Break of Reality - Ten

Break of Reality – Ten
2014, Break of Reality

Eastman School of Music alum Break of Reality has been plying its distinct brand of cello rock for nearly a decade now.  The New York City-based quartet has released a series of albums that run the gamut from original tunes to dynamic covers; developing a dedicated following.  The band recently released their fifth album; a collection of original tunes entitled Ten.

Ten opens with the self-referential strains of “Helix”, driven by a serious rock and roll sensibility.  Lyric and percussive cello lines intertwine, with percussion providing a sense of sanity and stability.  The energy here is tremendous, and Break of Reality sounds like they’re ready to explode.  The listener is wrapped up in a revolving wall of sound from the outset.  “Storm’s End” is a highly artistic piece of baroque pop.  The rhythms are pure rock and roll, yet the melody line has an early Italian madrigal feel.  This is serious music for fans of classical music, film scores and unusual rock and roll hybrids.  Break of Reality explores gorgeous and complex moods on “Star”, building pensive swells with a sagacious sense of internal energy.  The band uses dual melody lines that circumscribe beauty with an edge of minor key darkness.

“Drift Apart” begins with a rhythmic pizzicato base and adding a lyric, mid-to-low range melody line.  You’ll want to close your eyes and soak in the depth and breadth of sound here; it’s simply gorgeous.  “Nine Deep” has a dark and percussive underpinning.  The lyric melodic build is right out front, creating an atmosphere that is powerful and moving.  Break of Reality changes moods with “Light the Fuse”, a quietly rolling composition that transitions into a thunderous dance.  “Uprising” begins with an aboriginal sound; an ancient feel to the percussion.  Break of Reality takes a more atmospheric approach this time, building musical scenery that is lush and full of dramatic turns.

“Levy” is a pensive and perambulating piece; an intriguing orchestral still life full of movement and color.  The band transitions on “Other Worlds” to more of a mid-range musical score sound.  There’s a bit too much center in this recording, particularly in the early going, but this is more an issue of production than of composition.  The breaks in this piece have a stunningly dark beauty in them full of rhythms and tonal rhyme.  Ten closes with “Six”, with Break of Reality utilizing layered melody lines and incorporating glock and xylophone in with their distinctive 3-cello sound.  There’s a lazy energy that runs throughout the piece, and at five minutes in length this might become a bit overwhelming, but it is a quietly ambitious effort that is off the beaten path.

Break of Reality reaches for new heights on Ten, going all original with a stylistic approach that blends the best elements of classical, rock and pop music styles.  The compositions on Ten are highly original and full of life, and Break of Reality use killer phrasing and a nearly flawless sense of timing and presence to build a collection of songs that will live in your mind long after the tunes have faded from your ears.

Rating:  4.5 Stars (Out of 5)

Learn more at www.breakofreality.com.  

Cello Fury - Cello Fury

Cello Fury - Cello Fury
2011, Cello Fury

Cello Fury is an eclectic collective from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  Comprised of three cellos and a drummer, Cello Fury creates original progressive rock music with classical leanings.  Originally a four-cello quarter called Cellofourte, Cello Fury has continued to grow with cellists Simon Cummings, Ben Munoz and Nicole Myers creating some of their most vibrant work to date for their debut album, Cello Fury. 

Cello Fury opens with "Infinity Rises" with dueling cellos throwing off counter melodies and using stereo effects to maximize headphone listening.  The composition is well constructed and is carried by an impulsive rhythm that sweeps you up and takes you along for the ride.  Cello Fury achieves a modern rock sound that has metal in its lineage, while achieving a level of technical perfection that is surprising.  "Against All Odds" features dual, lyric leads.  Pretty, stark melody lines dance over a somewhat driven rock arrangement, and make for an appealing sound.  "Anarchy" starts off in stoic fashion, but breaks out into a vibrant rocker with dark undertones.

"Pins And Needles" shows off Cello Fury's sense of fun in a composition that is more about artistic interpretation than anything else.  "Daybreak" segues back into the edgy, vibrant modern rock feel that pervades much of the album, while "Middle Ground" aptly splits between lyric melody lines and a driving arrangement.  Cello Fury creates a gorgeous, baroque essence with the fluid lines of "Silenced".  The group captures the beauty within sorrow in a magical moment that sparks with the pure anima of creation.  "Odyssey" is a bit more mundane, but is a solid composition based on a pop/rock progression that fills up your ears.  "Down The Road" is languorous and lovely, a classical-themed composition that is lyric and pure in its sound.  Cello Fury wraps up with "Shockwave", a big, vibrant closer that is frenetic in its energy.

Cello Fury invests themselves in a heavy rock sound, woven through cello strings and prog rock and classical arrangements on their self-titled debut album.  Treading on musical earth shared with bands such as Break of Reality, Primitivity and The 440 Alliance, Cello Fury create compelling rock and roll with three cellos that laces together the webs of heavy metal, progressive rock and baroque styles.  Cello Fury is an intriguing debut.

