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Self promo crap...
Hey, excuse the interruption, but I just found an online review of
our recent CD, from music-reviewer.com
(http://www.music-reviewer.com/10_01/minus.htm), written by Roxanne
Blanford. While she gets a few things wrong (we're actually a
3-piece, with a few guests on the disc), it seems like she actually
listened to the disc and got to some of our intent.
The review:
The Northwest USA six-member band, Minus, is far from being just an
ordinary band. For starters, they are not easy to label. Are they
hard rock? Are they electronic rock? Are they Funk groove rock? Are
they none of the above, and at the same time, a little bit all of
the above? Well, let's consider the evidence.
Minus rocks, yes they do. Track number 2, "3 Bad Brothers", has a
very definite "Rock n Roll Ain't Noise Pollution"-era AC/DC vibe to
it. The rough n ready guitar work of Mark France is both defiant and
classically rooted, while being pelted by a storm of raw and raucous
drumming. Skin-man Henry Franzoni lets it rip fierce on a number of
tracks, leaving no doubt at all that Minus IS a real rock n roll band.
But, Minus is also pretty groovy in a funky, low key sort of way.
Check out "Acid Flesh", with its seductive, jazz/funk improv stylings
and lazy feedback, zizzing and zazzing through the speakers. "Tard
Bop" (contemplate THAT song title for a minute!) blends sounds in a
Rush-like haze with subtle bass funk inflections right out of the
Herbie Hancock school. "Stoner" makes me want to start singing 'woke
up in my clothes again this morning' and wonder what Andy Summers
might think of my little "Shadows In The Rain" reverie. This
particular cut begins with bass lines ala' The Police, then careens
off into a full-on rock guitar mania, complete with grinding riffs
and revved up licks. And let's not forget that Minus employs DJ
Scratch n Sniff on turntables for that hip hop rock flava, and Mark
France and Dave Trenkel as both producers AND multi-instrumentalist,
electronic wizards have enough trickery up their sleeves to make
Minus a computerized music-lover's wet dream!
Dark Lit is a mostly instrumental recording, with very little true
'vocalization' at all. It's a smorgasbord of synthesized, programmed,
hands-on, tweaked and peaked sounds; a spiraling, splintered array of
aural transmutations. In short, Minus' fresh release is innovatively
different. But, then again, what else would you expect from a far
from ordinary band?
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Dave Trenkel New and Improv Music
http://www.newandimprov.com improv@peak.org
Now Available: Minus: Dark Lit
"This is music all-consuming in its beauty and power"
-Jake TenPas OSU Daily Barometer
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