GRECO BASTIÁN

This Mexican composer can't play any instruments but loves music and knows how to create adventurous music. He only needs a first riff, and the rest comes by itself. All this with the help of 25 musicians! The music is dark and heavy, with some strong bass, fuzzy guitars, busy drums, and different keyboard sounds. There is too much instrumentation to describe here. Let's say that it provides a rich sound, showing a big influence from the avant-garde music of bands like Univers Zero, Present, and Magma. The songs are complex, and it is impossible to predict how they will evolve. The song "Cosmetology" is an amazing song that has an Anglagard influence. The music can be played at a slow pace or at a more frenetic pace, like a rollercoaster. If you enjoy the great bands of the avant-garde scene and adventurous prog rock with plenty of instruments, including xylophones, saxophones, and more, you will find this album one of the most original albums of this year.

And the prog party continues! Anyone who has traveled to Mexico or familiar with Mexican culture will be aware that the nation is all about having a good time with one festive activity after another so it's little wonder that the Acapulco born Pablo Eduardo Ibarra Robles or better known in the prog world as GRECO BASTIÁN would make the perfect host to attract talent from around the world to craft some stellar collaborative efforts and make some unforgettably addictive avant-prog mixed with math rock, chamber prog, zeuhl and all kinds of other influences. Thoroughly impressed with his 2002 release "With A Little Hell From My Friends," i was awaiting another album in the same vein and only two years later we are treated to yet another star studded cast of hellpers on WITH A LITTLE HELL FROM MORE FRIENDS! Cramming together the influences of acts like Present, King Crimson, Koenjihyakkei, Magma, Frank Zappa and Ruins, GRECO BASTIÁN returns with even more friends than before for this avant-prog party of the year.

Partygoers include (just to name a few): Matt Hollenberg (John Zorn, Titan To Tachyons), The Mercury Tree, Markus Reuter (Stick Men, The Crimson Projekct), Marc Ducret (Tim Berne, Bobby Previte), Patrick Gauthier (Magma, Weidorje), Paolo Botta (Yugen, Ske, French TV), Bernard Falaise (Miriodor, Ensemble Supermusique), Tatsuya Yoshida (Koenjihyakkei, Ruins), Alan Benjamin (Advent, Mirthrandir), Anthony Beard (Ni, Piniol, Scherzoo), Rémi Leclerc (Miriodor, Les Projectionnistes), Emanuele Sterbini (Sterbus), Craig Walkner (Far Corner, William Kopecky), Ed RosenBerg III (Jerseyband, Kilter), Håkan Almkvist (Ensemble Nimbus, Hans Bruniusson), Ivan Rozmainsky (Roz Vitalis, Compassionizer) Vincent Sicot-Vantalon (Unit Wail, Scherzoo) Joe Lester (Intronaut, Mouth of the architect) Samo ?alamon (Quartet, Quintet...) Shawn Persinger (Boud Deun, Prester John) Steve Marek (Monobody, Loose Lips Sink Ships) Salvador Govea (Iconoclasta, Govea) Jonathan Piña-Duluc (Proyecto Piña-Duluc, El Trío) AND Juan Belda (Juan Belda Bit Band, Skalectric). Like WOW!!!

The album features eight tracks at a traditional album's playing time of 42 minutes but surprisingly not available on any physical format as of yet because GRECO BASTIÁN is still seeking a label to host his wild ride of a musical parade. Uh, Musea, Cuneiform? Why aren't you jumping on this? Delivering the same intensity and knotty crazy avant-prog excesses as the previous album, this one feels like a natural advancement with crazy complex time signatures run amok with crazy rhythmic drives and unrelenting brutal prog bombast. While complex and technically infused, the repetitive zeuhl inspired grooves offer a stabilizing force that allow adventurous riffing sessions and super energized soloing. Once again the long list of attendees offer a diverse approach to each and every track with GRECO's tight knit compositorial skills offering the tangible connective tissue as not to make the album sound like a various artists release.

