Secret Chiefs 3 - Xaphan: The Book of Angels, Vol. 9
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Artist: Secret Chiefs 3Edition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2008-04-15
Music Label: Tzadik
Free Music Notes for Xaphan: The Book of Angels, Vol. 9
Free Music Review: Brilliant arrangements by Trey of some great Zorn tunes...
Hit: 5 Stars
The Xaphan Songs: (all written by John Zorn & arranged by Trey Spruance)
1. Sheburiel ~ Nice surf/exotica about 30 seconds in, which transitions into a delightful string melody with surf guitar reminiscent of something from the Electric Masada catalog. Overall, this is quite a schizophrenic song, but nice textures... it's a prelude for what's to come in the rest of the record.
2. Akramachamarei ~ Intro with what sounds like a sarangi, but what do I know. Very much a spaghetti-western-meets-middle-east vibe on this track. I dig it. The title sounds like an interesting mixed drink (something along the lines of okra-infused vodka bloody mary with a sprig of m?che instead of celery). Oh, and if you don't know what m?che is, well, it's a delightfully nutty leaf in the lettuce family. So, yeah, spaghetti-western-meets-middle-eastern bloody mary concoctions all around!! And any band naming themselves Okra-infused Vodka, you owe me royalties. OK, back to the music...
3. Shoel ~ Conga intro... keys, dub beats, and fuzz-guitar. Nice. Like at least 2-days of stubble on the guitars. Back into clean spag-west guitar... yeah, know, pretty soon, I'm running out of descriptions and adjectives beyond "cool," "neato," and "nice tom work, Ches." I'm not a musician; so that's the best you get, fools. This is one of my favorite tracks so far.
4. Barakiel ~ Slowish, clean guitar entry with some slide, harp, and gentile genteel vocals... moving into a bouncier spag-west guitar, but still with ethereal strings and piano.
5. Bezriel ~ Oooo... Trey's bringing the rock into it. Good interplay between the calm-before-the-storm viola and/or violin with the guitar chunk and vocal haunts. The last half of the track features some more strings and less of the chunk (oh, wait, I lied... it ends with the chunk). :) Another one of my favorite tracks.
6. Kemuel ~ Bungle-y circus organ into swirling drum-guitar-vocal passage into a dirty string solo.
7. Labbiel ~ Interesting time signature interplay between the guitars and drums.
8. Asron ~ Aw geez, I just lost the game. I zoned out to the great music and forgot to write about it. Bad reviewer, bad reviewer. Anyway, back to the music. Nice violin and guitars to end it.
9. Balberith ~ Starts with a great melodic bass line with some fuzz/scratch guitar. Ah, the trumpet finally kicks in. Nice stuff, Timb. This could fit on Zorn's The Dreamers or Electric Masada nicely. That's a compliment. :) Another one of my favs on this record.
10. Omael ~ Add some xylophone, and I'd say the intro to this fits into a Zappa catalog. :) This is a faster-paced song... for the SC3 bellydancer contingent, don't pick this. Your legs might fall off. This one has some great percussion and more trumpet. I'm getting lost in the sounds, but I'm digging it.
11. Hamaya ~ Clean exotica guitar intro, organ, vocal chants (something about tostadas?). Oh, a seemingly (to me) "The Exile" or "Book T: Exodus" strings-n-guitars moment about 1 minute in... nice. Nice melty fade that sucks me back into... g-to-the-d, why is it 84 degrees in my house!? Sometimes I hate renting a house in Oregon that does have A/C. Anyway, a great end to a great album.
I recommend you take some listens on MySpace, Amazon, and iTunes (when they get it)... and support good music if you like what you hear. It's currently available at Web of Mimicry, Downtown Music Gallery, and Amazon (to name a few). I don't do the track-by-track treatment on just any record... this is a special record.
Fav tracks: Shoel (#3), Bezriel (#5), Balberith (#9), and Hamaya (#11).
Recommended if you like: world music, middle eastern music, progressive music with a bellydance beat, ADHD prescriptions, Secret Chiefs 3, Estradasphere, Mr. Bungle, John Zorn, et al... it's very much a Secret Chiefs 3 record, but probably one of their more "accessible" ones (as well as being an accessible John Zorn-penned album). User friendly, middle-eastern rock-romp through a mad alchemist's mind (Trey is a brilliant musician, IMO). This is my favorite in John Zorn's Masada Book Two series, and that's saying a lot (I love all 10 of the series thus far).
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