#23: Adrian Belew - 'Flux'
The legendary musician continues his career path, this time not only unleashing a wonderful new solo album but also unveiling an innovative new music app for i-products. While unfortunately I cannot use the impressive new music app because I use androids and pc's, I find it very cool that he designed a powerful new app for live performance that utilizes computer processing. But let's talk about the album titled 'Flux'. The album itself is very fun and humanistic, as much of Belew's work is. It pushes the traditional songform as well as introduces sound design and music experiments on guitars and voice, etc. It all makes for a very nice variety of music. Some of the tracks here are only a few seconds long, others a few minutes, so everything keeps moving right along. There are no long dirges here. It has a very creative feel, as if the tools used to process the sounds were made with some of these songs in mind. At other times, it feels like the technology takes over. Again, some very nice variety here. And the production is nothing less than top notch. Get this if you like prog rock that has both a pop and experimental edge to it. It feels cool listening to it both at home and work, some nice every day music that doesn't get old with repeated listens. It is quirky, thought provoking, and brilliant music. If anything holds it back, it all feels a little scatterbrained and disjointed, save for a few of the more normal tracks. I mean, it isn't even a super long album but it is 44 tracks! But that is part of the charm of this release. It sounds really unique and unpredictable when on random or as part of a shuffle all situation. Pretty cool stuff from one of the older gentlemen of rock music survivors. By the way, I enjoyed this a hell of a lot more than the new KC lineup. I still think it was weird Belew was unceremoniously let got from a band he was a key part of for decades, but maybe it was for the best. Looking forward to what Belew does next just as much as what the Fripp behemoth conjures up on the horizon.
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AuthorG.M. Bowles Archives
February 2017
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