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review by Bill Binkelman One of the most rewarding aspects (yet arduous tasks) of being a music reviewer is reviewing music which is innovative, creative, and difficult to describe using ordinary methods. Such is the case with this, the latest release from the duo cyberCHUMP (Jim Skeel and Mark G.E.). Trying to sum up this brilliant and highly infectious recording, I found myself stymied at every attempt: Funky rhythms meet cinematic melodies? Kinetic cyber-organic beats meet catchy refrains? Crisscrossing drum kits meet swirling tonalities? Constantly shape-shifting micro-sonic landscapes that fluctuate between whimsical, haunting, trippy and intelligent? As they say in Minnesota, "Whatever." Scientists in the Trees is a party and a half, a CD comprised of ten selections that never wear out their welcome even after numerous playings. Drum loops, snippets of melody on assorted real and sampled instruments, electronic textures, memorable refrains, cascading rhythms, and adventurous turns onto unexpected pathways, each one of the ten tracks offers the listener something new to delve into and explore. "Signals" blends sonar-bleeps, trap kit drums, hand percussion and electronic beats, swirling synths, and a plaintive undercurrent of sparse piano, all of it added a layer at a time and building into a nice alchemical infusion of rhythm and slightly foreboding melodies. "Pressure Tactic" adds some scratch noise effects to echoed chimes, bass beats, and glitch textures, anchored by trap kit drum loops (lots of the rhythms on this recording are based on real drum kit sounds) and buoyed by flowing tones. The title track is one of my favorites, opening with an Asian-flavored tubular bell reverberating over a pleasant drone, morphing into a bouncy jazz/funky trip-out piece, via great cymbal rhythms, a truly inspired electric bass riff, cascading synth bells, and beautiful underlying floating chords. "Sorin" (the next song) drastically changes the mood from the previous light-hearted piece to one of somber and menacing slow tempo scratch effects, electronic swirls, booming bass rhythms, and eerie upper register church organ chords and what sound like shakuhachi flute samples. That even this quasi-experimental tune still carries an element of accessibility is a testament to G.E. and Skeel. "River of Doubt" reverses field and traipses over into pounding tom-tom led beats, soaring electric guitar lead lines, a percolating bass line, and furious tribal rhythms that erupt and then submerge beneath a gentle miasma of amorphous textures and bloops and bleeps, only to reemerge now and then, amidst much drama and forceful drumming. Things get slow and quiet down with "Presidents from Another Planet" a funkified bit of dissonant textures, snappy snares, heavy bottom stand-up bass, kinetic cyber-beats, and coming from almost out of nowhere, a delta blues acoustic guitar riff! By now, you can understand why this is a confounding and almost irritatingly complex recording to review in concrete terms. These tracks are so continuous in their evolving characteristics, so unusual in how they mash genes together in creative ways, and yet so professionally accomplished that my brain gets tired just contemplating finishing this review. Suffice to say that Scientists in the Trees will delight you if you are open to music that breaks rules while still retaining a strong hold on accessible melodies, catchy rhythms, and a blend of high tech futurism and back-to-basics instrumentation (the drum kit loops are fantastic, conducive to all manner of ass-shakin', foot-tappin,' and general body movement). Never too slick, never too "out there, never crossing over to outright pretension nor wandering over to "safe" territory, this is music that will challenge you even while it entertains your "inner child" that only wants to have a funky old time (the CD itself is imprinted with the following: "Lay Between Speaker System and Crank it Up!" I'd heed that advice, if I were you! Highly recommended! |
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