SMC ~ Garage A Trois- "Emphasizer"

burnin-candle · November 2005

OK, first of all, I have to apologize for the quality of this file. I know all of you have at least 50megs for yours, but since I only have freeware players, I can only rip in this quality. (same as last time) Just turn it up loud and it should be OK.

If anything goes wrong with the download, let me know.

And yeah, it's in .rar format so just be aware of that. Now onto the pick...

Ladies and gentlemen, it's time for me, burnin-candle, to give you some funk in the SMC!! I know we all love rock, and we've had some awesome picks lately, but sometimes you just gotta shake that ass just alittle bit more. Last time my pick was kinda standard funk stuff. This time it's more a twisted, fucked up, freaked out experimental kinda funk. I give you the wonder that is Garage A Trois.

Garage A Trois is made up of four members. All superstars in my book.

Stanton Moore (of Galactic) hits the skins
Skerik (of Critters Buggin and he's the guy that plays sax on Long Gone Day if I'm correct) plays all saxaphonics
Mike Dillon (Critters Buggin and lotsa other stuff) plays marimba and other weird percussion
Charlie Hunter (has his own Trio) plays that wonderful 8 string guitar

They were originally a trio (withut Dillon), but added him for more intensity. I think they atarted out as just a "jam" band, as in they'd play gigs and just jam on stage for fun. Then they decided to make records together. The music is all instrumental. It has moments of free jazz, Zappa-esque freak outs, wah-wah funk, ethnic tastes and New Orleans vibes. Intruments collide all over the place but all in all, it just makes you wanna move and just dance. Stanton Moore, who I'm personally a big fan, hits the drums as gorgeously as usual. Skerik proves that he can do anything with a reed, mouthpiece and a sax. Mike Dillon shows that glockenspeils and marimbas can be insanely funky. Charlie Hunter is just, well... a virtuoso.

All these elements blend in and create one of the most unique funk outfits on the scene today. This is their first release from 2003.

I must warn that this might not be for everyone. I do admit that it goes in the "strange" side of jazz/funk, but I personally find it very experimental and fun at the same time.

If you find this funky, then you definitely have the "funk" in you.:)

Anyway, I hope you enjoy.

Check their site, for more info. http://www.garageatrois.com

psycosmic · November 2005

i had no problems downloading and don't worry about the sound quality... it sounds just fine...

thanks for bringing da FUNK!!!

psycosmic · November 2005

before i forget...
i also uploaded something to the gmail account... so please make sure you all read the second email in the list to get to THIS album...

your post didn't exist when i created my file... didn't want to interfere with the usual SMC business...

burnin-candle · November 2005

Thanks psycosmic. So this is a reminder to all SMC members that there are 2 delicious files for download!!!

And I was just told that some members are having trouble with .rar. I am extremely sorry about that. Can anyone tell me a freeware or trial version of a program that can put files in .zip?? If it worls, I'll put up the zip version later on.

Thanks.

viggs20 · November 2005

Just done downloading...always open to some funk.

transplant · November 2005

ok, I will stop whining

finally found a RAR utility that is Mac OSX friendly.

psycosmic · November 2005

first of all, i'd like to say that my jazz vocab is very limited... i wouldn't know the difference between bebop and hard bop or anything along those lines... i've listened to and like most of the big names, john coltrane, thelonious monk, charlie parker, charles mingus... and i prefer fusion stuff, like miles davis or mahavishnu orchestra, to more traditional jazz...
having said that, i don't know anything about jazz just like someone who can name-drop hendrix, the beatles and led zeppelin doesn't necessarily know a lot about rock music...
"jazz" is just a term that incorporates so many different sub-genres from experimental free jazz to jamie "gollum" cullum, who to me is just bland pop... i don't know what jazz is anymore...

