Written by Mike Taylor:
Cartoon were an American band from the early '80s. They recorded two albums, Cartoon in 1981 and Music from Left Field in 1983. Both, with the exception of one song, are included on Sortie, a CD reissue by Cuneiform. Cartoon's influences range from the European Prog bands (Yes, etc.), 20th century Classical, Free Jazz and the incidental music from Saturday afternoon cartoons. At live festivals, Cartoon was performing the themes from Rocky & Bullwinkle and Sherman & Peabody alongside covers of Stravinsky and Bartok string quartets. That should give you an insight into the band's original music contained on their two LPs. Cartoon was recorded as a trio of classically trained Scott Brazieal (keyboards), Mark Innocenti (guitars) and Gary Parra (percussion). Together, the trio created a music that is dazzling in complexity. (They searched for a long time to find a drummer capable of playing complex, constantly shifting meter.) Two songs, "Ptomaine Poisoning" and "Anemic Bolero," were scored by Brazieal, similar to the way National Health scored their music, then rehearsed it. There is a strong classical presence of grand piano on these and many other works. Other songs, including "Shark" and "Shredded Wheat" were worked out by the band during many long practice sessions. Thus, they have a bit more improvised feel, while still classically structured. Often, the comparison that came to mind was Univers Zero without the classical instruments and with a stronger synth presence.
Members
Scott Brazieal - Keyboards
Herbert Diamant - Reeds
Craig Fry - Violin/French Horn
Mark Innocenti - Guitars
Gary Parra - Percussion
Mike Aiken - Sound
Marc Adler - cassette recording (Nancy)
Bernard Gueffier - recording (Reims)
Renato de Moraes - Digital Transference
http://virb.com/cartoon
1 comment:
I've had their s/t first album since the late 80s or early 90s. Not really my thing, as it doesn't flow well, but I can see where some would dig it.
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