Rock

ヘンリー・ウーのジャズ名義カマール・ウィリアムス、UKジャズ屈指の天才ギタリスト、マンスール・ブラウン、そしてUKソウルのOGスティーヴ・スペイセックのハウス・アルバムも記憶に新しい絶好調＜Black Focus＞第4弾作品は、ドイツのエレクトロニック・P・フュージョン・ユニット、ラットグレイヴ待望のセカンド・アルバム!

＜Money $ex＞や＜NinjaTune＞、＜Apron＞にカタログを残し、ヨーロッパで絶大なる人気を博すハウス・プロデューサー、マックス・グレーフとジャーマン・メタル～ハード・ロック屈指のベーシストを父に持つユリウス・コンラッドによる二人のマルチ・プレイヤーが、前作に引き続き80年代のファンク、ソウル、ロック、そしてエレクトロニック・ミュージックからの影響をバレアリックにモダナイズした全13曲を収録。

ハウスとフュージョンのうまみを出汁にしながらもそのバラエティに富んだ内容は時にまだ見ぬマップ・オブ・アフリカの新譜を聴いているような、時にスライ&ロビーとパット・メセニー(とライル・メイズ)が人力ハウスを披露したら?など音楽好きにはたまらない甘い妄想へと誘う快心の一枚!

Julius Conrad and Max Graef seem to use their Ratgrave project as a creative playground, acting on some of their stranger artistic impulses and making a complete mockery of the premise of genre restrictions. Following 2018s Ratgrave, recorded over the course of three years in several different locations and touching on styles ranging from lo-fi funk to rave, the duo concocted Rock, a frankly bonkers set of heavy cosmic fusion. The musicians point to jazz-rock and psychedelic/hard rock monoliths like Frank Zappa, Jimi Hendrix, and Blue Cheer as inspirations, but thats only part of the story here. The pair mix chunky guitars with big 80s drum machines, twisting them into complex patterns, and bending them further through unruly delay and flange effects. While theres certainly a harder edge to this album than their debut, its juxtaposed with smooth jazz textures, crystal atmospheres, and even some gentle birdsong. Its not quite as hectic as Angel Marcloids work as Fire-Toolz or Nonlocal Forecast, but it incorporates prog and smooth jazz elements in a comparable way. This sounds a lot more casual and off-the-cuff, however. Theme from Metronome is a jaunty bop that glides along pleasantly, even as it seems like the duo are twisting the rhythm into a pretzel. Instant Toothpaste is an excellent piece of wonky plastic funk riddled with bugged-out dub effects, and sounding like its melting in the muggy summer heat. Yurok is closer to a warped reinterpretation of a bossa nova tune, while 4 Benz is a woozy daydream with whooping vocals similar to the bizarre vocal arrangements of exotica composers like Martin Denny, or even some of Ennio Morricones stranger spaghetti Western soundtracks. The self-explanatory Rock pipes some exaggerated guitar riffage into a complex maze of choppy drum machines and panpipes, resulting in a sort of new age industrial nightmare shared by Adrian Sherwood and Bill Laswell. Bleeding to Death is a drumnbass-hinting misfit caper recalling some of Squarepushers more Weather Report-inspired moments. As if the duo couldnt stuff enough ideas into the first 12 tracks, Mutti Hat Gekocht is actually several songs in one, shifting from an easygoing bossa sway to a hard, skittering drumnbass reprise of the I love myself chorus from earlier track World Aid, and then some more outrageous metal riffing over punchy beats and playful, sparkly keyboards. Unbound by commercial expectations or pressure to make music that conforms to any cut-and-dry category, Ratgrave simply plug in, put their heads together, and create the craziest stuff they can come up with. ~ Paul Simpson

グレン・アストロとの共作アルバムも記憶に新しいマックス・グレーフとユリウス・コンラッドという二人のマルチ・プレイヤーによるエレクトロニック・フュージョン・ユニットのセカンド・アルバムが南ロンドンのブラック・フォーカスから到着。インダストリアル以降の感覚でアップデートされ、モダナイズされたフュージョンというか、ジャンル分け不可能の如何とも形容し難い音楽性は一聴の価値アリだ。
bounce (C)藤堂てるいえ