Our last review of 2009 is the newest release from Denmark’s Robin Taylor. Artificial Joy is the latest release from his group Taylor’s Universe.
If you’ve read any of my posts/reviews in the past, you know that I have covered a lot of Robin’s releases. The man is nothing if not prolific, but the more impressive part for me is that his releases are so consistent. After the course of fifteen or so albums I have listened to, I can’t say that I have found a naff one in the bunch. Certainly there are ones that don’t hit quite as hard, but in general, his compositions are always strong, and his choice of players is always spot on.
Taylor’s Universe albums tend toward the more tightly composed side of things, and this album is no different. The 7 tracks selected for this release, spread across a nice, compact 45 minutes, are all incredibly tightly written, polished and arranged. Generally speaking, the pieces are fairly bright and upbeat, but some changes of pace and sound throughout keep things from becoming too bland. As one would perhaps expect, there are even a few nods to the edgier, more angular Crimson side of things sprinkled about…I have to admit that these angry, edgy moments are some of my favourites.
“Atmosfear” is typical of the brighter side of Taylor’s composing. We’ve got some januty sax playing, a circus like organ line, and some very tasty guitar playing courtesy of Michael Denner (who has been working with Taylor for a bit now). While I did at first miss the contributions of Karsten Vogel when he and Taylor went in different directions, I am finding that Jacob Mygind’s playing throughout makes me miss Vogel a good bit less. Carsten Sindvald adds some nice clarinet playing as well, and all of this is wrapped up in a composition that never overstays its welcome, yet feels far more brief than its 7:04 timing indicates.
“Laughter,” on the other hand, is a far different monster. Featuring spoken vocals from Louise Nipper, the piece is one that seems born of the seeds planted by a song like King Crimson’s “Thela Hun Ginjeet.” A strange, somewhat disturbing story of a woman making a 911 call to report an accident, only to be subjected to gales of insane laughter, the music and words fit together perfectly, with a disconcerting vibe felt throughout. I keep coming back to this track, peeling away layers upon layers of sound, and still haven’t come close to feeling I’ve gotten to the bottom of it yet.
“Fame,” at 9:44, is the longest track on Artifical Joy, and it has been selected to close out the release. I feel at times that this song is the kitchen sink piece on the album (as in, everything including the kitchen sink), as just about everything I have ever heard in Taylor’s oeuvre is on display here. We’ve got some heavy guitar playing, tight, bottomless grooves, and playing that is both light and dark, heavy and soft. The ride out, which again evokes Crimson at its heaviest in1973, cuts off abruptly, leaving the listener hanging breathlessly, bereft of climax or conclusion. It’s a slightly risky take, in my opinion, but it pays off. The sudden shifts in mood and playing never feel forced, either…there’s no intentional attempts to be complex and avant here; it all seems natural and unforced.
I’ve selected these three tracks, rather than reviewing track by track, because I think they are the most exemplary on the release. I don’t want to overlook the other fine compositions on Artifical Joy; each is excellent, and more than worthy of repeated listens (as I can attest, as I’ve spent a good bit of the past week or so living with this album, trying to take in as much of it as possible). Robin Taylor’s been on a bit of a tear in 2009, with three different albums (See my review of Isle of Black from 10 March and Return to Whatever from 23 June), and if Artificial Joy is any indicator, 2010 should be an interesting one indeed for Mr. Taylor.
Work (4:41)
Artificial Joy (4:25)
Days Run Like Horses (7:02)
Atmosfear (7:04)
Laughter (7:01)
Telephone (4:59)
Fame (9:44)
Jakob Mygind: saxophones
Carsten Sindvald: clarinet/saxophone
Finn Olafsson: electric guitar
Michael Denner electric guitar
Robin Taylor: vintage keyboards, electric guitar, percussion
Flemming Muus Tranberg: fretless bass
Klaus Thrane: drums
Louise Nipper: voice
Highly acclaimed Danish prog act Taylor's Universe have spent most of this year in the studios, recording what will become the band's 10th album. The title of the album is Artificial Joy, and according to the band's leader/composer Robin Taylor, this release will contain some of his most inspired music heard in several years. Newcomers among the players are guitar ace Finn Olafsson (from legendary 60s/70s group Ache) as well as saxophone wizard Jakob Mygind.Line-up for Artificial Joy:
Jakob Mygind saxophones
Carsten Sindvald clarinet/saxophone
Finn Olafsson electric guitar
Michael Denner electric guitar
Robin Taylor vintage keyboards, electric guitar, percussion
Flemming Muus Tranberg fretless bass
Klaus Thrane drums
with
Louise Nipper voice
Time of release: Later this fall (if nothing goes wrong).