i enjoy this album a lot... i'm actually pleasantly surprised... these guys are excellent musicians, all of them... great drums and percussion, amazing guitar work, intrigueing sax solos...
"sprung monkey"'s got my head bopping along... i like how they go from funky "a-frame" to a slow "we see"... "interpretive ape dance" makes me see dancing monkeys...
if i had to chose a favourite track it would have to be "delta skelta"... it's their most rocking tune and what can i say, i'm a rock guy... this track is one hell of a trip, love it!

one thing i have to point out is the production... i know that jazz has a timeless quality, but to be honest, lot's of jazz records (especially from the 80s) sound very dated to me... not in this case, if you hadn't mentioned it was from 2003 i wouldn't have been able to tell...
i like how it sounds crisp and organic - "live" if you want - without needless polishing and shine... it's very immediate for a jazz record and that's what i like...

thank you for this, burnin-candle...
now i want to blast this album on a car stereo (although i don't own a car), cruise down the streets of the city (small town, that is) and enjoy the sun shine (well, it's grey, cold and snowy outside)... but it also works in your living room, no matter if you're playing it as background music or pay close attention...
nice!

viggs20 · November 2005

Ok again you had me thinking it was going to be bass-popping, hip-shaking, get-up-and-dance-James Brown-style funk but thats not the case.

Oh well, despite my initial disappointment I'm enjoying the hell out of this album...the musicianship is absolutely stellar. The Baker Brothers were more standard jazz and although they very quite lively too, Garage A Trois are more free-form and experimental. Favourite songs are Interpretive Ape Dance, Sprung Monkey and Delta Skelta.

trappedinmyradio · December 2005

this one might be tough for me - i'll give it some spins this weekend on my way to the panhandle - i'll try to keep an open mind about it

thanks.

burnin-candle · December 2005

psycosmic, don't worry mate, I'm not too deep with Jazz either. I listen to quite a lot of stuff, but man that music field is huge. ITll take a lifetime to get to know it, but I'm willing to enjoy that ride. lol Thanks for the review, really nice comments there. Delta Skelta is probably one of my favs as well. I love A-Frame, too. I'm glad you enjoyed it. Blast the fucking thing anywhere you want mate!

viggsy, sorry I fooled you again.

Maybe next time I'll get your ass shaking the dirty old JB way. But it's always nice to see people experiment, right?

trappedinmyradio, as I said this might not be for everyone. Sorry about that. But I'm sure you'll find something good about it if you keep an open mind about it. There's some great musicianship on this.

And you know guys, this probably ain't even jazz. lol

My realplayer classified them under Art Rock. I don't think that's close, but maybe it's just all over the place.

Keep the funk alive.

transplant · December 2005

Like before, thanks for helping me expand my jazz/funk collection

One thing about Jazz, if somebody recommends a CD to you, you can be rest assured the musicians will be incredible. I have yet to own or listen to one where they have been subpar. I am sure it's out there.....somewhere.

I do struggle with some forms of Jazz. Avant-guarde and Fusion being most of it. This CD finds me on the brink of some of that however it is more listenable than say Bitches Brew or Out to Lunch. So I find myself enjoying this more that I thought.

Being more guitar driven therefore, A-Frame and Delta Skelta full out kick ass. These songs to me would have fit well on a Jeff Beck Blow by Blow type CD. Virtuoso no question. Also dig the drumming at the end of A-Frame. In fact, I would like to listen to more of this type of music, so if ya got any suggestions, throw them out.

Plena for My Grumble is a nice departure and Launch fits the title well. I am usually curious on how instrumentals are named. Launch makes sense here.

