Member:
ffroyd
(Profile)
(All Album Reviews by ffroyd)
Date:
3/20/2008
Format:
CD (Album)
Dan Britton has done it again! So, you might be asking the question: who is Dan Britton and what has he done again? Dan is a musician from the Washington, D.C. area and he has another amazing musical project on his hands. In 2005 it was Cerberus Effect and the album Acts of Deception. A year later he was back with a new band in the form of Deluge Grandeur. The album August in the Urals would wind up on many best of the year lists. This time around he has a new band and a new album. From the first observation, Birds and Buildings looks to be even more intense than the others.
The seeds for this venture were planted during the final recording stages of August in the Urals when Dan met drummer Malcolm McDuffie, another member of the D.C. music scene who played in the band Crom-Tech with Mick Barr who would go on to form Orthrelm. The duo of Britton and McDuffie worked on ideas for a few months but really started to click when Brian Falkowski came into the equation. His sax and flute playing merged well with the sound they were trying to establish. The band was completed by the inclusion of bassist Brett d’Anon who had previously worked with Dan in Deluge Grandeur.
There is quite a good segment of B and B’s music that has been influenced by the heavier styles of bands like Magma and Present. The first song “Birds Flying Into Buildings” is a typical example with a frenzied beat and some serious baritone sax work. The hypnotic keyboards really give this track a nice feel. I can’t quite put my finger on it but there’s also something that reminds me of Guapo here.
The tempo slows a bit with the second track “Terra Fire”. There’s a bit of a brooding post rock/neo psychedelic feel to this one with some heavily processed vocals. Dan’s voice isn’t his strongest asset and the effects work well in this case.
On “Tunguska” the band brings out their symphonic side with some nice mellotron washes sounding a little like early Moody Blues in the beginning. Dan’s vocals are sort of lost in the mix, but that just adds to the mystery of the piece. The track picks up speed and morphs into more heavy zeuhl territory. There’s some really powerful sax playing in the midst of this one that really gets the blood flowing.
“Caution Congregates and Forms a Storm” has some mellower parts with lots of lush orchestral keyboards and flute. This one also contains some heavier spots. Towards the end there’s a part with acoustic guitar and piano that’s really well put together.
“Chronicle of the Invisible River of Stone” is another beautiful track. The one features vocals from Megan Wheatly. Her voice is much better than Dan’s (sorry dude) and she does quite a bit of singing on this track. It’s funny how the band goes from an almost avant-garde sound to this, which is nearly light neo prog. It’s all good stuff, though.
The next piece, “Yucatan 65: The Agitation of the Mass” starts out with an acoustic guitar intro that reminds me somewhat of Alex Lifeson in a Spanish mode. The flute comes in for a few moments and then the lush keyboards are back. I also hear a harpsichord in there too. Then we get some handclapping, now it definitely has a Spanish flair. The pace quickens and the rhythm gets heavier. There’s a nice synth solo towards the end, too.
My vote for funniest song title would go to “Chakra Khan” which would also get the award for most energetic tune on the disc. This has a heavy frantic pace with distorted guitars, thundering organ and killer sax. Dan’s vocals here are pretty demented as well. This one is probably my favorite on the disc.
“Battalion” is another fast one and this one probably contains the most obvious Magma-influence. Dan does some jaw-dropping piano playing on this one. Towards the middle things get really peaceful for a few minutes. Then there’s a whopping crescendo at the end.
With “Sunken City, Sunny Day” the ending is rather mellow on this disc. This sounds something like it could have come from a Richard Wright (of Pink Floyd) solo album, if he had played more mellotron. There is a muffled sample of an Englishman speaking about something but it can’t be made out. This track is an interesting way to close out the album.
Overall, I’d say this album has a ton of great music on it. There’s almost too much and that’s about the biggest criticism I could give the disc. It’s just jammed with superb quality stuff. If you have no problem listening to lots of great material and never getting bored for 70 minutes then this just might be something you should check out. What am I saying? Get this disc! You won’t regret it.
