DELTA FLORA

"Delta Flora" is the third release from the band HUGHSCORE, with the legendary Hugh Hopper on bass, known from SOFT MACHINE. The music is atmospheric, experimental, floating, well performed and constantly changing with many instrumental passages. Some of the tracks are instrumental while some have beautiful vocals by Elaine di Falco. Maybe the common listener will find the music inaccessible and hard to get into, but the more experienced listeners will surely enjoy it.

The music contains influences from various genres such as Art Rock, Canterbury, Jazz, Progressive rock and RIO. A major part of the compositions is based on Hugh Hoppers magnificent bass playing. My favourite tracks are the opening "Was A Friend", "November", the inaccessible instrumental "Robohop", "Spacelift" and "Based On".

One of the best releases so far this year! A great and highly recommended album for the fastidious listeners!

Third and last album of Hopper's 90's project, with the lovely Elaine Di Falco on kb and vocals. What's still amazing about this quartet is the double bass sound, with Hugh on the fuzzed-out one, and Chalenor on the "normal" one, and also the guitar. Rounding up the quartet is Martine's drums, but we've good a cool brochette of guest, of which the ever-faithful Elton is the best-known. Laced with a touch f acid-jazz and trip-hop ambiances, the mood is entrenched in the soft dreamy mode, though at times, the sleep can become a tad awry, as you'll find out.

If the opening Was A Time features Elaine's soft vocals on a soft fusion, the ever-lasting Facelift gets another 'face-lift' (yeah, it's too easy ;o))) but Lanaute's flute and some fuzzed-out sounds give it an acid-jazzy flavour that can be reminiscent of St Germain. Extremely tasteful stuff if you ask me. Electronic diddles open November, but the acid-jazz beats return quickly, this time accompanied by Elaine's soft vocals and her Rhodes, along with Jarvis' trombone. The place goes wild (almost chaotic) and semi-dissonant weird hardliner vocals are the star of Ramifications, which brings you back to Hopper's more daring songwriting days. The following Robohop goes a little further, or at least a tad bit more nightmarish, delving further into the electronic soundscapes and creepy sound effects. We return with a much softer Remind Me, where Elton's soft sax and Elaine's accordion are floating above the surface. A short acid-jazz piece Spacelift (yup, Hugh can play too ;o))) prefaces the album-longest Based On, but it's the closing Tokitae that grabs our attention most, when it goes from demented to its ultra-calm ending.

A typical 90's contemporary acid-jazz album, Delta Flora was Hughscore's final chapter, and a very worthy one. Personally progheads should prefer investigating Hughscore's rather short catalogue rather than some higher-profile acid-jazz artiste to discover the mid to later-90's jazz soundscape in vogue at the time.

4.5 stars. There was a band called CAVEMAN SHOESTORE who were based in Seattle who released three albums during the first half of the 90's. They were led by Elaine Di Falco(THINKING PLAGUE) and bassist Fred Chalenor. Hugh Hopper would join the band after that third album and that lineup would become known as HUGHSCORE and release three albums during the second half of the 90's. So yes, this was a nineties band all the way. That final album by CAVEMAN SHOESTORE was unique as it had two bass players which I'm sure caught Hopper's attention in the first place. That setup would continue on all three of the HUGHSCORE records.

You all know I love those musical connections and discovering these is always exciting for me. So when I looked at the list of guests on here, of course I recognize Hugh's buddy Elton Dean adding alto sax, but the name Dave Carter rings a bell on trumpet. This was before I knew this band was based in Seattle. The connection is the band FONTANELLE and their "Vitamin F" record that I had reviewed not long before. They are from Portland, Oregon and on that record there was some incredible trumpet passages bringing Miles and "Bitches Brew" to mind big time. So yes, this is the same Dave Carter. We get six guests here with four playing horns, one flute and one steel pedal.

Man, I love the sound of this album. People mention "poppy" but that's a little misleading in my opinion. Unless by poppy you mean like the Swedish band PAATOS. Their music is dripping with atmosphere with those understated female vocals. Same here, but more jazzy. While the core setup is two bass players, a drummer and keyboardist, the guest horns add a lot. There's been a different drummer for each of the three HUGHSCORE records, but I have to give props to Tucker Martine here who also helped to produce the record.

In the liner notes Hugh states that he and Fred Chanelor offer a lot of that dirty old coffee grinding bass playing on here. Hugh mentions that Tucker on drums is a crafty player, calling his playing wonderfully nasty. He mentions Elaine and how with her on board this recording is safely unsafe. She does sing normally here for the most part except for on "Ramifications" where her RIO voice comes through. I mentioned PAATOS and that sound can be experienced on the opener "Was A Friend" along with "November" and a few others. "Ramifications" is the most challenging piece on here, but the most enjoyable might be Hugh's "Facelift", a SOFT MACHINE classic of course.

Love the title "Robohop" which is filled with this incredibly atmospheric soundscape. This blends into "Remind Me" a vocal track where Elaine adds another layer with some accordion. "Spacelift" is short but one of my favourites. Another tune drenched with atmosphere as bass, beats and e-piano trip along. More of this on the longest piece "Based On". The closer "Tokitae" ends the record with more of that awesome atmosphere as it trips along and it's quite sparse.

This is the last of the recordings done by CAVEMAN SHOESTORE/HUGHSCORE and I feel that it's the best one too. Such a warm and trippy record.