NAKED TRUTH — Shizaru (review)

NAKED TRUTH — Shizaru album cover Album · 2011 · Eclectic Fusion Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
js
This album stands a chance of blowing up really big in the world of jazzy psychedelic rock/groove music, it has a lot of the musical elements that people are looking for these days, plus some well-known group members and a big solid production that lets you know these guys aren’t new to this. On “Shizaru”, Naked Truth combines the dark dub/ambient grooves of Bill Laswell with some "Agharta" flavored cosmic trumpet jams, some modern open-stringed post-rock guitar and a huge wall of sound that recalls the big sound of rock bands like King Crimson. The overall atmosphere on here is definitely on the dark ambient side of things, which puts them in line for a lot of attention as that sort of sound has been growing in popularity lately. Likewise, the recent increased interest in Miles’ mid-70s psychedelic music works in Naked Truth’s favor as trumpeter Cuong Vu’s dry soft tone floating on top of a spacey hip-hop beat backed by droning guitars and electronics will definitely make many think of Miles albums like “Pangea” and “Agharta”.

Although at first one might get the impression that this is just a jam session, there are actually a lot of nice composed moments that mix in quite unobtrusively including some very interesting abstract melodies on the trumpet and string-synth keyboards that recall 20th century expressionist composers. All through the album the band members change up the texture and keep things interesting in ways that may not hit you at first. After many listens this album still has some surprises which is unusual in the world of modern jam music.

If there is a main fault with this album, it is that sometimes the dark tone can get a little dreary and predictable, also a few more chord progressions here and there would also add some interest. Still, “Shizaru” is far more imaginative and inventive than your average plug-in and play psychedelic jam
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