Short Take Review: Doubt  – Never Pet a Burning Dog (2010 MoonJune Records) If you enjoy your music absolutely wild and free, jam-packed with performance, then I’m thinking the power trio known as Doubt will be of interest to you. When these guys get going the house really rocks, in fact the house almost crumbles under the weight of the notes flying around. The eight compositions on this CD are best identified as extremely high-energy jazz rock at its most avant-garde. There are times when the trio starts to cook and everyone is doing their own thing to such intensity you just about stop breathing. There are moments where Doubt takes a break to rock but not for long, it’s soon back into a flurry of free-form jazzy improvisation. This is certainly for the advanced listener as it will require a heightened sense of musical listening skills to fully appreciate the artistry involved here. Canterbury fans may want to take note of the presence of one Richard Sinclair who provides vocals and bass on a couple of the tracks. There is also a thank you in the liner notes to Elton Dean for bringing the trio together. Fans should check out Doubt at www.myspace.com/doubt3 (4/25/10)

Short Take Review: Slivovitz  – Hubris (2009 MoonJune Records) This seven piece outfit from Napoli create a zesty music on Hubris that is an eclectic collection of styles and influences starting out with a traditional jazzy styled composition full of bubbling fretless bass and saxophones and then the next track starts off with some pleasant world-music percussive sounds before the jazz influences come to the fore once again. In fact the music rarely stays in one-place for long. While most of these 12 tracks are around four or five minutes (a few are longer) they pack in a lot of musical change-ups and different instruments such as harmonica, vibraphone and violin. The vocals are rarely in the form of traditional lyrics, but rather lyrical sound platforms or scat. The music here hardly ever ventures into the dissonant or cacophonous zone but rather sticks pretty closely to the traditional jazz approach however even there it can still get pretty animated but never too far out there. Fans of trad-jazz who are looking for something with a little more flavour, a little more zest should check these guys out because I think you’ll quite enjoy the music they make. (4/25/10)

Short Take Review: The Unravelling  – 13 Arcane Hymns (2009 Independent Release) Every-so-often I get a record that comes my way, that is perhaps just a little too heavy and yet still displays a lot of creativity, so much so that I want others to know about it. Such is the case with The Unravelling, two guys who hail out of Calgary Alberta Canada. This duo consists of Steve Moore and Gustavo de Beauville and the 13 songs they’ve packed on this disc are just brimming with aggressive intensity. Oh there are moments where they take a breath but never for very long and with influences such as Tool and Opeth you should have a pretty good idea of the music on display here. There are moments of proggy influences or embellishments but they’re fairly well absorbed into the overall pitch of the music. In fact some of the tracks display quite an interesting depth in arrangements and instrument usage hinting that there is more going on than meets the ear. That said it falls to the vocals to push these compositions over the edge; they’re loud, raw and yet strangely intriguing. Fans should check out the band’s music in detail at www.myspace.theunravellingmusic (4/26/10)

Short Take Review: Iron Kim Style – s/t (2010 MoonJune Records)  The Seattle based quintet known as Iron Kim Style perform in a jazz-rock or Avant-jazz style that percolates along and every so often explodes into a grand flurry of hyper-melodic-noise. The music tends to be dark and dense with a nasty undercurrent of rhythm while the lead instruments stab at the air. There are ten instrumental selections on display and they range in length from 2:24 to 10:32 and within those time limits the group makes every effort to meander and jump through as many musical hoops as possible. It’s clear that here the music is improvised creating an opportunity for every musician to get their time in the spotlight. Guitars are prominent, but never very far away are the trumpet and bass, why even clarinet makes an appearance on a couple of tracks. Like most jazz-rock the music builds in intensity to fever pitches and then subsides for others to come to the fore. If you liked the music of Moraine this will likely appeal to you too. Give them a listen at www.myspace.com/ironkimstyle (4/25/10)

Short Take Review: GTRMAN  – Relentless (2010 Independent) Some of you may remember a review I posted here of an earlier release from GTRMAN entitled Blackened. This new disc ventures into a few other musical styles and is perhaps a little less prog in nature and yet has much to recommend especially for those interested guitar musicianship. This is the work of multi-instrumentalist Dennis Williams and the 12-tracks here run the gamut from Spanish style acoustic to hard rocking Iron Maiden and all points in between. Expect to hear as well a little country, Latin horns, some classical influences and even a bit of mellow soft acoustic. A couple compositions time out at just over six and a half minutes which certainly allows for plenty of picking pyrotechnics and it must be said there are hints of proggy embellishments sprinkled here and there. You come away feeling that Williams is as comfortable gently picking away on an acoustic guitar as he shredding on the electric. If you’re a fan instrument guitar rock, and there are a lot of you out there I recommend you check out this disc. You can hear more at www.myspace.com/thegtrman

