Frogg Cafe: Bateless Edge

New York's Frogg Cafe have taken a slight break for a few years, but are back with their fourth studio release, and first since 2005's Fortunate Observer Of Time, titled Bateless Edge. If that's not reason enough to celebrate on its own, the band also welcomed back into the fold original guitar player Frank Camiola, whose contributions on Bateless Edge are enormous. Frogg Cafe as a collective sound way more adventurous here, the musicianship and songwriting more mature, and as a whole, Bateless Edge shows why this act is one of the most daring bands on the prog/fusion scene today.

Much of what you'll hear on Bateless Edge takes all the best influences from Frank Zappa, Gentle Giant, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Brecker Brothers, King Crimson, and early Chicago, throws it in a pot with Frogg Cafe's own spice mix, and out comes some of the intense sounds you'll discover this year. Opening cut "Terra Sancta" can almost be described as the 'son of Inca Roads', a wildly addicting piece that starts off with some Indian flavors before morphing into a frenzied fusion/prog rocker complete with mesmerizing solos from Camiola, Bill Ayasse and his violin, plus plenty of tasty horns from Nick & John Lieto. Those wonderful horns, as well as some sizzling violin & mandolin from Ayasse, can be heard on "Move Over I'm Driving", before the ominous Mahavishnu Orchestra-meets-Red era King Crimson flavors of "Pasta Fazeuhl" comes to town, a song oddly enough inspired by Magma's set at NEARfest in 2003. Plenty of little tricky instrumental bits abound on this one, adding that Zappa/Gentle Giant styled quirkiness to the song as well. The three part epic suite "Under Wuhu Son" is a monster, with the first part "In the Bright Light" hitting all the right prog buttons, as gentle clarinet, flute, marimba, violin, and cello support Nick Lieto's soaring vocals. This moves right into the dark second movement "Left For Dead", a haunting blast of metal guitar riffs from Camiola, horns, keyboards, xylophone, and Ayasse's charming violin blasts. The final movement "Brace Against the Fall" is a breezy jazz/jam piece, and something that Frogg Cafe do so well. Camiola's torrid, Zappa/Fripp inspired guitar solo here is a thing of beauty, and closes out this epic suite in fine fashion.

But wait, there's more! "From the Fence" is a melodic mix of pop and prog, with floating Mellotron, trumpet, and some understated yet intricate rhythms from bassist Andrew Sussman and drummer James Guarnieri. Nick Lieto's vocals perfectly tell the lyrical story on this one, and the horn accompaniment is a fine addition. Closing number "Belgian Boogie Board", written by Camiola, is a quirky & complex instrumental, written for 27 different instruments and amounting to a 28 page score. Marimba, xylophone, flute, cello, reeds, horns, clarinet, keyboards, guitar, violin, you name it, it's all there, in one of the albums more demanding pieces, and a sure fire bet to please any fan of Frank Zappa's Waka Jawaka/The Grand Wazoo period, Univers Zero, or early Gentle Giant.

In the end, you'll know you've been through a challenging listening experience, but it's a highly enjoyable and satisfying one to say the least. Frogg Cafe have proved with Bateless Edge that you can take personal experiences and mold them into dark, complex musical song structures that can captivate the listener and keep them on the edge of their seat, and ultimately coming back for more.

Highly recommended!

Track Listing
1) Terra Sancta (12:10)
2) Move Over I'm Driving (7:59)
3) Pasta Fazeuhl (14:01)
4-6) Under Wuhu Son:
In The Bright Light (8:22)
Left For Dead (5:36)
Brace Against The Fall (6:14)
7) From The Fence (12:03)
8) Belgian Boogie Board (10:31)

Added: November 14th 2010
Reviewer: Pete Pardo
Score:
Related Link: Band Website
Hits: 3278
Language: english

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