We See is really the only one that I can leave. It is borderline Smooth Jazz/Elevator type stuff. Though to be fair, probably the best Elevator music I have ever heard

I'll be listening to this the rest of the week. I feel like I can drop this on a Jazz fan and impress them that I know about this. My Windows Media classifies this as Jazz. Art Rock huh, I mean I don't know what that is either however Emphasizer isn't easily labeled.

thanks burnin-candle.

psycosmic · December 2005

transplant wrote:

One thing about Jazz, if somebody recommends a CD to you, you can be rest assured the musicians will be incredible. I have yet to own or listen to one where they have been subpar. I am sure it's out there.....somewhere.

i experienced the same thing...
so there are either no bad jazz musicians or jazz lovers never recommend shit cd's - unlike rock fans

i used to have a house mate who was listened to a lot of jazz, that helped me expand my collection...
what puts me off most is the elitism of some jazz listeners who don't like any other type of music... but i guess this applies to some fans of every genre...

viggs20 · December 2005

Allmusic classifies them as Acid Jazz, Soul Jazz and Trip-Hop...while its clearly not trio-hop I think acid jazz is quite accurate. Regardless its good music and thats where classifications should end.

Mr. Funkalicious · December 2005

garag a tois is the shit. I love stanton and hunter. Two stellar musicians. Did u know stanton played on Corrosion of COnformity's new album?

transplant · December 2005

Mr. Funkalicious wrote:

garag a tois is the shit. I love stanton and hunter. Two stellar musicians. Did u know stanton played on Corrosion of COnformity's new album?

oh boy, burnin-candle lucky for you there is room for a couple funk masters in here

I can't imagine anybody in Garage playing in CoC. Like to hear it though.

psycosmic · December 2005

bump

i like some CoC stuff so it'd be interesting to know which songs he contributed to...

swede · December 2005

ok just gettin to it now - thanks mate

will get back to u asap!

swede · December 2005

ok on first listen - this isnt really the type of music ill listen to, but listening to it is one of the reasons why i love this SMC so much, opens new doors to music and such. but yeh although at the moment its not something im gonna be like YEH I NEED TO PUT THIS ON kind of deal - but rather a chilled out album that i would like to have on as good background music

i really like the guitar in delta skelta - i guess i wish more songs had that kind of guitar in it - but i guess its not that kind of album. but i would have to listen to this more before i can really give my true thoughts but i thought id keep the ball rolling a bit.

ill post more bout it when i have listened more

cheers mate

trappedinmyradio · December 2005

i cannot get into this album. sorry. it's just not something i can get my head around right now. it's so much different than what i listen to every day. i'm not giving up on it - it might hit me, but, right now...it just doesn't work for me.

burnin-candle · December 2005

Mr. Funkalicious wrote:

garag a tois is the shit. I love stanton and hunter. Two stellar musicians. Did u know stanton played on Corrosion of COnformity's new album?

Stanton in CoC?? Wow, I never knew that. He is a great drummer though, for sure.

burnin-candle · December 2005

transplant, glad you got to hear the album. Cool review, too. Thanks mate. Some other suggetions would be... Stanton Moore has a couple of solo albums out (All Kooked Out, Flying on the Coop) which has Skerik and Charlie Hunter with Karl Denson and Chris Wood on it. Great drumming on those, too. If you really enjoyed Hunter's guitar, a compilation of his funky Blue Note stuff is out through the Steady Groovin series.(the rangish cover) He has his own Trio, so they should be checked out, too.

swede, I know this is completely off your radar, but I'm glad you enjoyed some parts of it. I wish that there were more guitar driven stuff there, too, but I do like the weird shit Skerik does. And it's not often you get to hear marimbas played that funky. lol I agree that this is a late night trippy hangout kinda music. That's when I usually play it. I guess that's the thing with instrumentals.

trappedinmyradio, don't be sorry, mate, I completely respect your opinion. It took time for me to get into this kind of experimental shit, but once I did, I'm loving it. Keeping an open mind about it should get you closer to this music. Thanks for giving it a chance, though.

Mr Funkalicious, well, you have one rocking name, mate.

Thanks everyone for giving this a try. You have the funk in you regardless of how much you enjoyed this.

More comments are welcome. Cheers.

SMC ~ Garage A Trois- "Emphasizer"

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