While the album is similar in many ways to the last, this one is organized a bit differently and the production sounds better. Likewise the bass grooves seem more pronounced and the mixing job is supreme. The album starts and ends with the "Kobaïan Call To War" parts which pay tribute to the great Magma while the inner tracks ramble on at full speed. For those who disliked the previous album because of its unrelenting rapidity and incessantly unforgiving time signature brutality, then THIS ONE'S NOT FOR YOU!!!! This is one wild avant-prog vortex of sound that will freak your [&*!#] friggin' out! This one is for the most adventurous seekers of everything turned up to the highest prog levels possible. It's all instrumental and it's busy AF. Layers of crazy contrapuntal amass to create a frenzy of exciting intensity akin to one of those modern roller coaster rides that does an unthinkable amount of spins through tunnels and the like. This is complex prog for complexity's sake and for those who crave this, they are in for a treat.

Once again GRECO BASTIÁN seems to evoke Danny Elfman styled compositions are far as chord changes and various elements on board are concerned but the music of the myriad influences also shines through as do the idiosyncrasies of each guest musician on board. This is the type of prog party where things get so wild that the neighbors have to call the cops! This one offers no moments respite. No time for breathers. No ballads, no moments of contemplation, no way. This one is an incessant brutal speedfest from beginning to end with knotty angular rhythms, pummeling time signature changes and adrenalized performances with no chance for the musician's to catch their breath. OK a few scant moments do exist! Hardcore as hell and adrenalizing AF, WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MORE FRIENDS delivers exactly what i was hoping for, namely more of the same uncompromising energetic drive and complexity of what the previous release offered. One of my favorite avant-prog artists of the 21st century so far! GRECO BASTIÁN is without a doubt the best part host prog has to offer! Completamente asombroso!

Greco Bastian is a Mexican composer and multi-instrumentalist who has attracted world-wide attention for the music he creates. The problem for Greco is that he's not a talented enough musician to actually play his own compositions. So between fans and fellow musicians alike telling him he needs help with this he finally reached out to the Avant world looking for help with this 2022 record. What a response!

Counting Greco we get six Mexican musicians on here as Greco adds effects to all these compositions in the studio. There are ten guests helping out and I'm familiar with eight of them so I'll mention them. Japan is well represented with Ryoko Ono from SAX RUINS on sax, Patrick Shiroishi from CORIMA on sax and the legendary drummer Tatsuya Yoshida from RUINS, KOREKYOJINN and KOENJIHYAKKEI. Who would have thought the X-LEGGED SALLY guitarist would help out from Belgium or Jean-Luc Plouvier from UNIVERS ZERO adding piano. Matt Lebofsky bass from MIRTHKON and SECRET CHIEFS 3, Vincent Sicot- Vantalon keyboards from UNIT WAIL and Emmett Elvin guitar and bass from GUAPO.

It's kind of cool that the first four tracks are the four longest pieces and the songs that feature almost all of the guest with the five shorter pieces featuring more the local musicians. Mexico has a very good Avant history with Jose Luis Fernandez Ledesma leading that pack but NAZCA, DECIBEL, BANDA ELASTICA and many more have followed in these footsteps and maybe the brightest of them all is Greco Bastian who knows? It does come as advertised being frantic, uptempo but Greco always changes things up and makes it interesting.

I have to say this was love at first listen and I was worried about this. Having no vocals helps me as I'm not into that fast paced singing and sound we get so often in the Avant world. But hearing the opener "Proteo Revampirizado" for the first time relieved a lot of anxiety. Dense, complex and oh yeah there are vocals on the opener I forgot but they are almost in the background. Some intense sax from Ryoko here. "Zidane Racist" opens with all these synths and an uptempo sound that right away brought THE FLOWER KINGS to mind I kid you not, still does. Again dense and complex with so much going on. Two bass players here and some angular guitar later.

"Zeuhlito Lindo" is stacked with guests and continues that relentless pace. Plouvier adds piano after 4 minutes. That's three intense tracks in a row and the fourth one "Oniontown" while powerful at times gives us some space to breathe. The UNIT WAIL keyboardist is here while our Mexican musicians really shine with the bass and guitar especially. Lots of xylophone spread throughout the final five pieces but some variety within the Avant field. "D.A.S." is the first mid-paced tune but it's also the shortest at just over 2 minutes. The guitar is very distorted to open "Don't Open Till Xmas". The closer "Exit Filming For A Muse" might be the most impressive composition on here. When it kicks into gear we also get another melody cycling over top, just really impressive Mr. Bastian.

A very solid 4 stars and another great example of the talent that there is in Mexico.

Music for hummingbirds

Frantic, relentless, amazing. Superb musicianship. The record deserves 3.5 stars just for the musicianship alone. Some of the song structures reminds me of the Japanese zeuhl group Ruins.