Short Take Review: Funmachine  – Beef Oven [EP] (2010 Independent) Well gang here’s five new tracks from that wacky bunch known as Funmachine. And if some of these pieces, all of them in fact, seem to ring-a-bell well that’s because they are all adaptations of the music of Ludwig Van Beethoven that were used in a stage presentation of the Anthony Burgess novel A Clockwork Orange. And if you saw the movie you will remember it was Wendy Carlos’s synthesizer performing these same musical themes. Here Funmachine take a few of those same musical pieces and rework them with their own particular spin. Each of these tracks, all between 3 and 5 minutes features some of the key melody lines or familiar musical motifs but then pushes the limits on musical expression to manufacture some amazing, even breathtaking adaptations. Each song is provided a tongue-in-cheek Funmachine title such as; “5^th”, “ode to george” and “fur release.” In the end there is an overall tone of familiarity here but it’s drenched in the band’s quirky musical approach. It’s the kind of thing you have to listen to, to appreciate. Check it out. www.myspace.com/funmachine  

Short Take Review: Edensong  – Echoes of Edensong [EP] (2010 Independent) It’s hard to believe that Edensong’s first album came out in 2008, but in an effort to stay in the fan’s collective consciousness the band have released a disc of 3 new songs and 3 live tracks. At nearly an hour in length this disc is a real treat and truly stretches the concept of the ‘Extended Play.’ It starts off in classic fashion with “Beneath the Tide” a ten-minute symphonic masterpiece. The seven members of Edensong run through their paces delivering an epic track that features more than a hint of Jethro Tull (I guess it’s the flute?) Fast to slow, hard to soft, folk and rock, a great blend of electric and acoustic, it’s all there. The other studio tracks include the predominantly acoustic “Lorelai” [4:11] a song created to help the Haitian Earthquake relief cause and the band favorite, but never recorded “To See but not Believe” [8:42]. All three are quite brilliant. The three live tracks were all recorded at various Prog festivals and sound really good as well. The music of Edensong is complex and intense although they’re never afraid to pause and turn reflective giving their composition’s a wonderful dynamic range. As we wait for their next full-length studio effort this is a welcome tease. For more details you’ll want to check out: www.edensongtheband.com   

Short Take Review: Life Stage  – Stage 1 [EP] (2009 Independent) So here we have a trio of guitar, drums and bass hailing out of Magnolia Texas. This EP clocks in at right around the 35 minute mark and features some pretty accomplished performances. These guys have been around, albeit with some different members, since 2006 and have been playing live every chance they get. The music is as you might surmise heavy with loads of guitar crunch. Each of the 5 songs is in the six to seven minute range and the first two feature some interesting riffing and nicely restrained vocals, but are also what you might expect from a prog-metal trio; not predictable but they don’t break the mould. However with track three “Instrumorphasis” [6:36] Life Stage start to show some depth with the tracks lovely 2-minute acoustic opening leading into a driving second part that morphs into a number of different modes with some great musical change-ups. There’s a real Rush feel at times but the band clearly have their own sound. In fact the last three tracks on display here really show the trio experimenting nicely with song structure and arrangements giving these pieces a fair level of complexity and further displaying Life Stage’s unique approach to what the band’s promo material freely admits is a pretty overcrowded genre of Progressive Metal. I’m anxious to hear what their first full length album will sound like. Check out the band at: www.lifestagemusic.com   

Short Take Review: Mehran  – Angels of Persepolis (2010 Independent) Here’s a disc that’s really different! A concept album that is a bold mixture of Flamenco guitar, jazz, Latin vibes, and a bit of classical structure. The ten instrumental tracks here range in length from 2:41 to 7:52 and feature all sorts of rhythms such as Rumba, Bossa, Bolero etc. The brains behind this album is Flamenco Guitarist Mehran and he’s surrounded himself with a cast of over a dozen musicians mixing musical styles and instruments together to convey his story. At any point, as you listen to these compositions there is no question this is an album of Flamenco music and yet it’s what Mehran has added to the arrangements that will appeal to some more adventurous listeners. A cello here, string arrangement there, Latin percussion, flute, accordion and all manor of ethnic instruments are layered into the music and around every corner is a musical sound or texture you didn’t expect to hear. If you’re up for something fully acoustic, something softer full of Latin tempos and melodies or just love the sound of Flamenco guitar you’ll want to check this out.  www.angelsofpersepolic.com

