When a jazz musician uses the word »hell« in the title of his album, the associative path to Frank Zappa’s »Jazz From Hell« is not too far away. Joseph Shabason’s latest album is called »Welcome to Hell«, and the music is also a little reminiscent of the avant-garde rocker, with the saxophonist offering electronic sounds that sound similar at first take. However, if you listen more closely, you soon realise that there are no programmed samples, as was once the case with Zappa, but that Joseph Shabason has some real musicians who, like him, play their instruments in the way they were designed to be played: drums, guitar, bass, trumpet, violin and vibraphone are all there. Keyboards too, of course. And then, as the press release reveals, the title was also inspired by a video by a skateboard manufacturer that uses the same slogan to depict American mainstream society. But despite the devilish grimace on the cover, the music has nothing to do with hell. Neither in the sense of hellish, nor in the sense of a polished, sterile sound. The music delivers an open melange of acoustic and electronic ingredients, often, but not always, blended with caution. A track like »Ed Templeton«, named after the professional skateboarder, is reminiscent of post-punk distortion with a groove. Usually the groove takes over; not a piggish groove, but a hellishly sophisticated one. If hell sounds like that, it must be pretty cool.
Joseph Shabason
The Fellowship
Telephone Explosion | Western Vinyl