Thanks to Scott Braziel for bringing this to my attention...a shame it's taken me this long to get this posted. More is coming...please be patient!
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
I enjoy getting links and info sent to me by various artists. While I cannot every guarantee that I can cover every thing that comes through my inbox, I try to take a look and listen to as much as possible.Scott Brazieal contacted me a few days ago and encouraged me to check out his music. Scott may not be a well known name, but he has an impressive musical CV, having worked with Cartoon, PFS, (Cuneiform Records) as well as 5uu's and Thinking Plague.
This is not a free download...but it's inexpensive, and more than worth the price...I plan on making a purchase ASAP as I really enjoy what I am hearing. His album is titled Songs from the Empire, and if I were forced to give the music a label (and forced from using my favourite catch all genre label of 'music I like'), I'd probably have to call this a slightly more avant take on post rock. Some of the material reminds me greatly of bands like The Ascent of Everest...at times, in fact, I'd almost want to call this chamber prog, as it evokes a certain almost orchestral feel throughout. In fact, Scott has this to say about that:
"Finally, I would be remiss if I didn't try to emphasize the fact that this album is intended to be listened to in its' entirety, as one continuous piece...it's my damn "classical" pedagogy y'know...sigh...although, not to intimate that it doesn't work within our current cultural paradigm of single-song downloading..."
You can hear the whole album for free here: http://www.virb.com/songsfromtheempire
If, like me, you like what you hear, you can purchase and download the album here: http://amiestreet.com/music/scott-brazieal/songs-from-the-empire/
Check it out...this is music that pushes some of the boundaries in ways that I like.
