The third album from this multinational trio.
Machine Mass is Antoine Guenet on keyboards, piano and synths. Tony Bianco on drums and percussion. And finally, Michel Delville on guitars, programming, samples and electronic.
I reviewed their 2012 debut album As Real As Thinking back in February 2012. I have not heard their follow up album Inti yet from 2014. Maybe one day.....
Machine Mass Plays Hendrix has created a lot of buzz and talking in the scene. Jimi Hendrix is an icon, off course. So how would a jazz band like Machine Mass bridge over to Jimi Hendrix own world and cover his songs ?
Well, Machine Mass has not done that. They have done something far more radical instead.
Forget your narrow narrative of Jimi Hendrix songs. Open up your mind and think totally out of the box. .... Which took me a long time as I am now listening to this album for the 21st time in 2 months.
Open up your mind and think jazz. Rather avant-garde jazz at times.
Machine Mass is what Machine Mass is and always will be. So they took Jimi Hendrix own songs and made them into their own songs.
Not much here remains of Jimi Hendrix arrangements and melodies. What we get is avant-garde jazz versions of those songs. Yes, it is shocking and very, very unusual. Almost too far out there and so unusual that the songs falls apart at their seems.
Nevertheless, this is a very good album. Not a great one as I feel the band has taken the songs too far from the original arrangements. But this is not far from being a great album.
This is a very good album who appeals to all open minded persons. It is by no means an easy listening album and it feels a bit jarring at times. But check it out and find out what the buzz is about.
3.5 points
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