Music is complex but it is not complex for complexity's sake. There is no aimless noodling which sometimes infect complex music. Everything is measured and built with a precision of a watch maker.

Despite avant-garde approach to most of their compositions, interesting melodies are strongly embedded within the pieces. For instance, the second song of the album "Zidane Racist" starts with a cartoonish melody but very quickly the simple melody starts to fracture into many complex pieces. It is like watching a crystal vase shattering in slow motion. At the end of the song all those pieces are glued back together creating a very satisfactory enclosed composition.

Music is varied. Although the general feel is one of Avant-prog/Zeuhl, there are also cinematic/symphonic-prog referencing pieces such as "Exit filming for a muse" or "Oniontown". Oniontown also includes a very nice acoustic guitar section. "Zeuhlito" has a strong Latin feel. The album contains five bonus tracks many of which contain classical elements. "With a little hell from my friends" is a very satisfying assembly of compositions. Well done Greco.

GRECO BASTIÁN has been thrilling the avant-prog underground for a few years now ever since he unleashed his debut "Persian American" in 2019 to critical acclaim for his bold dexterous melding of the difficult music section of avant-prog with math rock as well as the more pacifying stabilizing zeuhl sounds. A true outlier coming from Acapulco, Mexico, BASTIÁN has rekindled the fun factor in the genre by tackling the knotty prog excess of bands like Magma, King Crimson, Present, Koenjihyakkei and other rockers in opposition along with the humorous whimsy of Frank Zappa and England's Canterbury Scene.

What better way to make a classic album than WITH A LITTLE HELL FROM MY FRIENDS, the outrageously cool album title that makes a bit of a reference to The Beatles' classic tune, Nice! And hell from some friends indeed with a star-studded cast that includes FIFTEEN guest stars that include Tatsuya Yoshida, Jean-Luc Plouvier, Matt Lebofsky and a whole bunch of others. It's a freekin' avant-prog party, this one! This album features nine exhilarating tracks that clock in around 41 minutes and all i can say is WOW!!! This album features music that avant-prog dreams are made of! The album doesn't waste any time getting down to business. The opening "Proteo Revampirizado" showcases a group of virtuosos walking the fine line between melodic prog rock along with all those unconventionalities of the avant-prog world.

In many ways this is like a various artists release as each track features a different lineup with only the man of the hour GRECO BASTIÁN performing piano and keyboards on every track on board. This album ambitiously and successfully melds interesting melodic developments with avant-garde and Rock In Opposition technicalities. The second track "Zidane Racist" for example sounds like the theme to a spy-fi thriller only embellished with the inverted interests of Henry Cow only an adrenaline. Oh yeah, this is fast paced in yer face avant-prog experience all the way through and for those of us who live for quick tempos grooves in avant-invertedness fashion this is the soundtrack of total contentment. It's just all so well paced! Every little detail is brilliantly executed with the tones, timbres, rhythms, musical scales, production techniques and musical motifs performing like a brilliant Cirque du Soleil performance!

This album really is the epitome of brutal prog. Incessant rampant tempos coalesce with crazy complex time signatures and even more demanding compositional fortitude. The musicianship on this one is off the chart and the fact that so many disparate musicians somehow came together and built of the strengths of the others is almost unthinkable! While many supergroup projects flail due to too many chefs in the kitchen, this one actually benefits from egos on hold for the sake of crafting a greater than the sum of the parts magnanimous roster of excellence. Manic, technical and utterly progressive, WITH A LITTLE HELL FROM MY FRIENDS offers a thrilling non-stop ride through the brilliance of the avant-prog universe only set to full roller coaster ride setting rather than a wimpy merry-go-round on the Boardwalk.

Basically what we have here is a crazy mix of avant-prog, math rock and zeuhl. Think Ruins jamming with Henry Cow, Hella and Secret Chiefs 3 and you're getting close. Add to that, each of those bands has fully downloaded every aspect about the other. Is it A.I. or just human freakin' creativity run amok? Well, i don't know but all i can say is this is a wild ride and an intoxicating musical head rush where so many avant-musical dreams are crammed into a single album's experience! It's melodic, it's dissonant, it's atonal, it's angular, it's rhythmic, it's chaotic, it's freakin' fun as hell! This album really showcases how well humans can co-create en masse like very few albums of the recent past. I'm literally blown away by how well this one came together. I'm gushing while it's rushing and while many feel like flushing it away all i can say is it's an acquired taste so please don't waste all your time if you're not based!