Rating: 3.5 Stars (Out of 5)

Learn more about Cello Fury at http://www.cellofury.com/ or www.myspace.com/cellofury.  Cello Fury is available from Amazon.com as a CD or Download.  The album is also available via iTunes.

Mammoth Life - An American Movement

Mammoth Life - An American Movement
2010, Mammoth Life

Lawrence, Kansas chamber-pop ensemble Mammoth Life returns with their second full length album, An American Movement, on June 22, 2010. The follow-up to 2009’s Kaleidoscopic Art Pop finds Mammoth Life in a more ambitious mode, writing a concept album about the breakdown of civilization and the power of individuals to stem the tide of disintegration. Much like in life, Mammoth Life find both great success and tremendous growing pains in An American Movement.

An American Movement opens with “Be My Own Anthem, One’s Self I Sing”, sounding like the opening music to a show or movie, playing off Ennio Morricone’s classic theme from The Good, The Bad And The Ugly. Mammoth Life uses voices here to add different dimensions to the orchestration. “Discoveries” is a somewhat frantic rock/orchestral venture that flows on the energy of new things, showing how the energy of disconnected events can lead to great moments. “Disrupting The Extinction Of Distinction” continues in the same vein, but lacks the punch of “Discoveries”. With “Upon The Shoulders Of Giants”, Mammoth Life treads on the edges of a puzzle. The vocal harmonies are strong and match well to the undulating orchestration, but the lead vocal is very pitchy and a bit difficult to take.

“With Sanctity, Our Declaration” is the most accomplished composition on the album. There’s an upbeat, wagon-train feel to the song, which again uses vocalizations as instrumentation. Mammoth Life imbues the song with a surreal, lonely feel that hides within the jaunty nature of the tune; masking a song of memoriam as a declaration of freedom (or perhaps it’s the other way around). So having reached the pinnacle of the album, it’s a question of whether Mammoth Life would descend gracefully or precipitously. Unlike on past albums it is the latter on Kaleidoscopic Art Pop, it is the latter on An American Movement. “Dreaming Is Destiny” feels incomplete, almost incidental to itself. “Boy Blue, An American Lion” and “We Are Within A Holy War” give the impression that Mammoth Life is a bit lost in the middle of their concept, fighting to tell a story that just hasn’t developed enough yet to be elucidated in song. By the time Mammoth Life gets to “The Differences”, they’ve descended into an amateurish cliché of cultural study text that is artistically and intellectually beneath the band. Mammoth Life recovers their composure for the closing number, “Marvelous To View”, but it’s almost an afterthought.

If you’ve listened to Mammoth Life before, your expectations will be high for An American Movement. Over the course of the first five tracks your expectations will be met. Unfortunately it appears that Mammoth Life ran out of creative gas thereafter, filling out the album with tracks that, by the standards they’ve set with their past work, are mundane. The first half of the album released as an EP would be a solid 4-star effort. Unfortunately, the second half of the album struggles to make even 2 stars. Mammoth Life is good enough and unique enough that you’ll want to at least acquaint yourself with An American Movement. The elements that make Mammoth Life a great listen are present on the album, but it’s not the consistently great effort you might expect.

Rating: 3 Stars (Out of 5)

Learn more about Mammoth Life at http://www.mammothlife.net/ or www.myspace.com/officialmammothlife. An American Movement drops on June 22, 2010. Expect availability through Mammoth Life's website, Amazon, iTunes and other web outlets. Photo credit: Val Skubal

Rasputina - Sister Kinderhook

Rasputina - Sister Kinderhook
2010, Filthy Bonnet Co.

Rasputina returns on June 15, 2010 with Sister Kinderhook, their 6th studio album and 9th overall. The Brooklyn cello-driven trio has been kicking around since 1991, coming to the attention of Sony Records in 1996. Since returning to the Indie side of The Force, Rasputina have continued to create eccentric Baroque-Folk driven by anachronistic vocal harmonies and cello-led arrangements. Rasputina's supporting character continue to (r)evolve, but Melora Creager continues at the core for Sister Kinderhook; an album that is all that any Rasputina fan could ask for. The songwriting is tacitly obscure, delving into deep historical and political references that in and of themselves will be unfamiliar to all but the most learned listeners, but in theme serve as practical parables for today.

Rasputina kicks things off with the dark and ethereal "Sweet Sister Temperance", bringing in a wealth of antiquated instrumentation to support what is musically a dark theme. "Holocaust Of Gnats" borders on magical, revisiting the fields of childhood to find them gone or changed. Biblical references to giant beasts may seem to imply the corporate world, as Rasputina chides society for continuing to act as if their choices do not affect the world around them (and ultimately themselves). "Calico Indians" is a political commentary on slavery 165 years in the making, and in spite of its age remains remarkably instructive for today.

