Music Banter - View Single Post

Trollheart · 01-10-2016, 05:25 AM

Title: Enter
Artiste: Fire! Orchestra
Genre: Jazz, Improvisational
Familiarity: Zero
Recommended by: Frownland

Expectations: Certain words go with Frownland like flies go with .... other flies. Jazz. Free jazz. Experimental. Avant-garde. And so on. So it's no surprise at all to me to find that this is a) a free jazz improvisation record and b) it has four tracks, three of which exceed thirteen minutes each. I also expect fully to hate this, providing I make it through.

1. Enter Part One: Ok, some nice guitar to start off, it's not too wild (but there's plenty of time yet) Piano and ooh! Female vocal which is very soulful indeed. Soft horn with male vocals now breathing in. This is quite nice so far. Five minutes in and the vocals drop out and we have a screechy feedback guitar (maybe) in a sort of drone effect. Now bass comes in with percussion, and a solo female vocal this time, sort of tribal/gospel in feel, getting a bit more into that sort of frenetic jazz thing I hate. It's a bit overwrought, but not too bad. And only two minutes to go. Yeah, the ending is terrible but in fairness I can't hate this, so it earns an Orange, which is a better start that I had anticipated.
2. Enter Part Two: Good sort of psychedelic organ driving this, kind of reminds me of the little I've heard of VU, but what do I know? Very repetitive certainly, and the longest track at just over seventeen minutes. Yeah, it's basically a sort of jam I guess, but I hope it changes soon, as I don't think I can take eleven more minutes of this! Okay, now it's just gone full Merzbow and is nothing more than noises. Sigh. Maybe settling into some sort of horn tune in minute ten? Just solo horn for now, nothing else at all. Now a second trumpet coming in with bass and maybe guitar, I don't know: at least it's more recognisable as music now. Very slow and kind of funereal, but then one horn gets uppity and screeches all over the place. Just going through my head like a jackhammer now. End, please. End. Thank you.
3. Enter Part Three: At least that's the longest one over. Next one isn't too far behind it though, at over fourteen and a half minutes, and the closer, shortest track, even hits nine. Ugh. Well, sounds like someone clearing their throat rather quietly --- have I stumbled into that Five Men Singing album again by accident? Now it sounds like someone is being choked, or strangling a chicken, while another one has serious constipation. One minute in and this is already torture. Let's just assume it's annoying vocal crap for the rest of the track and if anything happens to change that I'll let you know. Oh wait: five minutes in and we have a nice piano and bass combination, with a recognisable vocal, female, though she still sounds in pain. Damn, every time I think it's over it's just fading down into the next part. Ten minutes in. At least I'm nearly there. Back to the screeching, squealing, farting and coughing. Anyone got any balloons? Think these guys have plenty.

4. Enter Part Four: I'm just pre-rating this as Red. I can't see this changing in any significant way that would make me hate it less. Well, then. A vocal with some nice piano and not-annoying horn. Maybe I was a little hasty. Still, there's another seven minutes to go; plenty of time for this to weird out the way the rest of the album has. What do you know? It didn't. And this is really actually ****ing good! I'll have to mark this as an Orange. Colour change, people! Hop to it! Whaddya think I pay ya for?

End result: Overall though, the final track excepted, pretty much what I expected, and the cause of a sudden thumping headache. God damn you Frown!

So, Love or Hate? I can't really make this anything other than a Hate. Good for me. Good for me...

01-10-2016, 05:25 AM	#2582 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,996	Title: Enter Artiste: Fire! Orchestra Genre: Jazz, Improvisational Familiarity: Zero Recommended by: Frownland Expectations: Certain words go with Frownland like flies go with .... other flies. Jazz. Free jazz. Experimental. Avant-garde. And so on. So it's no surprise at all to me to find that this is a) a free jazz improvisation record and b) it has four tracks, three of which exceed thirteen minutes each. I also expect fully to hate this, providing I make it through. 1. Enter Part One: Ok, some nice guitar to start off, it's not too wild (but there's plenty of time yet) Piano and ooh! Female vocal which is very soulful indeed. Soft horn with male vocals now breathing in. This is quite nice so far. Five minutes in and the vocals drop out and we have a screechy feedback guitar (maybe) in a sort of drone effect. Now bass comes in with percussion, and a solo female vocal this time, sort of tribal/gospel in feel, getting a bit more into that sort of frenetic jazz thing I hate. It's a bit overwrought, but not too bad. And only two minutes to go. Yeah, the ending is terrible but in fairness I can't hate this, so it earns an Orange, which is a better start that I had anticipated. 2. Enter Part Two: Good sort of psychedelic organ driving this, kind of reminds me of the little I've heard of VU, but what do I know? Very repetitive certainly, and the longest track at just over seventeen minutes. Yeah, it's basically a sort of jam I guess, but I hope it changes soon, as I don't think I can take eleven more minutes of this! Okay, now it's just gone full Merzbow and is nothing more than noises. Sigh. Maybe settling into some sort of horn tune in minute ten? Just solo horn for now, nothing else at all. Now a second trumpet coming in with bass and maybe guitar, I don't know: at least it's more recognisable as music now. Very slow and kind of funereal, but then one horn gets uppity and screeches all over the place. Just going through my head like a jackhammer now. End, please. End. Thank you. 3. Enter Part Three: At least that's the longest one over. Next one isn't too far behind it though, at over fourteen and a half minutes, and the closer, shortest track, even hits nine. Ugh. Well, sounds like someone clearing their throat rather quietly --- have I stumbled into that Five Men Singing album again by accident? Now it sounds like someone is being choked, or strangling a chicken, while another one has serious constipation. One minute in and this is already torture. Let's just assume it's annoying vocal crap for the rest of the track and if anything happens to change that I'll let you know. Oh wait: five minutes in and we have a nice piano and bass combination, with a recognisable vocal, female, though she still sounds in pain. Damn, every time I think it's over it's just fading down into the next part. Ten minutes in. At least I'm nearly there. Back to the screeching, squealing, farting and coughing. Anyone got any balloons? Think these guys have plenty. 4. Enter Part Four: I'm just pre-rating this as Red. I can't see this changing in any significant way that would make me hate it less. Well, then. A vocal with some nice piano and not-annoying horn. Maybe I was a little hasty. Still, there's another seven minutes to go; plenty of time for this to weird out the way the rest of the album has. What do you know? It didn't. And this is really actually **ing good! I'll have to mark this as an Orange. Colour change, people! Hop to it! Whaddya think I pay ya for? End result: Overall though, the final track excepted, pretty much what I expected, and the cause of a sudden thumping headache. God damn you Frown! So, Love or Hate? I can't really make this anything other than a Hate*. Good for me. Good for me... __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018*