Record Reviews

MOONGANG ~ TAXI ALLEGRO 024 (Barcode: 5901157049247) ~ POLAND ~ Blues-Rock Recorded: 2012 Released: 2012 This is the debut album by a young Polish Blues-Rock / Funk band MoongangFind albums by this artist, fronted by female vocalist Joanna KnitterFind albums by this artist, with harmonica player Roman BadenskiFind albums by this artist, guitarist Marcin WadolowskiFind albums by this artist, pianist Hubert SwiatekFind albums by this artist, bassist Karol KozlowskiFind albums by this artist and drummer Piotr GoraFind albums by this artist. The album comprises of eleven original songs and one instrumental. The guitarist composed eight of the pieces, the vocalist two and the bassist and pianist contributed one each. Knitter wrote the lyrics to all eleven songs, ten of which are in English and one is in Polish. Obviously based on the Blues tradition, the music stretches out into other genres, like Rock, Funk and even occasionally Fusion. Almost all the tunes are up-tempo and have a very funky feel about them, which certainly tends to make the listeners dance or at least tap their feet. The instrumental performances are all quite excellent, especially the beautiful harmonica parts, which are the link to the Blues roots of this music, but also the guitar and electric piano solos are a delight. The rhythm section does an excellent job keeping the music moving forward and providing the funky feel. The vocalist has a worm, strong voice, which she uses cleverly and effectively and which is ideal for this kind of music. She has a great timing and phrasing and overall her performances are just what this music needs. Having said all that, there are some points about this album, which bother me personally, although most local listeners probably won´t mind them at all. I understand the desire of Polish bands to sound "international" and use English lyrics. The vocalist´s English pronunciation and accent are actually quite passable and are not a problem as such, but the lyrics are. Using slang and dirty words does not make lyrics more "native" English, does it? One does not have to even go beyond this very album to see that the sole song in Polish sounds so much better that all the others, in order to learn a lesson not to make the same mistake again, hopefully. But all in all this is an excellent debut album by a band with a lot of abilities and even more potential in the future. This band most probably kicks ass on the stage like few others and gives the audiences a great time. The album is great for driving, as I´ve experienced, making the long stretch of the road to pass unnoticed. Well done indeed!

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QUARTADO ~ QUARTADO NOT ON LABEL ~ POLAND ~ Jazz-Rock Fusion Recorded: 2014 Released: 2014 This is the debut album by young Polish Jazz ensemble QuartadoFind albums by this artist, which consists of keyboardist Jan RejnowiczFind albums by this artist, guitarist Marcin WadolowskiFind albums by this artist, bassist Karol KozlowskiFind albums by this artist and drummer Tomasz LosowskiFind albums by this artist. The album presents ten original compositions, eight of which are by Rejnowicz and one each are by Wadolowski and Losowski. The music can be generally classified as Jazz-Rock Fusion, but it certainly has quite an unusual approach, mixing the standard Fusion tricks of the trade with Latin rhythms, Jazzy acoustic piano passages and many other devices, which sets the quartet apart from most of their competition. The level of the compositions is quite surprising, with solid melodic and harmonic ideas rather than the usual Fusion chord progressions which only purpose is to serve as a basis for endless doodling. The personal contributions are all impressive, with the rhythm section driving the music forcefully forward. The bass has a very thick sound and the drums are very busy, and although together they are well synchronized, personally I think that the rhythm section is too dominant and comes way to forward in the mix, which causes a listening fatigue after about half the album, actually hurting the listeners ears. The overall sound is not great either, sounding muddy and condensed as if recorded in a tiny box, which is a great pity as this album could have sounded infinitely better. Rejnowicz, who wrote most of the music, comes up as a gifted composer, but his playing is not sensational and fails to make a unique personal statement, probably due to the fact that he is still very new at it. However, Wadolowski, who has been very busy in the last few years and participated in quite a few recordings, is the absolute star of this album, playing his heart out and sounding really good from start to finish. His solos are inventive and well developed, obviously making hordes of young guitarist to cringe with envy. It is truly satisfying to follow a musicians for a period of time and see (or rather hear) his progress and development. Overall quite a nice debut with many fine moments and a lot of potential, just take it a bit easy next time around and channel the testosterone elsewhere.

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QUARTADO ~ QUARTADO 2 SOLITON 938 (Barcode: 5901571099385) ~ POLAND ~ Jazz-Rock Fusion Recorded: 2019 Released: 2019 This is the second album by Polish Fusion quartet QuartadoFind albums by this artist, which comprises of keyboardist Jan RejnowiczFind albums by this artist, guitarist Marcin WadolowskiFind albums by this artist, bassist Karol KozlowskiFind albums by this artist and drummer Tomasz LosowskiFind albums by this artist. The album presents eight original compositions; four by Rejnowicz, two by Wadolowski and one each by Kozlowski and Losowski. The music continues exactly where the debut left off, with the same Fusion feel based on highly melodic compositions and full of typical Fusion riffs, which have been around for the last fifty years, which means that this album might have been recorded anytime between 1970 and now and nobody would be able to pinpoint the recording date. This of course proves that Fusion is one of the most stable (or stale is one wants to be nasty) Jazz idioms out there. Having said that, this music is really quite excellent as far as Fusion is concerned, full of great tunes, excellent playing and "positive energy", as the quartet states on the album´s cover. The technical level of the performances is much better than on the debut, especially the keyboards, which offer a diverse sonic kaleidoscope of instruments between acoustic and electric pianos, organ and synthesizers. The soloing is solid and very well structured this time. The only pity is that the keyboards completely dominate the proceedings, and the role of the guitar is sadly much less prominent. Wadolowski is obviously a growing force on the Polish guitar scene and his playing is significantly superior, which is an asset the quartet could have explored more efficiently. The rhythm section does a perfect job all the way through, doing exactly what is expected in the Fusion environment, i.e. keep the beat steady and the groove swinging. Overall this is a splendid Fusion album, perfectly in the middle of the Fusion mainstream, which should keep most of the fans of the genre perfectly happy. It is certainly as good as anything produced by American Fusion bands that are still around, if not better than most. Highly recommended to Fusion-heads the world over!

Updated: 09/08/2019Posted: 09/08/2019

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