One of the cool things about music that's tagged as 'jazz-rock' is you're never quite sure which end of the spectrum the band actually is until you hear it. It could be referring to totally jazzy takes on rock songs like Alex Skolnick Trio does it, or smooth laidback jazz grooves with a generous serving of blues like Endangered Species or it could just be somebody trying to pigeonhole the sound of Allan Holdsworth soloing over a metal chug riff (see Derek Sherinian's all-star Mythology).

I'm going to lump Cosmosquad into jazz-rock as well, because they incorporate some of my favourite parts of both genres. It's not just what they use that makes it a great listen, it's the way they work together. While other more settled bands use jazz and rock as amicable companions, here they're roommates who can't stand each other and fight like cats and dogs and occasionally have rough sex. For those of a squeamish disposition, try to think of jazz as being female. Or not, if that's what floats your boat. There are plenty of instances when rockout segments are derailed by jazzy self-indulgence and alternatively, when some muddily distorted rock guitar comes and stomps all over jazz's party.

So you've got stuff like Goathead where awesomely infectious Primus-lite grooves spiral into kooky jazz-chord arrangements and back, other songs like Bedbucket which have Looney Tunes-ish cartoon themes playing over machine-gun riffing, or Hindenberg which sounds vaguely like Rush doing a remake of Achilles' Last Stand. There's also more traditional fare like The Long Walk Goodbye, which is the heartfelt soft-spoken guitar hero formula being used to good effect. Also, Lubitorium and Swink are both pretty pretty much uptempo funky jazz numbers that outfits like Dave Weckl Band put out. Come to think of it - Swink...Swunk...I'm on to something here.

That doesn't even cover my favourite parts, the opening one-two punch of Numena and The Spy Who Ate Her, which throw some ballsy rock grunt right in the middle of moody atmospheric bits and pull it off awesomely well. There's usually only a bare-bones outline to each song and a lot of the time, the fun part is when the band take detours and offroad expeditions, kicking up dirt with style.

It's more a team effort for the song than the spotlight being on any one player, but they're no slouches either. Shane Galaas in particular goes the extra mile on the drums, well proficient with the loose style of jazz and able to tighten up on the fly to bolster the heavy parts - check out that aggro explosion towards the end of Lubitorium. Jeff Kollman's guitar style feels a bit like Larry Lelonde - not sure how he'd hold up in a typical virtuoso situation, but within the quirks and kinks of this niche, it's all great. More jazz-rock in this vein, please.
 


Label: Marmaduke
Year of Release: 2007