UT GRET

One of the USA's most innovative avant-prog bands, UT GRET was formed in Santa Cruz, California as early as 1981 after multi-instrumentalist Joee Conroy had moved from his hometown of Louisville, Kentucky in 1979. A huge fan of bands like Gong, the Muffins and the various Fred Frith projects (amongst others), Conroy struck up a friendship with the similar musical mindedness of multi-wind player David Stilley, whom he convinced to follow him back to his native Kentucky.

Over those early years the duo recorded a great deal of what would become UT GRET's debut album TIME OF THE GRETS. The band name is a composite of the word UT which is the lowest note on a medieval musical organ, apparently the tone of C and GRET which is said to be a reference to a 12th century European invasion. This debut album is somewhat of a mystery as to when it was released actually. Some sources say 1990, some say 1996 and others will claim 1998. On the band's own Bandcamp site though they say 1994 so i'm going with that one.

This band is known for its far reaching expansions of the avant-prog world which bridges world folk (Gamelan, Americana, European) along with jazz, progressive rock, RIO, Canterbury jazz and zeuhl amongst many other styles. On this debut Conroy alone handles guitars, chapman stick, violin,bass, viol de gamba, santoor, psaltry, autoharp, cheng, shamisen, pipa and zitherphonics, whereas Stilley contributes saxophones, keyboards, bassoon, clarinets, flutes, wind sythesizer, percussion and midi mapping. The duo is joined by seven guests who play guitars, drums, piano, flute, cheddar and voice.

TIME OF THE GRETS is the typical angular avant-prog experience meaning that it's pretty much as far removed from popular music as bands like Henry Cow were during their 1970s heyday. While the general flow is on the RIO side of prog, the various accoutrements that come and go take various tones and timbres, rhythms and time signatures from the multitude of aforementioned genres that make this debut quite a wild ride with each track taking on a distinct personality unlike the rest. As one could expect the opening near 10-minute "Friend of the Cow" is very much in the vein of the great RIO pioneer Henry Cow" whereas the near 18-minute magnum opus "Magma Futura" offers a cool zeuhl treat only with the psychedelic aspects of classic Daevid Allen led Gong.

While primarily instrumental "Magma Futura" also features the few traces of vocals however in accordance to the Magma inspirations they are unintelligible and possible in an invented language of some sort. The incessant zeuhl rhythms are fortified with those warm Canterbury jazz sounds from Gong's "Angel's Egg" and "You" glazed over with trippy space rock sounds including glissando guitar playing. The track somehow manages to add a lengthy guitar jam and a gypsy swing bassoon segment with a fluttering flute accompaniment before melting down into a free improvisation avant-jazz outburst along with unhinged vocal gymnastics, or more accurately nonsensical utterances in the vein of Mike Patton at his weirdest.

"Silly Hat Frontier" is the weirdest and most detached from reality type of track i've heard in a long time sounding something like a jazz version of Yugen having a psychedelic journey with Sun Ra. It has sort of an Oingo Boingo bounce with Balkan gypsy swing cadences and John Zorn inspired sax squawking. In fact it's almost like a bunch of musicians competing for attention and each becoming more aggressive until it all melts away into a majorly bizarre escape hatch into something more akin to John Cage and other 20th century avant-garde classical composers with each instrumentalist pointillistically punctuating the freakfest with his / her own interpretation of reality. Mind blown for sure, but in a good way!

The grand finale comes in the form of the 19 1/2 minute "Time & Revolution" which immediately starts out as a skronk-fest with wind instruments erupting like fireworks and a bass piano roll that keeps the rhythmic drive. The guitar is allowed off its leash and delivers some Frith inspired angularity with shrill tones and titillating timbres. The angularity is set to full throttle with incessant brutal prog time signatures and each instrument seemingly existing in its own dimension bleeding over into our own. With nearly 20 minutes of freakery unleashed it becomes clear that UT GRET are the USA's answer to the most extreme avant-prog that can be experienced with complexities beyond belief and few life lines if any for the feint of heart stuck in the familiar world of melody, harmony and typical song structure.

