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Mc Hacek: Featuring Ourselves
ByMachacek is one firmly talented guitarist, no doubts here. He has his own style even if he echoes Henderson and Holdsworth. Riffs are riffs. For in-your-face Zappa, hear “Zapzarapp”. It is one of my fav tracks as it flows in fits and starts then mellows in a ballad format at times like an old Bruford piece. Philipp’s vibe unison runs with Machacek’s fleeting melody lies was as good if not better than those sax/guitar tricks on Stern’s releases or even Gong’s unison vibes/axe runs with Holdsworth way back when . . . A solo bass break nicely pulls this piece out into more rrom for Machacek to squeal harmonics-laden wailings for the outro.
To show off all this band’s syncopated bells and whistles you must experience, “Donna Lee Easy Viennese Version”. This reminded me of game show jingles re-written for fusion keeping in mind the whirlwind effects of a manic Magma intro. Truly whacked!! I luv’d it. “Intro 2 7" leads us very Allan Holdsworthic right into “Allandig” which seems a tribute to Holdsworth. It is an 8:53 mellow flowing piece that builds into room for Machacek to do the butterfly-kiss, light-fingered touch, and then open it up for extended jams in fusion heaven with angelic vibes countering his axe’s tortured screams and bluesy-rocked fusion runs. The flurry of notes here is wonderfully placed and without any excess. The bassist does an excellet job on piano on this great cut. They outro with a tight drum solo.
“Bänderriss” was a perfect blend of Zappa meets Tribal Tech. Hunh? Yep. It worked. It demonstrated just how much fine jazz riffage Machacek can pull out of his sleeve. Bass solo is just right. Compositions shift and flow and this group just breathe the change-ups unfalteringly. A joy to experience. Class stuff here. Last two tracks were free-form improv, avant-garde excursions that reminded me of when Tribal Tech just gets weird and whankish. They did little to help this release. In spite of the anti-climax in these last two cuts, I highly recommend this release for superb fusion of Austria.
Personnel
Album information
Title: Featuring Ourselves | Year Released: 2000 | Record Label: Next Generation Enterprises
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