Released in the same year as the limited edition live ‘The Good Egg’, this 11 song seventy-two-minute long album is quite different. Although still incredibly avant-garde, progressive and insane, there is a far greater feeling of structure and control. The album title was inspired by a song from Sesame Street where the Muppets take people from different walks of life, from Ralph Nader to Martina Navratilova, and sing a song about how they are people from your neighbourhood. “Hey, an avant-jazz band are also the people in your neighbourhood,” band founder Mark Holub says.
With their unusual line-up, the guys have managed to capture the essence of bands as diverse as Can and Art Zoyd, with Zappa also being thrown into the mix. This is not easy listening music, and was never meant to be, but has taken improvisation as a base and have then built on that to create something that is full of energy and is twisting and turning as it burrows its way into your mind like a corkscrew. Many people will find music as challenging as this to be something that needs to be avoided at all costs, yet I find myself being drawn to it like a moth to a blowtorch. This is all about upsetting the considered norms and taking the music when it needs to go, like a living breathing snake that is shifting its coils as it tries to decide whether to bite you and put you out of your misery quickly, or to constrict you until all breath leaves the body. Jazz and RIO are combining to create something very special indeed, and musical explorers should seek this out.