This album is really the stuff avant-prog dreams are made of. It delivers on every level. The musicianship is top notch as everyone on board delivers like an academically trained maestro and the creativity is beyond friggin cool. The composiitons are chock filled with so many variations and twists and turns that it is impossible to keep a tally. This is a true transcendental album that completely divorces itself from convention but through the process of mimicry also firmly makes references to prog giants of the past but i'm not talking Jethro Tull and Pink Floyd here, i'm talking about the freakiest and most lysergic masters of the past. This will totally appeal to diehard fans of Henry Cow, Univers Zero, Present, Yugen and other similarly minded freakazoids. My kind of uncompromising avant-prog bar none.

Don't be fooled by this leviathan of an album: If you go into it knowing exactly what you're in for (as I did on my second listen) you'll probably have a fairly enjoyable three and a half hours of music (!!!) ahead of you, but if you expect a grand, epic, career-defining statement combining all the various strengths of this remarkably multifaceted and innovative avant-prog ensemble (as I, perhaps naïvely, did on my first listen) you will likely be disappointed.

So what should one expect then? Disc 1, composed entirely by Gregory Acker, presents us 18 world music pieces inspired by Indonesian gamelan, with emphasis on pitched percussion, woodwinds and zithers, regularly accompanied by western instruments like saxophone, electric guitar and (near the end) a bass guitar and a drum kit. While it's quite relaxing and pleasant to listen to, it all sort of blends together after a while; the only pieces that truly stand out are "Cirro-Stratus", with its cute Penguin Cafe Orchestra-like melody and cool guitar arpeggios, and "Par Ti", on which all the woodwinds are given the opportunity to jam out in a straight-forward rock manner, adding a brief bit of diversity.

Disc 2 consists solely of group improvisations and offers a much more varied sound than the first disc: not only in terms of instrumentation - ranging from a standard rock lineup to a string quartet to a wind ensemble and combinations of instruments from all of these - but also in terms of mood and set-up. Some, like "Appalachian Fall" and "21st Century String Quartet" are disjointed and unsettling and are the result of completely free improvisation, sometimes bordering on ambient music ("Music To Die By"); elsewhere the group plays more conventional and frenetic jazz-rock jams such as "The Enemy Is Dust" and "Mercury Paw". Not every track on here is a winner, some pieces drag on for a bit too long and none of it is rooted in a truly memorable or profound musical idea (won't blame them for that obviously since it's all improvised) but effort was clearly put in offering a diverse selection of music and structuring it in a cohesive and naturally flowing manner.

Disc 3 is perhaps the most mystifying: all of it is occupied by an hour-long live performance of Terry Riley's famous minimalist composition "In C". The only other recording of this that I am familiar with is the "original" by Riley himself from 1968 which I like quite a lot (I realize that this may sound ironic considering I criticized disc 1 of this album for being too much of the same, but I believe that monotony and repetition need not necessarily be bad traits of a piece of music, in the hands of a masterful composer or producer who can establish a truly captivating hypnotic effect with it). I've noticed that, compared to Riley's recording, Ut Gret put more emphasis on one specific section around the 44 minute mark which leans on the dissonant more so than any other moment in the composition; I never noticed that part before but it sounds very cool and makes me respect the piece even more so kudos to the group for that. On the other hand, the overall sound quality sadly isn't too great, and I don't like how they abruptly stop and start their performance rather than slowly building it up and breaking it down at the beginning and end. To my knowledge, this is the only liberty they take in what otherwise seems to be a very faithful interpretation of the piece, and while I don't protest against its inclusion, it remains an enigma to me why they would include something like this on their own album rather than a Terry Riley-centred compilation.

What's wild is that this is only the second album of a group that to my knowledge wasn't very established beforehand anyway, and right away they went off the deep end, recording a three-disc opus of what was clearly a number of passion projects for various members with no regard for how commercially viable it might be even within their extremely niche market. I really, really wish I could reward that boldness and determination with a higher rating because I really do respect it, but even though I don't regret listening to all 220 minutes of this I would be lying if I described any of it as essential.

I have a great sympathy for albums that can be taken as pairs (SFTW and Heavy Horses, for example). Those you have to listen to both to fully understand both at one time. "Radical Symmetry" sure is paired with with "Ancestors Tale".

