SaltyJon
Jean Louis definitely started their recording career off very strongly with this album. It's is an intense ride through jazz, rock, and avant-garde styles, pulling you in from the very first notes and not letting you up for a breath of air until it's all over. All of the members of the band have come prepared to really let loose on their respective instrument. Aymeric (trumpet) and Joachim (upright bass) both run their instruments through so many effects that sometimes they're not recognizable. Sometimes, in fact, I even mistook the bass for trumpet and the trumpet for bass. These guys know how to ride a groove in the way you'd least expect. Joachim is a really smart, agile bassist. How he does some of the stuff he does, I don't know, as I've played upright for a while and I can't come anywhere near the skill required for what he plays on this album. Aymeric is definitely an intensely skilled trumpeter as well, though he doesn't go quite as far beyond what's humanly possible as often as Joachim does on the bass from what I can tell. Last but certainly not least is Francesco's drumming...he's really great as well. He manages to keep up with the other two and really knows how to hit the skins, and he always holds down a good beat without sticking to it. The music on this album isn't exactly what you'd expect to hear from a trumpet/upright bass/drums trio, instead it's something a lot more intense and, as far as I know, original. There aren't any bad tracks on this album, but among all the highlights I have to give special mention to "Zakir", "Airbus" and "Kasams", they really blow me away every time I listen.
So overall this is really aggressive, jazzy music from three guys who play exceptionally well together, and whose future works I'm eagerly looking forward to. This is undoubtedly one of my favorite albums of the past decade and my favorite from 2008, specifically. The album is deserving of a solid and strong rating from my point of view - easily a masterpiece of modern avant-fusion.