"Snow Hen Of Austerlitz" finds Rasputina at their most lyrically deep, delving deep into a mythical story perhaps inspired by Jostedalsype. It is one of the grander arrangements on the album, done with theatrical attempt but in the low key, hand-hewn style that Rasputina affects. "Utopian Society" is a spoken word piece that references slavery and seems to dovetail with "Calico Indians". "Afternoon Of The Faun" is perhaps the prettiest piece on the album, but does get caught up a bit in repetition. Sister Kinderhook closes with "This, My Porcelain Life", the closest thing to a rock/pop turn on the album.

Sister Kinderhook is a stark and lovely return for Rasputina; long time fans will be thrilled. You definitely have to be on the same wavelength as the band for this recording. Rasputina does require some stamina from those unfamiliar with the sound, but the effort is worth it. Sister Kinderhook deserves your attention.

Rating: 3 Stars (Out of 5)

Learn more about Rasputina at http://www.rasputina.com/ or www.myspace.com/rasputina. Sister Kinderhook drops on June 15, 2010. You can pre-order the album as either a CD or Download from Amazon.com. A vinyl edition will be available on June 22, 2010.

Review: Songs Of Water - The Sea Has Spoken

Songs Of Water - The Sea Has Spoken
2010, Songs Of Water

Just two months into the year, we're ready to declare that Songs Of Water's The Sea Has Spoken is one of the most finely crafted (mostly) instrumental albums for the year. Others may come along and vie for the crown, but it's going to be tough to take it out of Songs Of Water's hands. Mixing and melding Classical, Celtic, Bluegrass and New Age styles into a coherent sound around highly original compositions, Songs Of Water has far and away surpassed their self-titled 2008 debut. It doesn't hurt having much of the Skaggs family sitting in throughout the album (son Luke is a member of Songs Of Water), but Ricky Skaggs and two other members of the Skaggs clan ad instrumental support without impinging on Songs Of Water's highly original sound. The Sea Has Spoken drops on March 26, 2010.

From the opening notes of “Everything That Rises” you'll know you're in for a different experience than on most pure instrumental albums. Hammered dulcimer, violin and guitar entertain in an energetic musical conversation that is as uplifting as the song title might imply, even amidst the note of relinquished sorrow that runs through the main theme. The musicianship here is absolutely incredible, a symphony of sounds gained by non-symphonic means. “Bread And Circus” ranges from modern to antiquity, sounding at times like the sort of chamber music that once entertained European illuminati. “Window Seat” makes use of contrapuntal rhythms and soaring passages that evoke vivid images in your mind; a sort of soundtrack to dreams you don't quite remember. Stephen Roach steps forward on vocals for “Sycamore”; a pleasantly mellow tune that's a nice change of pace but doesn't carry the same vibrancy as the instrumental work on The Sea Has Spoken.

“The Great Russian Catastrophe” is highly rhythmic with heavy Slavic influences that are quite enjoyable, but “Through The Dead Wood” takes the manic rhythms a step further as a thoroughly percussion-based composition that is nothing short of amazing. Fans of groups like Rusted Root in particular will love what Songs Of Water has going on here. Bluegrass chutes push through beneath “The Family Tree”, an amazingly lyric composition full of some of the tightest, most precise musicianship on the album. For all of that fine control, not an ounce of spirit is lost. “Luminitsa” plays like the musings of a Romani Bard, blending Spanish, Middle Eastern and Eastern European musical elements into a style that's instantly foreign yet familiar. “Luminitsa” brings an air of mystery to The Sea Has Spoken, dark and beautiful and ever so slightly out of reach. “Hwyl” carries with it a distinctly urgent feel, tearing along at breakneck speed as Songs Of Water heads into the final stretch home. “Belly Of The Whale” plays on the Biblical tale with a mystic mix of rhythm, ambience and truncated instrumentation. “The Sea Has Spoken” is a resigned if not mournful undulation that seems more a running monologue than a time-oriented pronouncement. The title track is a thing of beauty, slow in pace and measure; deriving beautiful arcs of melody, particularly from the violin. Songs Of Water closes out with the plaintive “Willow”, the second and final track featuring vocals on the album. The cyclic nature of the mandolin part and the cadence of the melody seem to speak of the eternal ebb and pull of the ocean on the earth, or the wind through the trees. The song is elemental in feel and emotional impact, winding down the album almost as day blends into night.

Songs Of Water made is very apparent with their self-titled debut that they were a band not to be taken lightly. They could easily have trod the same ground they did on Songs Of Water, but instead chose to continue wading deeper into their muse. Consequently, The Sea Has Spoken shall be spoken of in terms of brilliance. The nuances and shading in the music are unusual in anything like the popular realm; the blending of styles such as bluegrass, world and classical is uncommon if not unique. In spite of the lack of a distinct genre to hang their hats on, I wouldn’t be surprised if Songs Of Water were named in company with bands such as The Chieftains one day.

Rating: 4 Stars (Out of 5)

You can learn more about Songs Of Water at http://www.songsofwater.com/ or www.myspace.com/songsofwater. Songs Of Water will celebrate the release of The Sea Has Spoken on March 26, 2010 at the Visulite Theater in Charlotte, NC. Keep checking the band's website for availability.