Short Take Review: Dennis Rea  – Views from Chicheng Precipice (2010 MoonJune)  Music fans in the Pacific North West will be familiar with the work of Dennis Rea via his contributions to bands such as Moraine and Iron Kim Style both on the more experimental side of the musical equation. Here Rea combines his guitar talent with those of a dozen other performers to bring to fruition five compositions that prominently feature Chinese, Taiwanese and East Asian sounds, structures and melodies. Each of these pieces, three of which are quite long exude ethnic flavours, rich in tones you can almost see the landscapes in your mind. Song structures go from moody and atmospheric, even almost ambient to at times more raucous. Fans of Rea’s work will certainly want to check this out but if you enjoy decidedly ethnic flavoured folk music or World Music with a hint of jazziness or improvisation this might be just the ticket for you. Check it out. www.dennisrea.com

Short Take Review: Technology vs Horse  – Bearula: The Bear Dracula (2010 Independent) The experimental art-rock music here has been described as watching a house on fire or eating spicy foods where once you start you can’t stop eating or in this case, listening. The music is at times, well, strange. A freaky mix of Art Rock, Alternative, Indy Rock that respects no boundaries. The music is loud and aggressive. It’s angry and full venom. Harsh. Hey it’s a concept album that seems to be about a vampire bear. The seven tracks are all over the place; conventional structure mean very little to these guys. Instead it’s all about exploring and blending. Every so often some amazing melodies happen such as in the track titled “Fharlanghn.” My suspicion is that prog fans who like to explore the music that enjoys being on the fringes will love these guys. Check it out. www.myspace.com/technologyvshorse    

Short Take Review: Goldbug  – The Seven Dreams (2010 1K Recordings) The more experimental side of progressive music is rich with artists exploring the boundaries of traditional genres. This is where Goldbug lives and thrives, pushing the limit. These seven tracks are built on a mixture of jazzy, improvisational foundations and spacey, ambient textures riding on top. Four of these tracks are short, under five-minutes while the other two are just over eleven. The compositions are chock full of strange bleeps and blurps the kind you hear the computer making in older sci-fi movies. These sounds are given place of prominence here and there when the quartet of Tim Motzer, Barry Meehan, Eric Slick and Theo Travis step aside. When they start to cook, the music comes alive as each member charts a unique path and yet it all grooves together. This is music that is very experimental and may require more than your full attention but fans of the jazzy side of progressive music will thoroughly enjoy what’s going on here. File it under Experimental. 

Short Take Review: Tim Motzer+Markus Reuter  – Descending (2010 1K Recordings) This is yet another disc from the more experimental side of progressive music. Motzer and Reuter are joined here by Theo Travis, BJ Cole, Pat Mastelotto and Doug Hirlinger. There are six slow or mid-tempo instrumental compositions here; three around five minutes and three longer ones. The music itself is spacey, atmospheric but rarely strictly ambient, there’s always something going on. The alto flutes and guitars both acoustic and electric provide challenging melodies, while cymbals and electronics provide haunting accents from out of nowhere. Haunting is the key word here to describe the overall feeling created with the music on Descending. It’s like a soundtrack to a movie where there is mystery and perhaps mayhem, but you’re never quite sure. It’s intriguing. File it under Experimental. Check it out. www.markusreuter.com   

Short Take Review: Random Touch – Reverberating Apparatus (2010 Token Boy Records) Here’s yet another disc from Random Touch, a band that create a special kind of improvised, adventurous and at times challenging form of progressive music. Many times their material falls well outside the bounds of rock, approaching more a kind of musique-concrete. The three members delight in pushing the limits of their instruments and stretching the boundaries of composition. What they do with guitar, keyboards and drums is unlike anything. At times sounding all spacey, like a soundtrack to a spooky film and then at other times simply cacophonous with layers and layers of sonic textures. Every-so-often there is an effort to “rock-out” so-to-speak, but even here the level of jazz-infused complexity, angularity and discord is breathtaking. There are 12 tracks ranging in length from one-minute to just over nine-minutes, although most are around the three to five range. If you like you music on the experimental side check out Random Touch.

Short Take Review: Bangtower  – Casting Shadows (2010 Declassified Records) The tried and trusted trio arrangement has been tried any number of times and here’s yet another version. Consisting of Percy Jones (fretless bass, keyboards), Neil Citron (guitars, keyboards) and Walter Garces (drums), Bangtower is a heavy blues rock affair that bristles with musicianship. The groove may be set but these guys constantly explode into riffs throughout these pieces. There are eight tracks here many of them on the longer side offering lots of opportunity to play…and play they do. Once the track is underway these guys will find any excuse to carve out their mark on the piece. And yet their mastery of the instrument offers some tight playing. This reminded me a lot of early Savoy Brown or Status Quo…blues with a touch of proggy embellishment. If that’s your thing…look no further and get a quick fix right here with BangTower.