Max Parallax!

Max Parallax, a fabulous band that has been rocking the Tucson scene for several years, are on the brink of releasing their first commercial EP (an Extended Play CD of just 6 tracks).  These tracks were recorded more than a year ago, but the group was so insistent on perfection that the tracks were only finalized this month!  With my privileges as a special Web personality, I had access to the tracks already, for several minutes.

Unfortunately, because I also know most of the band members personally, I have to be tactful.  I cannot say that the tunes are, well, fine.  I have to say that they are BRILLIANT!  But get them on Spotify, and Itunes, and Amazon, and wherever else good music is sold, and listen for yourself!

[01] Bugs Away.  This rocking track has a solid beat, and features the lead vocalist Uma, backed with the entire group singing backing harmonies.  There are hidden political messages, with a lot of humor!

[02] Swell.  The initial theme for this album, I was told, was the movie Interstellar.  The lyrics of this track refer to being submerged in the swell of a huge wave.  There is an undercurrent of danger throughout the song, and a feeling that you might be knocked off your feet at any moment.

[03] Out of Body, No Experience. You might get the impression that these people love puns; I certainly did.  The music is another story completely; this highly atmospheric track, again using heavy multi-tracked vocals, evoke a scene out of a frightening dream.  The long introduction with harmonics on the guitar set the tone for the unreal feeling of the tune, accented by the dance rhythm of the piece.

[04]  No Time for Caution.  This is the title track.  This song has a heavy beat, and in addition, the lyrics create a mood fraught with anxiety, or at least a parody of anxiety.  The vocal line is relatively uncluttered, and we can appreciate the sound of Uma's voice without overlays.

[05]  Amoebas.  The whole album has a theme of eerie science and experiment, and this song carries it further with its subject of bio-luminescence.  The opening bars have a descending motif on the guitar, which is supported by a descending bass line, which seems to descend even further than its range should allow.  (Troy owns a special five-string bass, but in this track I'm not sure that he uses that instrument with the extended range.)  It seems to me that all the little extra touches have been perfectly calculated, not least the accents in the percussion.  This track, too, ends abruptly, which is sort of a hallmark at this point in the development of the Max Parallax unique sound, but unlike some of the other songs, the last chord is allowed to resonate until it fades out.

[06] What Happens In the Future Stays in the Future. This last track is a lighthearted commentary on time travel.  The group accentuates the frolicsome mood by having Uma sing scat vocalizations in a jazz style in an interlude.  Many Max Parallax fans have declared that this is their favorite track (while others have voted for Amoebas).

The lighthearted mood of some of the tracks, and the savage puns in the lyrics belie the efforts gone into the production of this initial CD.  This is a great CD, and we hope that Max Parallax keeps up the quality of their recordings!

Arch

Show 131: Swinging Bach, and The Entertainer

[Added on 2015/7/18:  This used to be called Show 27.  I've renumbered the shows, so that this one is Show127.  The first digit will indicate which series the show is from: 1 for the first cycle, 2 for this second cycle, and so on.  For instance, the July 4^th show for this year will be numbered numbered Show201, and so on.  If you didn't figure this out yet, my first show aired the week of July 4th, 2014.]

You'd think, because the school year is over (for our school, anyway), that I would produce better crafted shows, but no; they're even more arbitrarily slapped together than ever.

This show was initially inspired by Scott Joplin's The Entertainer which was being broadcast from a passing ice cream truck, and I got to thinking that it might be fun to make a MIDI file out of it, by ear, and feature that on the show.  Then, I got to thinking, it might be nice to show how I go about doing it, in stages.  (It's still by ear, mind you; I did not go to the written score, as I do with Bach, for instance.)

Once I got started, I ran out of material pretty soon, but I stumbled on the DVD of Swinging Bach, from 2000, centered around Bobby McFerrin.  Now, the WXPI agreement with ASCAP and the, er, corresponding institution in the UK permit us to play any music from any recorded source, for non-profit purposes.  So I went about trying to acquire the soundtrack of the movie, but I failed.  But I acquired the video of it, and extracted the sound from that instead.  That provided about another half hour.

Then Uma, a close friend, posted a page that linked to several tracks of the music of the band she plays with, Minstrel's Ghost.  That was the last track for the night.

So there's really no rhyme or reason for the compilation for tonight; it's a bunch of music that hit my radar over the week, filled up with recordings from my collection, to balance classical, popular, folk, humor, and curiosities.

Unfortunately, my plan of making each show balanced with all these elements has resulted in less of an overall theme for each show.  Now, it is possible impose an overall structure for each show even while maintaining the four or five departments of classical, folk, popular, humor and curiosities.  For instance, for the week of July Fourth, you can easily imagine a program that concentrates on nationalistic music in each of those categories.  (I try to imagine that I live in a post-adolescent USA, in which the common man is comfortable with hearing music of foreign lands even during Independence Week.  In some parts of the country, people listen to nothing but the Star Spangled Banner all year long.  These are the places where people don't pay taxes.  Did you get the irony there?)

But I get into an "Off Duty" sort of mood over the summer, and it feels like a lot of work to put together a show that has structure in the rows as well as the columns.  Still, I think I will do a careful job for July Fourth, the first week of July; in fact, if I repeat last year's show, it already has all these elements.

Part A
Part B
Part C
Part D

Archie