Search - The Richard Leo Johnson Trio :: Poetry of Appliance

Finally, something NEW in the prog genre

Prof. JiBbLe, Dr. of Thinkology | HUGHESTON, WV USA | 10/12/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Completely unique music. One could perhaps dig up a few nebulous touchstones -- Leo Kottke, Wapassou, maybe certain very early (i.e. pre-sequencer) Kraftwerk, Heldon or Hawkwind bits -- but the guitar/violin/electronics trio here really don't sound like anyone but themselves. Melodic and captivating in a good, raw sort of way. Looking for something new and different? You need to check this disc out."

A unique concept . . .

Jan P. Dennis | Monument, CO USA | 02/09/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

". . . kinda like if Leo Kotke, Eyvind Kang, and Tucker Martine got together: rootsy, freaky-friendly, electronica-tinged Nu Jazz. Me, I'm entirely taken by this endlessly fascinating music. And, truth be told, there has never before been an assemblage quite like this one. Their aural soundscape is simply inimitable.



Let's start with the leader, guitarist Richard Leo Johnson. Yes, Leo Kotke is surely a referent, but so are, it seems to me, players as diverse as Vini Reilly, Bill Frisell, Christy Doran, Michael Hedges, Eugene Chadbourne, David Fiuczynski, Noel Akchote, Steve Tibbets, and John Schott. Quite a list. Of these players, Johnson may be the most chops-heavy. He certainly conjures the greatest variety of sound.



Next comes Ricardo Ochoa, an altogether sensational violinist. If you could cross Mark Feldman, Jenny Scheinmann, Eyvind Kang, Eileen Ivers, Leroy Jenkins, Tscho Theissing (of the great band Pago Libre), and Jean-Luc Ponty, you might get a sound and sensibility that approaches this man's. But probably not, that's how distinctive he is. I guess his work on this disc reminds me most of what Mark Feldman contributed on two great mid-nineties Billy Hart sessions, Amethyst and Oceans of Time. There's that same soaring elegiacism, that post-Romantic ravishment. Entirely captivating.



Andrew Ripley, playing Yamaha WX5, Melodica, and Frostwave Resonator, really doesn't sound much like Tucker Martine, although he performs a similar role in shaping sound signatures and providing a coolly electronic sensibility.



Put it all together and you have music of great beauty, sonic variety, and aural intrigue.



Highly recommended"

Unusual and fascinating

Michael J Edelman | Huntington Woods, MI USA | 07/16/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"How to describe this... it's as if Bill Conners, Steven Micus, and Margaret Leng Tan got together to do an album produced by Pat Metheny. It's percussive, lyrical, alternately tonal and atonal, and filled with unusual textures and melodic fragments. For whatever reason, I found it intriguing from the moment I first heard it, and it slowly grew on me with every listening. Not for everyone, but for those who enjoy music that goes a bit beyond traditional tonality and structure it's a winner."