Lopes / Lane / Foni

What is When

Label: Clean Feed Country: Portugal

"In music, the art of time, you necessarily find the "what" in the "when". And the "what / when" factor, here, is a jumpy, unquiet, syncopated music coming from the same sources which originated both the Delta and the Chicago blues, the most primordial rock 'n' roll, hardcore punk and free jazz: guts and nerves.

So, it's with no real surprise that Portuguese guitarist Luís Lopes, American contrabassist Adam Lane and Israeli drummer Igal Foni play a strange hybrid of all those styles. Maybe the jazz element is the concrete assembling everything else in this CD, but it's also true that the purpose was to form a power trio, just like the ones celebrated in the history of rock: Jimi Hendrix's Band of Gypsys and Experience, Cream, Blue Cheer, Rush and Motorhead are good examples. Or Sex Pistols, without the vocalist. And a power trio indeed we have, sometimes brutal, but not making things to easy (the rhythms are quite complex, nothing a teenage garage band can do), with no unnecessary ornamentations but evident efficacy.

This is emotional, raw, in-your-face music, with lots of feedback and distortion and astonishing solos. When the risk to get tired with all the run turns a menace, they give you some moments of piece, but even in those softer interludes they grab your heart and mind and take it off."-Clean Feed