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Marbin: Goat Man & The House of the Dead
ByTirelessly criss-crossing the country, Marbin have cemented their reputation as America's favorite instrumental jazz-rockers. At the same time, their musical focus has sharpened on a relentlessly energetic brand of music that straddles a dizzying array of styles and influences. While they don't really play jazz per se, Marbin's music has a jazzy flow and the duo's abilities as improvisers provide many of the musical chills and thrills on Goat Man and the House of the Dead. In a very real way, the Marbin are modern-day klezmers. Though they don't play traditional music, songs like the multi-sectioned, major / minor, slow-fast-slow, "Carnival" come right out of the klezmer playbook. Markovitch's distinctive, highly vocalized saxophone style, in particular, seems to come from the world of klezmer. Though his musical context is completely 21st Century, his acrobatic but highly disciplined instrumental approach seems to be derivedin no small partfrom legendary clarinetists of the early-to-mid-20th Century such as Dave Tarras, Giora Feidman and Mickey Katz. He's also one of the few modern saxophonists, outside of Kenny G and Albert Ayler, who unabashedly use lots of vibrato. Rabin, on the other hand, is a pure shredder who can play in any style. Like his musical brethren Joe Bonamassa, Joe Satriani and Steve Vai, he really has the wailing classic rock tone down, butlike Vaihis amazing chops don't prevent him from straying into some really interesting musical territory.
The band's latest rhythm tandembassist Jon Nadel and drummer Blake Jiracekare highly adept and broad minded. Jiracek, in particular, seems to have a pretty deep understanding of the non-jazz and non-rock aspects of Marbin's music. He can also bash the traps like a beast, when needed. Like its immediate predecessor, Aggressive Hippies (self-produced, 2015), Goat Man and the House of the Dead is a cohesive collection of tunes that split the difference between high-energy, variously jazz-and blues-flecked rockers ("Escape from Hippie Mountain," "Electric Zombieland"), unapologetic 70s-style jazz-rock fusion ("Buddha Complex," "Whiskey Chaser," and "Money Train"), and oddball poly-stylistic pieces that encompass a variety of non-jazz, non-rock, and non-blues tropes. The latter grouping includes the aforementioned "Carnival," plus the tango-inflected "Goatman" and "The House of the Dead," both of which would provide an entirely appropriate musical backdrop for a modern-day spaghetti Western. Despite its foreboding title, Goat Man and the House of the Dead is full of fun and energetic music that, for all its bluster, is really easy to dance to.
Track Listing
Buddha Complex; Goatman; The House of the Dead; Whiskey Chaser (Intro); Whiskey Chaser; Electric Zombieland; Money Train; Carnival; Escape from Hippie Mountain.
Personnel
Marbin
band / ensemble / orchestraDani Rabin: guitars, guitar synthesizer; Danny Markovitch: soprano, alto and tenor saxophones; Jon Nadel: electric bass; Blake Jiracek: drums.
Album information
Title: Goat Man & The House of the Dead | Year Released: 2017 | Record Label: Self Produced
Comments
About Marbin
Instrument: Band / ensemble / orchestra
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