While the former has a breathtaking eclecticism (which still leaves me wondering about the choice of the title and the reason to be a radical symmetry on the album), "Ancestor's Tale" is presented as a much more groovy and jazzy album, relaxing really (I can say that I noticed even some flavors of bossa nova). There is a little less of eclecticism in the instruments - but when we talk about UT Gret, this statement is somewhat misleading - and the band's sound in a much more concise pace than previously. The songs flow almost without one realizing the passage from one track to another, even if many moments remain engraved in our mind, for the quality of the track. And here the ultimate example is certainly "Selvez Unmaden" (Always loved existencialist songs) and the absolutley great "The raw, the cooked and the oveseay". The voice of Cheyenne Mize and flutes, always married to a clarinet, saxophone or basoon fill me your ears and satisfies with the melodies. If "An elephant in Berlin" reminds us Henry Cow, "Dinosaaur on the floor" is all King Crimson - with the instruments creatively simulating what would be the dinosaur moving around (I guess).

More surprises and more pleasentness. Damn it, I guess I AM a fan of UT GreAt.

Going to give the full 5 stars, full confident that the full art-work matches the concept and the tonality of this great work.

Absolutely ecstactic, involved, layered and any other adjective possible to express how I felt inside (inside!) this album. Radical Symmetry is the third UT Gret album, and even if the 2014 album has been reviewed by a significant number of people, this is the first review and not rating of this 2011 jewel - why? Dont know...

But let us turn to the music. First, I must confess I knew nothing about the band, who introduced me to it was Micky a random topic of PA. Not even I have the opportunity to read the material that the band produced for the album or anything else, so, I should stick to the music and track' titles.

"Radical Symmetry" remember something contradictory: technically speaking a symmetry cannot be radical, because by definition it is equal. As much as the title of this album incite us to imagine an exploration of shapes and experimentalism without limits (which actually occurs along the tracks), the first feeling we have is to be welcomed, and this is done by a some great guitar riffs at the beginning of the first track, "Insect probe", opening your ears for further experimentation.

The wide variety of instrumentation is so surprising as it allows the group to explore them track by track. There is no rush or haste: all the styles that the group explores (from Indian music to certain melodies that reminded me of the Jewish melodies of "The fiddler on the roof") are minimally disposed with music correlation from tack to track. "For Viswa", music with Indian influence, does not prevent the appreciation of the more "conventional" "A Walk in the Garden". The shorter "Round brown mouse" and "Last Impression" work very well as a bridge where the most different ranges of correlations would not be easier as the two that mentioned above. "Rule 110" may be my favorite track of the whole album. There is something of Henry Cow and Univers Zero in it with the delicacy that UT Gret display their style. It is actually a very well-built track. "Sword of Damocles" is a didactic way of showing the progression of a track and definitely "Vegetable Matters" also shows the progression together with the completion of the album.

I'm forgetting something? It seems so... Radical Simmetry and the album cover induce me to think something ... the name of the tracks also ... an insect probe, a souvenir of the city, regression, rats and snakes... impressions and rules... damn it, seems that there is some concept here! I couldnt read the lyrics or visualized the whole art, but I'll do so and perhaps return to this review to an update . My verdict is already 5 stars, just for music. If I'am presented with a well-articulated concept, I can turn into a UT Gret fan quite easily.

Oh, sorry, UT GreAt.

What an enjoyable album this turned out to be. very much in the Avant camp with guest female vocals from Cheyenne Mize who also plays violin on several tracks. Bring her in full time, please! She actually reminds me of the great Emily Hay. Two former FRENCH TV members(Steve & Steve) are part of this band, on keyboards and clarinet respectively. We get plenty of bassoon and even some didgeridoo. I was really surprised to hear mellotron on this album as you don't usually hear that in this style of music.

"Ancestors' Tale" is my favourite. Vocal melodies rise then the horns and drums take over honking and beating before the vocals kick in along with flute. Beautiful stuff. This is such a relaxing and inviting tune and we get mellotron that comes and goes as well. A gorgeous piece. "The Departure" is one minute of growly bassoon and intricate drum work. "Hopperknockity" is a tribute to Hugh Hopper and it's an instrumental. Horns and drums lead the way to start then it settles back before kicking back in. Mellotron comes and goes and I have to say the interplay on this one is stunning. Hugh would be proud. "Selves Unmade" features vocals, clarinet and drums standing out early on then it settles as she speaks some words. Themes are repeated and there's a nice horn solo 2 1/2 minutes in. The vocals return then it all settles right down and becomes avant-garde before the vocals come back to end it.

