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Thursday, April 17, 2008

Fond Of Tigers - Release The Saviours (Drip Audio, 2007) ****½

"Fond Of Tigers" is a Vancouver band which defies categorization : it's instrumental rock, it's jazz, it's prog rock, it's repetitive minimal, it's violent, it's high energy, it's extremely well-organized and timed, it's structured, it's avant-garde, it's emotional, it's free. The band consists of Shanto Bhattacharya on bass, Skye Brooks and Dan Gaucher on drums, JP Carter on trumpet, Stephen Lyons on guitar, Morgan McDonald on piano and label owner Jesse Zubot on violin. Their rhythms and rhythm changes are as excellent as they are unexpected, reminding of King Crimson (and the cover could be KC too!), they have the weird energy and full band wall of sound kind of approach like Soil & Pimp Sessions and the sense of adventure of the Chicago Underground Duo/Trio. And that's a compliment, there are lesser bands to be compared to. But the band's great success is that they actually are beyond comparison with an unbelievably strong musical unity throughout the album, regardless of the variety of approaches. Their unrelenting drive, creativity and emotional content make this a unique band, worth checking out by anyone interested in modern music. The band's musical accessibility, eclecticism and high quality is a guarantee that music lovers from many different horizons will enjoy their approach. Highly recommended.

Listen to
Pemberdunn Maple Wolfs
Let's Carve Forever Together
A Long Way To Temporary

Listen and download from eMusic.

1 comments:

joesh said...

Great band, and the label has many other interesting artists that are worth checking out! It makes you wonder what else is happening on the Vancouver scene?

Drip Audio - http://www.dripaudio.com/

Enjoy.