CAREFUL! IT'S TEPID

It's a sad thing that a brilliant band like this never really caught on and could only put out 3 EPs of excellent music. Over the course of these three EPs, we end up with music that could be combined onto one album to make a perfect 5 star album of perfectly crafted and slightly satirical and progressive Canterbury music. But, we have to take what we can get, and 3 short EP's released between the years of 2003 to 2009 are all we are going to get from this innovative band.

'Careful! It's Tepid' was the last of the 3 EPs. After this EP, the famous duo of Baber and Winks would go on to form the band 'Sanguine Hum', which is interesting music in and of itself. This little EP starts with 'Leave Us a Message' which begins with a simple acoustic guitar and vocals, but gets joined by all the rest of the band shortly, with their nice sound of folk and jazz thrown together in a tasty combination supported by guitars and keyboards. 'The Foulness! The Stench!' is a quick instrumental track with a nice simple keyboard melody surrounded by a mellotron and a happy feeling not reflected in the title.

'Dead Cheese' is more complex with guitar and a complex tonal percussive riff. The track is a great example of the progressiveness of the band and has a bit of heaviness to it. This also proves that this band was amazing. The meter is tricky and the instrumentation is quirky and it is all under-layed with a jazz sense. 'The Bearded Bag Lady' continues with the jazz fusion feel, this time it is with a mellower approach with plenty of the happy tonal percussion. 'Ointment for Flies' is the other song with lyrics and nice harmony. More of that rock and jazz fusion with complex and out-of-the-ordinary sound.

You could try to explain what this music is like and who to compare it to, but it would be tough. Take some of Frank Zappa's jazz music and mix it with The Flaming Lips and mellow it down a bit with Super Furry Animals, then add a bit more complexity and you might have something close. The best way to administer this music to yourself is to try to find all three EPs and play them one after the other. Oh for the day when all of this will be re-released on one single album, preferable on vinyl. But for now, we will just have to do it all digitally. By the way, the only reason it is rated at 4 stars is because it is an EP and way too short.