Rope-a-Dope
2004
Stampede
About This Album
For their first album in five years, the Seattle quartet continues in the instrumental jazz/electronica/funk/dub/experimental vein established on its existing catalog. Moody and eclectic but never frigid, the music succeeds by combining its diverse influences in warm, organic ways. Each track is a multi-layered microcosm of movement, and although there are plenty of danceable parts -- along with some dancefloor-clearing ones -- the album is best appreciated with headphones where all the intricacies of the tempo changes and especially the dynamic percussion can be picked out amongst the clatter. Even elements of prog -- especially early King Crimson on the pounding "Punk Rock Guilt" -- shapeshift into jazz and free form then back again with deceptive ease. Although far from commercial, the album boasts softer and less frantic moments, as the songs -- actually pieces -- start slowly then build up a head of steam. Some seem to mesh two tracks into one as on "We Are the New People," where a Santana-styled percussion mid-section is grafted onto an ambient front end. The music is lively and inspired as it expands and contracts with remarkable facility. When shifting into experimental mode, it nonetheless returns to more melodic pastures.
Track List (try tracks 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 and 8)

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