Interviews are fast becoming my favourite part of the TMMP-maintaining routine. You start off with a list of questions, but from that point it’s impossible to know what will come out. This time around, prog legend and all-round class act Tony Levin discusses his new album with brother Pete (appropriately titled Levin Brothers and reviewed via TMMP here), creativity, and the importance of connection. Read more…
It’s been a while since TMMP placed jazz in the digital spotlight – but you need to switch things up now and then to cleanse your palate and avoid stagnation. As palate-cleansers go, this album is set to be perfect, a collection of original cool jazz tunes with a 1950’s vibe and beyond-flawless playing from a pair of master musicians in Tony Levin (Peter Gabriel / King Crimson) and Pete Levin (Miles Davis / Jaco Pastorius). Read more…
If I’d recorded my reaction to this album’s opening bars, it’d be viral on YouTube by now. You have to ask: How does this guy do it? Most drummers would struggle with that very first high-speed drum flourish, let alone everything that follows. Let’s get stuck in.
Cheap As Fuck And Awesome As Hell sounds like Jeff Beck at his finest. The guitar is brutally tortured, notes squeezed to within an inch of their lives, there’s a super-cool keyboard line and some immense effects, and it all adds up to a fusion tour-de-force that, you’d assume, was created by a group of virtuosi working in collaborative harmony.
Only…it isn’t. On EEPS, Marco Minnemann plays everything. Everything. Vinnie Colaiuta may well be known as “The Alien”, but maybe it’s time that nickname jumped ship. Read more…