Sometimes, uncharted areas are the best to explore.<\/p>\n
Friction, a four-piece band from the Netherlands, describe their
\nstyle of music as a mixture of space rock and soul. When they first
\ne-mailed me to see if I was interested in reviewing them, I was a
\nlittle skeptical. Was I going to hear true “space” music a la Sun
\nRa, or was I in for another disappointment on the lines of the 1976
\nIron Butterfly reunion?<\/p>\n
After a few listens to their import-only debut
\nGlow Within<\/i>, the verdict was in: hmm, not bad… not bad at
\nall! While I may dispute the soul label (I think of soul, I think
\nof James Brown or Curtis Mayfield), their sound is akin to a
\nmarriage of Uriah Heep (bombastic organ work) and Phish (a light,
\njazzy bounce) – in retrospect, a rather interesting combination of
\nsounds that works well.<\/p>\n
The opening cut, “Daredevil,” is probably the only true
\ndisappointing moment on the CD. The guitar work of lead
\nvocalist\/guitarist Steven Revrock seems to be a little stagnant,
\nand Harm Weird’s organ work goes a little over the edge. The song
\nrecovers enough face to become enjoyable, but it takes a few
\nlistens.<\/p>\n
Once you get past that one speed bump, Friction kicks into high
\ngear and never looks back. The title track features better guitar
\nwork from Revrock, though the vocals seem a little off-key at
\ntimes. (It should be noted this is the only track that suffers from
\nthat problem.) Weird’s organ begins to work well in complementing
\nFriction’s style, and Erik Nepposch’s drum work keeps a steady,
\nthough changing, beat for the band. (Hidden in the mix is the bass
\nwork of Walter Revrock, which is a disappointment – next time, I’d
\nlike to hear him higher up in the mix, getting funky on us.)<\/p>\n
“Insane” is a track that, at first, seems to rip off Cypress
\nHill with the use of the line “Insane in the membrane,” until
\nRevrock et al. give credit where credit is due – that is, in the
\nvery next vocal line. Possibly the best track on
\nGlow Within<\/i>, “Insane” captures the spirit of Friction
\nextremely well, and shows how much fun they’re having with their
\nmusic. The band pays its musical respects to artists as diverse as
\nCharles Mingus on this one – possible influences?<\/p>\n
Of the remaining four tracks, three are short enough to have a
\nchance of being played on rock radio, and all again capture
\nFriction’s free-flow spirit to a “T”. (Hence my comparing them to
\nPhish.) The last cut, “Dancing Melody Girl,” is Friction’s “final
\nexam,” if you will – they have the chance to give their all to an
\nalmost 11-minute track and not make it sound like it’s sagging at
\nany point. Do they succeed? The answer: they pass with flying
\ncolors.<\/p>\n
What amazes me the most is the professional quality this album
\nhas – for a debut effort, it is outstanding. Even for the few rough
\nedges the band still has (having only been together for just under
\nthree years), they have put together a work that many established
\nartists can only dream about. My one wish: that it had been
\nlonger.<\/p>\n
While Friction have been gaining popularity in their homeland,
\nthey are all but unheard of in the States. If
\nGlow Within<\/i> got some distribution over here and they got a
\nchance to tour with a band with similar influences (like, oh, I
\ndunno,… Phish?), that story would change real quick.
\nGlow Within<\/i> gave this reviewer a warm feeling – and made me
\nhope this isn’t the last time I hear from them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24331,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[5659],"rating":[5615],"class_list":["post-35535","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-friction","rating-rating-b"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/35535","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35535"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/35535\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35535"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=35535"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=35535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}