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Mike Dillon <br><em>Band of Outsiders</em>

Mike Dillon Band of OutsidersWith this disc, multi-instrumentalist Mike Dillon (Garage A Trois, Les Claypool, Critters Buggin) may have given birth to a new musical genre: Afro-Brazilian-punk-jazz-art-rock. The eclectic mash-up of diverse styles and social satire à la Frank Zappa features Dillon’s inventive and complex vibraphone, marimba, and xylophone patterns (and near-obscene use of cuíca) intermingling with Carly Meyers’ trombone melodies and harmonies, as kit drummer Adam Gertner frequently upshifts from shuffles to hip-hop and ska grooves to half-time punk beats. In a guest appearance, drummer Matt Chamberlain pounds out machinegun-like blasts on toms and snare in the instrumental “Missing,” which mutates from relatively sedate to wonderfully thrashy. The mood swings are severe and quite comical, yet the band handles these and all sorts of quirky rhythmic and musical transitions deftly throughout the album. (The Royal Potato Family) Will Romano

Check out Adam Gertner’s blog from 2013 here.

 


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