Artist: Led Bib
Title: Sensible Shoes
Date: 2009
Label: Cuneiform Rune 283
Quality: MP3 CBR 320 Kbps
Size: 128,8 Mb
From allmusic.com:
Review by Dave Lynch
Led Bib are explosive enough to blow up your speakers — after they've done a number on their own speakers, that is. The British quintet plays hot-wired electric jazz-rock with two alto saxes wailing over (usually) electric keys and bass plus no-nonsense drums — and, incidentally, drummer Mark Holub composes nearly all the band's material. Those saxes, belonging to Chris Williams and Pete Grogan and nicely positioned in the stereo field, are practically mirror images, matched in tone and intensity as they pair up in harmony, echo each other in counterpoint, or democratically divide up the soloing space. There's a '90s New York downtown feel to their tone, phrasing, and interplay, recalling in particular the two altos of Ned Rothenberg and Thomas Chapin in Rothenberg's funked-up Double Band releases on the Moers label. Yet Liran Donin's fuzzy rattling bass and Toby McLaren's burning Fender Rhodes truly differentiate this group from the pack — it sometimes seems like Donin in particular has decided that nothing could possibly elevate the proceedings more than playing through a demolished speaker, and McLaren makes the overdriven sound of Miles Davis' fusion-era electric keyboardists seem like George Winston. The opening moments of "Yes, Again" waltz darkly, offering few clues of what's around the corner: the brief assault of an angular theme followed by a squeaky buzzing and pounding blast of ear-shredding keyboard and bass driven by rock-solid rhythms underpinning those siren-wailing saxes. Tempos shift, constrict, and loosen as the band uncoils, only to tighten back into the theme and stop on a dime just as your neighbors shout at you to turn the stereo down. The playful two-note sax blurt beginning "Squirrel Carnage" is joined by the rest of the band's clipped phrases and fractured rhythms, suddenly overtaken by that thick fuzz bass and Rhodes as the energy builds and McLaren unleashes a frantic solo followed by squalling saxophone and an abrupt tumble onto a free-form plateau. Led Bib are not afraid to abandon the rhythm, as they do for a short spell here, but they also relish bringing everything back together, assembling compositional puzzle pieces and ratcheting the energy level up, slamming into a tightly focused finale.
1 Yes, Again Holub 4:55
2 Squirrel Carnage Holub 7:10
3 Early Morning Holub 7:10
4 Sweet Chilli Holub 5:22
5 2.4:1 (Still Equals None) Williams 5:56
6 Call Centre Labyrinth Holub 7:00
7 Water Shortage Holub 7:11
8 Flat Pack Fantasy Holub 4:49
9 Zone 4 Williams 9:07
Catalog #
2009 CD Cuneiform 750283
Liran Donin Bass
Pete Grogan Saxophone
Mark Holub Drums
Mandy Parnell Mastering
Mark Rankin Engineer, Mixing
Chris Williams Saxophone
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