{"id":41190,"date":"2008-10-31T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2008-10-31T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/inca-maya\/"},"modified":"2008-10-31T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2008-10-31T00:00:00","slug":"inca-maya","status":"publish","type":"review","link":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/inca-maya\/","title":{"rendered":"Inca Maya"},"content":{"rendered":"

If Matt Grondin and Michael Cansler were trying to make you think \u201cSantana\u201d by naming their project Inca Maya, it worked.\u00a0 Better yet, though, the musical allusion fits.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s because Inca Maya \u2013 Grondin on lead vocals, guitar and songwriting, Cansler on drums and lyrics, and a substantial cast of supporting players on bass, keys, percussion, horns, background vocals and such \u2013 clearly take a page from Santana\u2019s seamless melding of world rhythms and rock guitar, while adding fresh twists of their own.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

For one, on this recording Jacksonville<\/st1:city>, Florida<\/st1:state><\/st1:place>\u2019s Grondin, Cansler and studio bassist Stephen Andrews (replaced in the band\u2019s current live lineup by Shane Platten) have developed a sort of Southern funk undercurrent to their style that\u2019s clearly related to the work of regional luminaries like Col. Bruce Hampton and Derek Trucks.\u00a0 For another, Grondin\u2019s mercurial guitar work draws from influences as diverse as Carlos Santana, Michael Schenker and Duane Allman.<\/p>\n

Opener \u201cWhere You Are\u201d sets you up with an evocative East Indian motif before dropping the hammer with a thundering riff that plays like an adrenaline-fueled stepchild of Led Zep\u2019s immortal \u201cKashmir<\/st1:place>.\u201d\u00a0 Clearly intent on keeping their audience on its toes, Inca follows this bravura opener with the churning, reggae-inflected funk of \u201cInsomnia,\u201d at least until Grondin erupts into another riveting solo.<\/p>\n

The boys continue to mix and match tones and styles with \u201cDestinado,\u201d which manages to occupy the heretofore undiscovered intersection between the finger-snapping blue-eyed funk of Steely Dan and the guitar heroics of 70s arena rockers like UFO.\u00a0 Um, and then he goes Sly Stone falsetto just before the chorus.\u00a0 A touch of musical ADD here?\u00a0 Maybe, but this track smokes.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet It Roll\u201d is both one of the heaviest and one of most straight-up numbers on this disc, a full-bodied dose of heavy-bottomed Southern rock with a spiraling, frankly spectacular solo that had me thinking Stevie Ray Vaughan for a few seconds in the middle.\u00a0 So naturally, the next cut is acoustic\u2026<\/p>\n

A trio of thumping blues-rockers (\u201cHighway,\u201d \u201cBlink Of An Eye,\u201d \u201cSalvation\u201d) and a couple of steady-builders (the slow-burning \u201cNo Tomorrow\u201d and the gospel-blues closer \u201cThe Simple Things,\u201d) round out the album, with the second-half highlight being a second dose of hip-swaying Steely funk in the guise of the joyous \u201cSilver Linings.\u201d\u00a0 The odd track out here is \u201cGhosts,\u201d which melds a contemporary jazz arrangement with a gospel chorus.\u00a0 Not sure this one actually holds together, but it does have its moments.<\/p>\n

Interesting \u201crock family tree\u201d footnote: Grondin\u2019s father is founding .38 Special drummer Jack Grondin and his mother was previously married to original Lynyrd Skynyrd frontman Ronnie Van Zant, so calling him Southern rock royalty would not be a stretch.\u00a0 He\u2019s obviously taken to the family business, even if he\u2019s occupying a slightly different groove\u2026<\/p>\n

Overall, Inca Maya\u2019s self-titled debut feels a bit uneven — the variety of styles gets dizzying after awhile and while Grondin gives his all at the mike, he doesn\u2019t have a lot of vocal range — but the music is so strong and the playing so exuberant that the guys definitely won me over.\u00a0 Inca Maya takes you for an exhilarating ride.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":29594,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[8293],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-41190","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-inca-maya","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/41190","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\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41190"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/41190\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41190"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=41190"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=41190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}