Return to Whatever is the newest release from Taylor’s Universe, the somewhat more composed ensemble led by Danish multi-instrumentalist Robin Taylor. On this new release he is joined by a fairly familiar group of musicians, including Michael Denner (Mercyful Fate, King Diamond), with whom Taylor has collaborated several times now, including the excellent Soundwall release from 2007. Also present on Return to Whatever are Pierre Tassone on violin, Carsten Sindvald on saxes, Flemming Muus Tranberg on bass, and Klaus Thrane on drums.The album opens with the propulsive “Mooncake.” I love the bass and keyboard lines that really drive this song forward. It’s not exceptionally jaunty or fast, but the track percolates along and it’s easy to get swept up in it and go along for the ride. This is a solid opening track that really sets the stage for the music to follow. Speaking of following, “July 6th” is the track that follows, and it opens quietly and gently, with a pulsing bass note and some fragile piano playing courtesy, one assumes, of Mr. Taylor. Some scattered percussion and sustained guitar lines here and there build from moment to moment, slowly becoming a constant rhythm and presence. The tension builds slowly on this piece, and the presence of Celtic harp courtesy of guest Tine Elliot adds nicely to the sound.
Things pick up on “Haunted Yellow House,” as the band plays with heat and passion, Sindvald’s saxophones wailing with unrestrained fire. I absolutely love the opening section of the piece, and while perhaps I’d have liked it to go on longer, it may have lost its intensity had it done so. Tassone gets a chance to shine in the spotlight on this track as well, and his contributions are perfect. A more ambient bit about 2-3 minutes in really helps evoke the haunted theme mentioned in the title. “The Atlas Clock” is a bit more jaunty, with some pleasant flute playing courtesy of Lilholt, and a tick-tock clock like rhythm that gets the body swaying a bit. Add in a bit of crunchy guitar to keep things interesting and simmer for a bit, and you have a nicely diverse summer song to tempt and satisfy your music-loving taste buds.
Things get ramped back down several notches on the opening to “Earth,” with piano and flute leading in the track. It doesn’t remain thus for long, as a driving beat and some excellent organ playing kick in to get the track moving forward. With this section being mostly bass/drums/keys (with a touch of guitar in the background), it’s easy to conjure up shades of ELP chugging along, and this is one of the more symphonic moments on this release…at least till the band breaks down and Sindvald steps into the spotlight to let loose with a wonderful sax solo. A second iteration of this theme allows Sindvald to remain, soaring over the musical foundation with more wonderful tenor sax skronking and wailing. I think in the final analysis, this is my fave piece on the album. “Pink Island” begins moving things toward the album’s resolution, and all the elements are in place right from the beginning: intense guitar, sax and violin, driving rhythms, quirky, shifting arrangements. I love elements here…the guitar playing is wonderfully emotive, and some of the synth/keyboard work really gets out there. All this leads to the album’s closing track, “Mooncake – Reprise.” And yes, it does what it says on the tin…albeit a bit more expansively (the reprise is a bit more than a minute longer than the actual track it is reprising). Having said this, the fast paced organ and drums at the beginning are a wonderful change-up from anything else on the release, and definitely get that ELP vibe going again. I’d love to see (or rather, hear), more material like this, but that’s one of the more enjoyable things about a Robin Taylor album…you really never do know what exactly you’re going to get from release to release, and from song to song.
One other great thing about most of Taylor’s albums is that they truly are albums…they’re concise, and in the case of Return to Whatever, it’s really classic album length (around 45 minutes). Rather than adding in material to get as close to the limit of what a CD can carry, he gives you the material that is the strongest, that fits the theme or sound he is going for on the release, and then wraps things up. You never have to worry about reaching a point on any of his releases where hitting the skip or fast forward button looks like a good idea. I wish more current musos would take a lesson from him and start releasing albums that excise most of the filler and packing intended to pad things out to 75 or more minutes.
Additionally, Return to Whatever has some of the nicest packaging in Taylor’s continually growing C.V. Packed in mini-LP packaging, the album theme is carried over with some thematically connected artwork that almost tells a story from the outside to the inside. Add in track by track line-up notes, and it’s easy to tell who is contributing what. I might have wished that the inside text was a different colour (yellow text on a predominantly red/yellow/orange backing can be tough at times), but that’s a minor quibble. What’s important is what is encoded in 1’s and 0’s on the shiny silver disc enclosed in the packaging, and on that account the books are heavily in Taylor’s favour. Return to Whatever is another enjoyably solid Robin Taylor release, one which sits comfortably near the top of his lengthy discography.