Also there's a bit of Oingo Boingo type of craziness to this. Danny Elfman sounds like an influence in the compositional flow with some tracks like "Aclowntrenós" reminding me of 
The Simpsons theme. What's crazy about this is this project balanced the accessible elements of prog with the crazy alienating factors. It's just super well done and anyone who loves avant-prog that doesn't compromise will totally love this. For any who need a ballad to catch their breath, this is not for you! This is music that goes for the avant-prog jugular without being complex for complexity's sake. This is music that is based on beautiful melodic flows that just happens to incorporate bizarre complexities to elevate it into a totally new level of progginess. One of my faves of 2022. Very much looking forward to the next offering of Señor BASTIÁN. Even a surprise Christmas song, LOL!

Music may be to your taste, but also may not be. I think here we have an album that I can't enjoy as others may.

Proteo Revampirizado - starts frantically and it never lets go after this. The playing is superb, but I don't like to be thrown off all of the time. 7/10

Zidane Racist - What's with this title? Am I missing the joke? The track wears me down 6.5/10

Zeuhlito Lindo - another frantically paced track. I certainly hear how well the musicians play. But it doesn't gel for me 6.5/10

Oniontown - the most cohesive track until now. I give this 7.5/10

Aclowntrenós - this is simply way out of my zone. This is not the type of music I want to listen to, ever 6.5/10

My First Metal Swing Set - every track sounds like they have to rush. As if they have to pay the studio by the minute 6.5/10

Da.S. - More according to my taste, because it's more structured 7/10

Don't open till Christmas - their version of Jingle Bells. Sorry, I hate that time of year. 6/10

Exit filming for a muse - Best track on the record for me. 7.5/10

I give this one 2 stars. In my opinion, this is music for fans only.

A great surprise to discover the work of this Mexican musician, who somehow managed to invite for this album some of the best musicians of the genre, from representative and even legendary bands.

The music is difficult to categorize in a few words, as it is full of changes not only in time but also in style, genre or mood. We can find Zeuhl, Math, RIO, Jazz, Symphonic or Rock riffs. Influences from names like Zappa, Present, Magma, etc.

To stop to analyze each track would be a crazy task, because the ideas come and go in a frenetic way, leaving barely space to breathe to the listener. One of those albums that we are thankful for because they never stop trying to surprise us at every second. And for glorious moments it really succeeds.

Although the songs are different from each other, they maintain a curious conceptuality that lets us know in each track that they are pieces of a bigger whole, like chapters of a story that in 40 minutes takes us through colorful landscapes until bringing us back home with the majestic closing of the album, in that grandiloquent ending of "Exit filming for a muse".

Great work, no doubt. Let's hope this is the first of several more with the same quality.

I was already familiar with this musician's previous works and honestly, although I recognized an outstanding musicality, I never took his compositions seriously because they were all constructed and interpreted by software that did not show emotions or inflections typical of music, like all human artistic expression.

However, hearing in this album his songs played by great musicians (I don't know how he managed to convince them to participate) opened my eyes and my mind about the scope that the imagination of this character can achieve.

Songs that are all unpredictable, full of changes of tempo or even genre, are all found in this album that gives a breath of fresh air to the scene, since it is not so often that we see works with this coherence and conceptuality.

Five Stars, an album with no weak songs and high creative quality.

Since 2022 is over, I consider it necessary to write a few lines of what, IMHO, is my favorite album of the previous year.

With only 9 songs in just over 40 minutes, WITH A LITTLE HELL FROM MY FRIENDS is a great journey around an incalculable number of influences and names ranging from Magma, Zappa, Cardiacs and Univers Zero to labels like Zeuhl, Rock in Opposition, Avant-Rock, Jazz, Math Rock, Symphonism and others that turn this sonic experience into a memorable trip.

Although there is a plethora of well-known names in the scene present in the songs, it is good to hear that everyone worked from their instrument for each song, without taking center stage and leaving all the spotlight for the true protagonist of the album, which is the composition elaborated by our Mexican friend.

Let's hope that this is not the only work of these heights and characteristics and that we will be able to listen to more of Greco Bastián's future releases.

Excellent addition to any proghead's collection.

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.