Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Pray For Brain: None Of The Above

40

Pray For Brain: None Of The Above

By

View read count
Track review of "Circus"

Pray For Brain: None Of The Above
New Mexico is known for its picturesque landscape, arts & crafts and Mother Earth type activities, but not cited for harvesting diverse progressive rock power trios. In addition, the band's marketing pitch asks, "What happens when two Buddhists and a Muslim meet to make music?" Evidently, a whole lot is going on, as the musicians' incorporate an electro-organic feast, enveloping a 3D outlook, spanning Middle Eastern oud-based rock, Indofunk, jazz fusion and hearty doses of improvisation. Here, exceptionally versatile guitarist Mustafa Stefan Dill integrates thrusting King Crimson chord voicings, understated melodies, shades of Americana, Mid-Eastern modalities and performs on the oud as well.

"Circus" is a piece that communicates yet another side of this enterprising unit's makeup. They inaugurate the proceedings with a splintered drums and guitar call / response motif. But matters swiftly transform into a C&W like two-step breakout, coupled with the sounds of Morocco via Dill's clever phraseology and shrewd improvisational faculties along with an affable melodic hook. The guitarist's slick-picking lines come to a halt as they migrate into a 2/4 rock pulse and moderate the main theme. Consequently, the group's divergent processes don't end there, as Dill incorporates jazzy Wes Montgomery-like chord patterns into the schematic along with a touch of pandemonium towards the closing moments. In sum, if you're looking for a solidly produced jazz rock or progressive rock outing that deviates from the tried and true, then Pray For Brain fits the bill in a rather huge way.

Track Listing

Personnel

Christine Nelson: bass; Jefferson Voorhees: drums, percussion; Mustafa Stefan Dill: guitars, oud.

Album information

Title: None Of The Above | Year Released: 2015 | Record Label: 7D Media

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT




Support All About Jazz

Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

Near

More

Tramonto
John Taylor
Ki
Natsuki Tamura / Satoko Fujii
Duality Pt: 02
Dom Franks' Strayhorn
The Sound of Raspberry
Tatsuya Yoshida / Martín Escalante

Popular

Old Home/New Home
The Brian Martin Big Band
My Ideal
Sam Dillon
Ecliptic
Shifa شفاء - Rachel Musson, Pat Thomas, Mark Sanders
Lado B Brazilian Project 2
Catina DeLuna & Otmaro Ruíz

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.