"The Raw, The Crooked and The Overeasy" has a full sound a minute in followed by vocals. A calm before 3 minutes as a beautiful instrumental soundscape takes over. "An Elephant In Berlin" is led by drums, piano and bass clarinet(I think) as the soundscape shifts and changes slightly throughout. A dark calm arrives before 5 minutes as the contra-bassoon growls and the piano tinkles. It all kicks back in at 7 1/2 minutes. "Dinosaur On The Floor" is humerous with the contra-bassoon honking away. Vocals arrive before 2 minutes. "The Grotesque Pageantry Of Fading Empires" is a slow paced song where the guitar eventually cries out for over a minute before the pace picks up. I like this one. "Zodiac" and "Walk The Plank" both have a chamber music vibe to them and both are melancholic.

Without question one of the highlights for me as far as 2014 albums go. It's melodic yet very interesting throughout. Lots to like here and easily 4 stars.

Today's task is to review "Ut Gret's" album "Ancestor's Tale" and that will I do now, honest and precise. Ut Gret is a Kentucky band with now four records in their discograpjy. Their first was released 1998 and now 2014 has their fourth been ready for purchasing. Before me, the record has got good reviews and I definitely will continue in that way. I wouldn't say the cover is remarkable, but fortunately the music is. It lasts for almost one our and feautures the piano, organ and mellotron player Stephen Roberts, the basson and flute player Jackie Royce, the clarinet man Steve Good, the drummer and percussionist Gary Pahler, the bass, chapman stick, guitar and electronics person Joee Conroy and the guests Gregory Acker(sax, flute and percussion), Cheyeene Mize(voice and violin) and Sydney Simpson(bass). Together these persons have ctreated a vibrant and vivid musical world I am glad to have encountered.

It feels like "Ut Gret" with this album totally are doing their own thing. I have hard to remember groups or artists that are sounding similar. Well, I get associations to Stravinsky at many point but that is mostly the bassoon. The bassoon is a fantastic instrument which wide and homely sound makes me laugh and enjoy the msuic even more. Oh how I love the freedom in this music and the use of different instruments than the ordinar rock ones. Bassoon and clarinet are perfect rock instruments I insist. The whole album is very good and the moments of glory are many but I will point out my favourites for you. I can't keep secret that the most fetching place here is "Ancestors' tale", the title track which is a little masterpiece. I got trapped in it by its wonderful melody, vocals and inventions(10/10). The even more crazy and progressive "Hopperknockity tune" filled me with the same wonder(10/10) and my impression of "the Raw, the Cooked and the Overeasy" was almost as amazed(9/10). I though that "Dinosaur on the floor"(8/10) and "Walk the plank"(8/10) was wonderful pieces as well and the fragments I haven't mentioned are worth hearing as well. "Ancestors' Tale" is an intriguing record that becomes better and better every time I hear it so I would definitely recommend it. I will get four prog stars of me.

Out of Louisville, Kentucky, comes a fascinating brand of avant-rock in the form of Ut Gret, a band that describes its music as 'pan-idiomatic' due to its genre-crossing nature. From dueling bassons and clarinets to Mellotron and belly dancers, Ut Gret certainly isn't interested in being mundane as it explores the edge where jazz, rock, folk, classical, and world music collide. Their latest release, Ancestor's Tale, is an intriguing sonic documentation of that world.

The record kicks it off with the title track, "Ancestor's Tale," as female voices enter one by one, overlaying in interesting harmonization before the band breaks out and follows up with a similar theme done with an array of woodwinds, bass and drums. This piece, originally written for a silent film (Call of Chthuhlu) takes the listener through a bit of what's typical for the band: jazzy lines on electric piano, grooving drums, and an eventual Mellotron filling in the space for lots of woodwind solos. While vocals aren't necessarily the law in Ut Gret, there are a few tracks that make use of them, generally in similar style as the opener. Another one of these is "The Raw, the Cooked, and the Overeasy," a song that demonstrates not only the ability to write cool song titles, but also the knack for covering a wide amount of ground. The piece starts off jazzy, even bluesy, as it carries us through the opening verses. When the singing comes to a break the band sets ground for some great violin, bassoon and a flute improvisation. The ending proves itself to be the real treat though as it fires off heavy unison bursts interspersed with a descending guitar pattern while a catchy drum beat accompanied by flute and tron strings take us to the finish line.