Mooncake 6:44July 6th 7:33Haunted Yellow House 4:21
The Atlas Clock 5:22Earth 7:16Pink Island 7:39Mooncake - Reprise 5:35 Musicians:Robin Taylor: keyboards, bass guitar, keyboards, et cetera
Carsten Sindvald: saxophones
Pierre Tassone: violins
Michael Denner: guitars
Flemming Muus Tranberg: bass
Klaus Thrane: drumsTine Lilhold: celtic harp, flute
Louise Nipper: voice
http://www.progressor.net/robin-taylor/
As we rev things back up, here's a taste of what I have been listening to:IQ - Frequency. The new album. Expect a review post tomorrow.
Taylor's Universe - Return to Whatever. Expect a review by the end of the week.
UFO - The Visitor. I should be reviewing this next week.
Magnum - Into the Valley of the Moon King
Oceansize - Frames (US edition w/DVD)
All this and more to be covered soon.
And this year may well be the year of the live blog from NEARfest...details to follow!
This just in from Robin Taylor:Taylor's Universe was formed in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1993 by composer and multi-instrumentalist Robin Taylor. Through the years a lot of very fine players have taken part in Mr. Taylor's jazz influenced - and often quirky - progressive rock, which has given TU a great load of friends in the world press. Worth mentioning is, that sax ace Karsten Vogel (of Secret Oyster fame) was a key member for several years.
Now Mr. Taylor presents his Universe featuring a brand new line-up for their ninth release, Return to Whatever:
Michael Denner: guitar
Carsten Sindvald: saxes
Pierre Tassone: violins
Taylor: keyboards, percussion and "laser" guitar
Flemming Muus Tranberg: bass
Klaus Thrane: drums
With this stronger-than-ever line-up, Taylor's Universe are ready to show the world, that little old Denmark is still among the prog nations - though this band is probably one of the very few today still renewing prog.
I'll likely have a more in depth review of this CD up in the usual location (for new readers, and especially as I've not included a link before, it's Progscape - Where Progressive Rock Lives on the Web...I've been a primary reviewer there since June of 2006, contributing somewhere between 140 and 160 reviews in the past 2 years, along with newer staff writers Paulo André and Chris Piccirillo), but...
Today my copy of the new Taylor's Universe album arrived, featuring Mercyful Fate/King Diamond guitarist Michael Denner as guest soloist throughout. Titled Soundwall, it is perhaps in some ways the most shocking Taylor's Universe album to date. Excising from a past review of one of his albums, I have this to say about his curriculum vitae: "Taylor has released 23 albums since 1991, either solo, as part of the composed ensemble Taylor’s Universe, or as part of the free group Taylor’s Free Universe. His output covers a wide range of instrumental material…composed, melodic pieces, ambient textures and soundscapes, or completely improvised free music. The name on the label is generally a good indicator of what the contents will offer; albums released under Taylor’s name alone tend to lean toward ambiance and space, while albums under the Free Universe moniker will contain the most difficult and complex material."
Soundwall is neither ambient nor free music, though there are moments that perhaps allude to those styles. The pieces feel incredibly tightly composed, melodic without sounding cloying, intensely played. If past Taylor's Universe albums lean toward lighter, jazzier Canterbury bands at times, Soundwall instead looks to Lizard-era King Crimson and Dave Stewart's Egg for stylistic influences. There is every bit as much wild, unleashed playing as there is tightly reined in interplay that will keep the listener constantly actively listening. It's heavy without being ponderous, showing a side of the group's playing I'd not necessarily heard before.I don't want to say any more than that, as I want the review to cover things more fully. But damn...this is good stuff. I'd even go so far as to say this is THE Taylor's Universe album to buy if you've never heard him before. Accessible without being simplistic, complex without wallowing in self-aware complexity for the sheer sake of doing so, this is an early front runner for my top 10 albums of 2008 list...
Read more about Robin Taylor HERE.Other Robin Taylor CD reviews: On-Plugged in Elsinore9 Eleven: Live at Copenhagen JazzhouseFamily ShotExperimental HealthPorkTaylor's UniverseCertain Undiscoveries Manipulated By TaylorOnce AgainOyster’s Apprentice