Anybody that uses Hieronymous Bosch artwork on their album covers gets a thumbs up from me. There’s also some more colorful stuff from artist Kezia Terracciano in the CD booklet, which is worth seeing. Another cool aspect of this release is the symmetric style of the song titles and even the track times. I wasn’t even aware of this at first but picked up on it after reading more about the album. While it’s still quite early in the year, I have a feeling this will be one of my favorites of 2008. Do yourself a favor and give Birds and Buildings a shot.
Member:
avestin
(Profile)
(All Album Reviews by avestin)
Date:
3/23/2008
Format:
CD (Album)
Last year (2007) Dan Britton said he is starting yet another project called “Birds and Buildings” that will release an album in 2008. After being very enthusiastic about his other bands, Cerebus Effect (CE) and Deluge Grander (DG) I was highly anticipating this one. He was also very kind to send me this album for reviewing.
Unlike its name, the album does not go from Bantam to Behemoth, but rather starts as a Behemoth and stays as such during the whole of it.
Starting with a high energy rhythm reminiscing of zeuhl, this album goes straight to business. This first track is mesmerizing, passionate and exhilarating. However, there a great deal of variety in this album and you will experience many different sounds, styles and atmospheres before the end of this more than one hour long album. But fear not, this zeuhlish element will come again later on in the album (6, 8).
As rich sounding as the previous albums; as complex and well structured and composed; as varied and enjoyable – this album shows again what a fantastic composer Dan Britton is. I can’t imagine him doing something I will dislike.
The music here shifts and covers many different styles, from the aforementioned zeuhl to jazz and rock; it also covers many grounds in terms of mood – from fast, intense and even nervous to the calm and peaceful; and always beautiful and thrilling. I hear this album as a mixing of the intensity and style of Cerebus Effect and the grandiosity and epic-ness of Deluge Grander – the sound here is in a way a mixing of the two to create something new.
There are places where the CE sound if very dominant and “visible” like in parts of the first track “Birds Flying Into Buildings” and the third track “Tunguska”. The edgy and frisky keyboards sound pierces through making again allusion to the Canterbury sound. The effect is enhanced by the addition of a saxophone culminating in a marvelous sound painting.
In addition to the music being gorgeous and enthralling, the musicianship here is top notch. Whether it’s the great sax, flute and clarinet playing, the enthusiastic and dynamic drumming (two different drummers on different tracks) and the always-captivating keyboards, all is done very well, and always manages to convey the emotions and mental images efficiently. Speaking of those, listening to the album while studying the artwork raised some questions in my mind, which I will ask Dan about, but before that let me mention the awesome layout of the album.
The art work inside the album is captivating and as the press notes say, each 3 tracks create a small trilogy each and those 3 trilogies are also intertwined and form a closed circle. This is noticeable in the music, which seems to flow from one track to the next and each consecutive track seems to carry some element or pattern from its previous.
This cyclic feature is also portrayed in the inside art work which seem to adjust to the track titles so that each picture depicts one track; the art work is a continuous piece, like the music and it ends where it began (although not exactly if you look carefully) and thus closes the circle. Those pictures can be seen in the Myspace website of the band.
Now back to one of the questions I mentioned, is the appearance of the words Miranda and Spark as mountains in the paintings (think mount Rushmore). Miranda may allude to “The Solitude of Miranda” the last track from the DG album August in the Urals. The acoustic guitar reminiscent of a Spanish style in the track “Yucatan 65: The Agitation of the Mass” might also refer to that track as it had a Flamenco styled guitar playing. All this only strengthens the mixing I mentioned in the beginning, of the two previous bands sounds – that of DG and that of CE – into one coherent sound that makes up B&B.
Lastly, much like August in the Urals there is much to absorb here. Not only are the tracks long, but the abundance of elements and styles combined with the structure makes it an album to be listened to well several times until one can safely say he knows and understands it.
This album is recommended to those who liked the previous Dan Britton projects as well as to people who like an amalgam of styles and bands like Panzerpappa. Moreover, this album is highly recommended to all those who want spice in their music, creativity, variety, sophistication, thrill and excitement. In other words, go get this album!
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