All is Gladness in the Kingdon
A cursory glance at the band shot on Fight the Big Bull’s All Is Gladness in the Kingdom caused me to wonder, “WTF is this, ‘freak folk’ shite?” I needn’t have worried. Far from it, they’re a robust and forward-thinking ensemble from Richmond, Virginia, of all places, helmed by guitarist-composer Matt White. They sound like the Gil Evans Orchestra with a screw loose, or one of those freewheeling Euro outfits like Willem Breuker’s Kollektief. Like the ’70s Evans outfit, they aren’t above incorporating rawk influences (including the foulest sounding fuzztone I’ve heard in several years) to their tumult of squalling saxes and growling trombone. Elsewhere, their woodwinds sing as smoothly and sweetly as the ones from Ellington’s Blanton-Webster band. The secret ingredient on All is Gladness… is trumpeter-composer Steven Bernstein (Sex Mob, Millennial Territory Orchestra), who traveled to Richmond from Da Apple for ten days of rehearsal, performance, workshops, and recording. On “Mothra,” they sound like a futuristic sci-fi soundtrack gone haywire. And I just can’t resist their wild ‘n’ wooly cover of “Jemima Surrender” from the Band’s self-titled sophomore LP, an album they apparently dig real much. Which, come to think of it, _was_ pretty freaky (if only for its out-of-timeness) and folky (if you accept the premise that Ray Charles and Bobby Bland could be considered “folk music”).
All is Gladness in the Kingdon
A cursory glance at the band shot on Fight the Big Bull’s All Is Gladness in the Kingdom caused me to wonder, “WTF is this, ‘freak folk’ shite?” I needn’t have worried. Far from it, they’re a robust and forward-thinking ensemble from Richmond, Virginia, of all places, helmed by guitarist-composer Matt White. They sound like the Gil Evans Orchestra with a screw loose, or one of those freewheeling Euro outfits like Willem Breuker’s Kollektief. Like the ’70s Evans outfit, they aren’t above incorporating rawk influences (including the foulest sounding fuzztone I’ve heard in several years) to their tumult of squalling saxes and growling trombone. Elsewhere, their woodwinds sing as smoothly and sweetly as the ones from Ellington’s Blanton-Webster band. The secret ingredient on All is Gladness… is trumpeter-composer Steven Bernstein (Sex Mob, Millennial Territory Orchestra), who traveled to Richmond from Da Apple for ten days of rehearsal, performance, workshops, and recording. On “Mothra,” they sound like a futuristic sci-fi soundtrack gone haywire. And I just can’t resist their wild ‘n’ wooly cover of “Jemima Surrender” from the Band’s self-titled sophomore LP, an album they apparently dig real much. Which, come to think of it, _was_ pretty freaky (if only for its out-of-timeness) and folky (if you accept the premise that Ray Charles and Bobby Bland could be considered “folk music”).