Search - Vernon Reid, Jamaaledeen Tacuma, G. Calvin Weston :: Free Form Funky Freqs: Urban Mythology, Vol. 1

Free Form Funky Freqs: Urban Mythology, Vol. 1
Vernon Reid, Jamaaledeen Tacuma, G. Calvin Weston
Free Form Funky Freqs: Urban Mythology, Vol. 1
Genres: Alternative Rock, Jazz, Pop, R&B, Rock, Classic Rock, Metal
 
  •  Track Listings (10) - Disc #1

Get fready for the "freq-y" power trio from the future, melding the talents of Vernon Reid on guitar, Jamaaladeen Tacuma on bass and G. Calvin Weston on drums. This extraordinary meeting of the minds and souls breaks new g...  more »

     
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CD Details

All Artists: Vernon Reid, Jamaaledeen Tacuma, G. Calvin Weston
Title: Free Form Funky Freqs: Urban Mythology, Vol. 1
Members Wishing: 4
Total Copies: 0
Label: Thirsty Ear
Original Release Date: 1/1/2008
Re-Release Date: 2/12/2008
Genres: Alternative Rock, Jazz, Pop, R&B, Rock, Classic Rock, Metal
Styles: Avant Garde & Free Jazz, Funk, Progressive, Progressive Rock, Rock Guitarists, Psychedelic Rock
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaCD Credits: 1
UPC: 700435718227

Synopsis

Product Description
Get fready for the "freq-y" power trio from the future, melding the talents of Vernon Reid on guitar, Jamaaladeen Tacuma on bass and G. Calvin Weston on drums. This extraordinary meeting of the minds and souls breaks new ground in the definition of the timeless trio sound using the best elements of improvisation, modern dsp, and good old-fashioned funk. Groups are often touted as having "natural chemistry", but few if any would attempt a recording like this, putting these often used words to the test. Despite their long personal association, Reid, Tacuma and Weston had never before played together.
A Brief History of the Freqs
The birth of the free form funky freqs is intertwined with the untimely death of Tonic, the legendary underground center for jazz, rock and experimental music in lower Manhattan. In it's waning days, a number of performances were commissioned from artists associated with the venue. Enter Weston, who called two long time friends to share the stage. Due to traveling and production circumstances, the trio had not played a single note together. The success of their spontaneious performance at Tonic came as a surprise and revelation, to the members of the trio. What started as an impromptu gig, now begged further consideration. Shortly after, Weston invited Reid and Tacuma to come to the Rhythm section's native Philadelphia, playing the underground haven Tritone. Once again, with no prior planning, the three took the stage and had yet another remarkable evening.

Willing to take a risk, Reid booked time at a little-known but professionally appointed studio near his home in Staten Island. These three musical innovators went into the studio wanting to explore the organic energy and excitement they felt from the live performance. What you hear on this recording is their third performance. Electrified by Reid's thought and riff provoking guitar work, matched with Tacuma's inventive bass playing and locked down by Weston's deep in the groove drum treatment, "Urban Mythology:Volume One" is a chapter in it's own book.
 

CD Reviews

This Record Was Ruined...
Fritz Gerlich | admin@audioetc.info | 03/23/2008
(1 out of 5 stars)

"...by bad mastering. It is an unfortunate trend that rock/fusion records are being mastered louder and louder, and this is an extreme example. If you don't know about hot mastering, google or wikipedia "loudness war". Basically, it is the process of making a record sound louder by different mastering techniques such as compression. It has the effect of reducing dynamics (i.e. the differences between the quiet parts of music and the loud parts), or in this case nearly eliminating it. It makes drums sound punchless and the music a constant drone at 100% peak. It also has the effect of clipping waves. That is, the loud parts of the music, such as the smack of a drum, have part of their sound waves clipped off. It is the intentional and irreplaceable amputation of the part of the music. In this case, it is extreme and constant. There is virtually no part of the record that does not suffer from clipping.



In my opinion, this record is unlistenable on decent equipment. So if you're like me and you actually listen to your music with your full attention, and your home system cost more than say $600 dollars, you will find this record painfully bad even though the music itself is outstanding. I suppose it might sound acceptable in a noisy car or on $20 earbuds and a cheap digital player. But even if you have an ipod and $60 phones, you'll find this record extremely poor sound quality wise.



If it was the band's idea to release the loudest record possible, then they have shot themselves in the foot because they've ruined some fine music here. If it was the label's decision, then I urge the band to get a new record label that will let the mastering engineer leave some of the dynamics in the music and not butcher the sound waves.



Needless to say I regret this purchase and wish I had seen a review like this when I was considering this purchase."
Get Your Freq On
TSK | NY | 02/24/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)

"For anyone who's familiar with these guys, this record is basically a crank-it-up no-brainer. If you're not familiar with them, or if you know Vernon Reid only from his Living Colour days, there's no better place to start. Despite the "free form" in the name, there's nothing out-there about this, in the chaotic manner, say, of Ornette Coleman's Prime Time. This is mainly very accessible funk-rock material, pretty much guaranteed to appeal to just about anyone who gets off on a power trio. The opening and closing tracks may be a little on the spacey side, with some guitar synth and laptop work from Reid, but it's not anything a metalhead can't handle. As for Tacuma's bass-in-ya-face, he sounds so good here it's ridiculous. I find myself listening to him as if he were out front, with Reid receding into the background. So here's looking to Vol. 2. As good as this is, though, for a truly adventurous Tacuma/Weston-based guitar record, check out Mirakle, with the late, great Derek Bailey doing his genuinely freaky thing over smokin' funk grooves. It lives up to its name. No idea, incidentally, why Amazon is offering only an SACD version of this Freqs record. I got it from iTunes. There's nothing about an SACD version on the Thirsty Ear site."