The Grassy Knoll

About

Instrumental pop music has come along way from the ‘progressive’ wanks of the 70. Five years ago, even two years ago, an album such as The Grassy Knoll would never have gotten mainstream commercial release - no lyrics has always been equated with the no dollars of speciality market. But things have changed. The early 90s saw techno bloom and the attention shift from the lyric to the entire soundscape of the track of which the lyric may only play a small part. Techno has allowed thousands of people to dance the night away and not hear one single lyrical phrase throughout that night - thus completely breaking with the lyrical paradigm of rock and most of hip hop. Such a shift has renewed interest in dub - witness the mass promotion of the Mad Professor remixes of Massive Attack’s Protection; ‘ambient but not New Age’ music like the Aphex Twin and The Orb; and, most recently spawned trip hop - instrumental hip hop crossed with jazz. No longer a profitless specialist market niche, instrumental music is fast becoming big busine. The Grassy Knoll’s self-titled debut is the art-school project of San Franciscan, Bob Green. Pure psycho-jazz in the mould of John Zorn, The Grassy Knoll has a sound so dense, and complex, the listener is thrust back into their chair from the very first note. Evil free-form saxophone riffs toy with you as the basslines and rhythms carry you along - and then, in true hip hop style, everything breaks - maybe for a sample, maybe only for an atmospheric sound, or a little surf guitar - and then its off again. Using the turntables as an instrument, DJ Quest drops some ill loops behind it all creating, at time, a wall of beats and ba. Paranoia lurks behind every note, every beat - an atmosphere all the more effective without the intrusion of lyric. The second track, March Eighteenth could well be the backing music to a long walk down a dark and unfamiliar dank corridor - the backwards water gurgles (or are they voices?), a particularly frightening touch. More straight-forward is Less Than One - a subtle play between the guitars and the sax and clarinet. Unlike John Zorn, The Grassy Knoll is both extreme and accessible, with the beats sure to draw hip hop aficionados in to the mix as well as those more interested in traditional free jazz. .

via Last.fm

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