Things Are Getting Too Casual

Approfondimenti

At first, there is something mildly disappointing about the CSC Funk Band's debut, Things Are Getting Too Casual. Comprised of members of the New York noise underground, including prog metal guitarist Colin Langenus (formerly of the USA Is a Monster), keyboardist Matt Mottel (of jazz absurdists Talibam!), and reed player Dave Kadden (a drone clarinetist in Invisible Circle), they first came together to play covers from Sun Ra's Lanquidity and released a series of 7"s and CD-Rs before their debut for Fat Beats. On Things Are Getting Too Casual, the band trades in fairly straightforward funk grooves, drum breaks, and solos, without getting too fiercely cooking or too experimental. On occasion, though not as often as one might hope, they reach moments where they achieve a graceful third path -- a dreamy horn breakdown in "Bad Banana Bread," a deep-blue note in the melody to "A Troll's Soiree," the goofy intro to "Fiesta," and the ten-and-a-half-minute final cut, "Old Motel." There, the band moves beyond funk into a motorik pulse, a short repeated melody that builds into ecstatic solos, and the kind of loose majesty promised by the album's title and the players' backgrounds. Most of the 45-minute disc comes in more concise bites, however.
© Jesse Jarnow /TiVo