Combining both mood and rhythm are a couple of standout tracks, "Hopperknockity Tune" and "An Elephant in Berlin." The former, dedicated to Soft Machine bassist Hugh Hopper, flows from classic Cantebury moods to a headspinning 7/8 overladen with various polyrhythms for a thrilling ride. "An Elephant in Berlin" is a driven by a sharp, staccato motiff that knows how to punch its menacing chords at the right time. Chaotic solos in 12/8 abound on virtually all the woodwinds that band employs before moving to one of the coolest moments on the album: the contra-bassoon solo. Yes, you heard me right, Ut Gret delivers a sexy low-rumbing contra-bassoon solo that leads us to moody moments ranging from dark to dreamy and nostalgic before coming full circle to the original staccato riff. In case you didn't get enough contra-bassoon, don't worry, "Dinosaur on the Floor" is still on its way.

Ancestor's tale ends up being quite a fun listen even if a bit inconsistent at times. Songs like the closer, "Walk the Plank," have gorgeous moments that are well thought out and delivered with feeling, but there are also certain riffs or solo areas that could be shortened, areas where the fat could be trimmed. On the other hand, despite the fact that there are certain techniques or compositional elements that are very familiar (such as the Frippian moments on "Zodiac"), there seems to be something about Ut Gret that seems very personal and even fresh. Their combination of musical genres blends well with the individual performers sense of phrasing, their blend of instruments is interesting and presents many pleasant surprises, and the overall feel of the album is genuine. Ancestor's Tale shows a band that is headed in a solid direction and likely has a few tricks up their sleeves for us for next time.

The American band Ut Gret bring us a mix of avant-prog, retro prog, world music, folk and jazz. This is not music that jumps between styles, rythms and tunes within the space of seconds. No; Ancestors Tale is a remarkable accesible record. These are very coherent compositions while very diverse in styles and influences. There is some great playing and singing but it is all done with restraint and taste. It sounds very fresh and colourfull. For all the mellotron nuts among you: there is a fair bit of it on this album.

What is there not to like? well, nothing really. This is simply one of my favourite albums of the year.

I am tempted to give this album 5 stars as compensation for the many who gave this album 1 star (Have those people actually listened to this album more then once, or just listened to a few snippets on progstreaming and rewarded this experience by giving one star?) However, somewhere in the range 4- 4,5 is more realistic.

Another stellar release thanks to AltrOck Productions. Melodic, at times Canterburian, Bruford/Annette Peacock/Earthworksish, King Crimsonesque, UZedish, Zeuhlish, and, always, perfectly AltrOck. Wonderful vocals. Wonderful presence up front of woodwinds (including didgeridoo!). Awesome interweaving of electric keys and mellotrons. From the album's opening a cappella vocal notes and ensuing woodwind weave I knew I was going to love this music.

Album highlights: "The Raw, The Cooked, and The Over-easy" (5:27) which sounds like it came from some classic Latin-influenced jazz album from the 1960s--at least until the amazing KING CRIMSONian shifts at the 2:50 mark and again later at the 4:45 mark (10/10); the COS/ANNETTE PEACOCK-like Avant-Canterbury-ish title song (5:24) (10/10); the mesmerizingly beautiful multi-instrumental weave of "Walk the Plank" (7:37) (9/10); the fun hyper-weave of "Hopperknockity Tune" (4:00) an instrumental which sounds like it could come from an EARTHWORKS or FIVE-STOREY ENSEMBLE album (9/10); the mesmerizing minimalist OCEANSIZE-like magic of "The Grotesque Pageantry of Fading Empires" (9:17) (9/10), and; the FOCUS-like piano and electric guitar duet work and John Wetton-like bass play of "Zodiac" (8/10).

In the vein of last year's stunning AltrOck releases from FIVE-STOREY ENSEMBLE and EMPTY DAYS we have another adventurous and yet entirely accessible collection of fresh music.

A 4.5 star album I'm bumping up for its diversity, daring, and freshness.

US band UT GRET has been around in one form or another since the 80's, although their history as a recording unit didn't start until the second half of the 90's. From their base in Lousville, Kentucky, they have created four full-length studio albums so far. The most recent of these is "Ancestors' Tale", which was released through the Italian label Altrock Records in the spring of 2014.

Ut Gret's self-description on social network Facebook reads as follows: "Embracing rock, jazz, world music, classical music and the spirit of adventure found in the avant-garde we forge ahead". From my point of view this is an accurate description, and "Ancestors' Tale" comes with a high recommendation to anyone who finds that specific description to be an interesting one.