John Wolf Brennan - Triangulation : Whirligigs [Leo]

Bruno Amstad - voice, subcontrabass voice, loops
Christy Doran - electric & acoustic guitars, loops & fx
John Wolf Brennan - piano, organ, e-piano, clavinet, melodica, accordion & indian harmonium
Patrice Heral - percussion, loops, voice

Leo Records 2010

After a series of reviews concerning very serious music, big orchestras, whole sections of strings, modern chamber sensibiltiy etc. this one serves as a great antidote.

Call it a mash-up, call it eclectic, call it whatever you like, this is one of the strangest mix I've heard in a while.

With tribal rhythms, hip grooves, choral loops, whole array of strange sounds. Bruno Amstad is impressive and he can sing etno chants as good as he covers quite often  the bass part, sounding like hyper version of walking vocal lines in doo-wop music, or slowed down version of beatbox singing. Patrice Heral keeps the rhythm tight and to the point and adds vocal effects and counterpoints to the main line. The loops get layered one upon another, creating a whole choir of voices ("Space Bar"), the instrumental parts are exquisite, especially the guitar by Christy Doran, while John Wolf Brennan adds the abstract, avant, ethereal touch to the proceedings.

There's rap, there's blues, there's funk, tribal-trans-etno grooves, otherwordly sci-fi effects, there the sense of fun, spontaneity  and adventure. Ubelievable sonic world, where atonal piano chords are played on a funky drive and followed by some throat singing. And still there's the unity of vision and execution, tham makes all this weird mixture work wonders. Fun and refreshing. As hip as the avant music can get.