me.

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