Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Quack Quack: Slow As An Eyeball

382

Quack Quack: Slow As An Eyeball

By

View read count
Quack Quack: Slow As An Eyeball
Good grief, Slow As An Eyeball is fun. Not fun as in "quite enjoyable" or "this might bring a smile to the face," but fun as in Fun. The sort of immediate, raw and inescapable joy that leaps out of the speakers to demand smiles, dance action and increased volume all at the same time. The trio of musicians who form Quack Quack—based in Leeds in the northern English county of Yorkshire—inhabit a musical world on the fringes of jazz, techno, dance and even progressive rock, creating atmospheric and downright catchy tunes with a refreshing lack of pretension. As the cheap '70s record label had it, this is "Music For Pleasure."

"Perpetual Spinach" sounds a little like the Americana style of Calexico—there's even some lap steel guitar from Richard Formby—until the entry of Richard Morris' simple keyboard line. The sound of jazz originals like Sun Ra, and the gloriously eccentric electronica of '60s visionary Joe Meek break through as multiple rhythms create a rich, welcoming ambience.

"Toc H" is a medium tempo tune with a simple and straightforward structure and is perhaps most typical of the Quack Quack approach. Much of the tune is underpinned by a pedal electronic drone over which Stuart Bannister adds a funky, repetitive bass to take charge of the rhythm. On top sits Neil Turpin's light and vibrant drumming and Morris' stabbing keyboard—which is, itself, replaced occasionally by a denser, lower register keyboard sound that adds just a hint of menace. This thoughtful, multilayered approach is repeated consistently across the album's ten tracks, ensuring that their immediacy doesn't become tired as repeated listening can uncover new sounds and ideas.

Towards the middle of the album—most notably on "Phonehenge"—the pace drops, repetition comes over too strongly and the vibrancy of the music suffers. But the quality soon recovers when, half way through "Big Sounds," Morris enters with a beautiful rolling keyboard riff. The album closes with three of its strongest tunes. "Bird Parliament" has a slinky central keyboard riff while its structural approach suggests a strong jazz influence. The band's jazz credentials are stated clearly when Polar Bear's Seb Rochford and Pete Wareham guest on drums and tenor sax respectively on "As Slow as an Eyeball," while Wareham adds some heavy tenor riffs to the splendidly cheery and upbeat closer, "Jack of None."

Slow As An Eyeball took three years to record, but the cohesiveness and consistency of the tunes sound like they were created in a much shorter period. Quack Quack brings a welcome freshness to the fringes of jazz, with a sharp reminder that technical complexity is not the only goal. Oh—and it's fun.

Track Listing

Perpetual Spinach; D Motherfucker D; Three; Toc H; Phonehenge; Big Sounds; Cakes Are Easy; Bird Parliament; As Slow as an Eyeball; Jack of None.

Personnel

Stuart Bannister: bass; Richard Morris: keyboards; Neil Turpin: drums; Richard Formby: lap steel guitar (1), oscillator (4, 10); Sebastian Rochford: additional drums (9); Pete Wareham: saxophone (9, 10).

Album information

Title: Slow As An Eyeball | Year Released: 2010 | Record Label: Self Produced

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.

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.