Tone Cool
2002
Hydraulic Groove
About This Album
Rod Piazza & the Mighty Flyers' guitarist, Rick Holmstrom, takes a sharp left turn on his third solo disc. Instead of churning out the traditional West Coast blues he's schooled in, he dives headfirst into the acid jazz/funk pool. While employing loops and samples may scare away his core audience, Holmstrom and producer Genome (who also contributes keyboards) utilize them to make the music even grittier, raunchier, and more swampy than you'd expect. While the blips, bloops, and brittle percussion that provide the landscape over which Holmstrom lays his fluid guitar lines are a far cry from the straight-ahead blues and boogie he's accustomed to in his full-time job, it shows he's willing to expand boundaries in creative ways. Clearly indebted to the Meters on the bulk of this album's funky groove, Holmstrom samples Rufus Thomas' spoken word to punctuate the percussive and keyboard whirlpool of "Shake It, Pt. 2." There's even more processing on the DJ Logic remix of the cut, one of four bonus tracks tacked onto the disc's final 20 minutes. John Medeski makes an appearance on the closing eight-minute jam, "Hamp's Hump," which further solidifies the acid funk sound.
Track List (try tracks 1,6,8,11 and 15)

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