Perceptual

Perceptual

ASIN: B00004RCAG

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
As a rule, drummers don't make good bandleaders, because nobody wants to hear drum solos all the time. But what makes Louisiana-born Brian Blade special is that he is more of a colorist than a showman, a drummer who, like Billy Higgins, prefers to set moods that go with the grooves. Perceptual is his second outing with the Fellowship ensemble and is a satisfying follow-up to the band's Blue Note debut. With Myron Walden and Melvin Butler on saxophones and bass clarinet, Chris Thomas on bass, Daniel Lanois, Dave Easley, and Kurt Rosenwinkel on steel and electric guitars, and Jon Cowherd on keyboards, Blade and company create jazz textures that evoke America's wide-open spaces. Think of Pat Metheny's Bright Size Life and American Garage and you'll get the band's futuristic folk vibe on the title cut and the sly, shifting tempos of "Crooked Creek" and the three-part suite, "Variations of A Bloodline"--a poignant, musical comment on ethnic strife. Blade's melodic gifts got him work with Joshua Redman, Bob Dylan, Emmylou Harris, and Joni Mitchell, who lends her wispy vocals to "Steadfast"--an elegiac meditation on the late-1990s rash of U.S. school shootings--and the CD's coda, "Trembling." If you ever plan to travel across the U.S., this recording will make an excellent soundtrack. --Eugene Holley Jr.

From Jazziz
Articles about Brian Blade typically cite the wide range of musical styles he's mastered while playing with such artists as Joshua Redman, Pat Metheny, Seal, Emmylou Harris, Bob Dylan, and Joni Mitchell. But as he demonstrates on this, his second project as leader, his versatility is much more than any vocabulary of stylized, genre-specific licks that can be mixed and matched. Rather, Blade possesses a liquid approach that enables him to meet each piece of music on its own terms, saturating it with rhythmic propulsion and percussive color.

The members of Fellowship - guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkle, pedal steel player Dave Easley, saxophonists Melvin Butler and Myron Walden, keyboardist Jon Cowherd, and bassist Christopher Thomas - prove more through relaxed, confident musicianship than from in-your-face aggression. Blade is a supportive accompanist who also serves as protagonist. He especially seems to enjoy mixing it up with Rosenwinkle, which results in some of the album's most spirited moments.

Blade and Cowherd contribute the bulk of the compositions. While individuals are given opportunities for personal statements (except Blade, who doesn't take any drum solos), the arrangements utilize the group as a whole to serve the compositions, rather than being mere vehicles for blowing. Vocalists Daniel Lanois and Joni Mitchell appear on a couple of tracks, but the album's strength is the passion and unity of purpose displayed by Blade and Fellowship.

Tracks:

Perceptual
Evinrude-Fifty (Trembling)
Reconciliation
Crooked Creek
Patron Saint Of Girls
The Sunday Boys (Improvisation)
Variations Of A Bloodline: From The Same Blood/Fellowship (Like Brothers)/Mustangs (Class Of 1988)
Steadfast
Trembling

Amazon.com

As a rule, drummers don't make good bandleaders, because nobody wants to hear drum solos all the time. But what makes Louisiana-born Brian Blade special is that he is more of a colorist than a showman, a drummer who, like Billy Higgins, prefers to set moods that go with the grooves. Perceptual is his second outing with the Fellowship ensemble and is a satisfying follow-up to the band's Blue Note debut. With Myron Walden and Melvin Butler on saxophones and bass clarinet, Chris Thomas on bass, Daniel Lanois, Dave Easley, and Kurt Rosenwinkel on steel and electric guitars, and Jon Cowherd on keyboards, Blade and company create jazz textures that evoke America's wide-open spaces. Think of Pat Metheny's Bright Size Life and American Garage and you'll get the band's futuristic folk vibe on the title cut and the sly, shifting tempos of "Crooked Creek" and the three-part suite, "Variations of A Bloodline"--a poignant, musical comment on ethnic strife. Blade's melodic gifts got him work with Joshua Redman, Bob Dylan, Emmylou Harris, and Joni Mitchell, who lends her wispy vocals to "Steadfast"--an elegiac meditation on the late-1990s rash of U.S. school shootings--and the CD's coda, "Trembling." If you ever plan to travel across the U.S., this recording will make an excellent soundtrack. --Eugene Holley Jr.

Customer Reviews:

beautiful and structured rough freshness?.......2005-09-19

Great drummers often make boring records. Not this one! This album is a real band achievement, like it says in the linernotes. There's a lot going on, but I espacialy like the sound of the album: it's edgy and beautifull at the same time.
And very well-balanced. With great guitarplaying of Kurt Rosenwinkel, fantastic drumming of Brian Blade (I saw and heared him do some incredible stuff live at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam with Wayne Shorter.) and even the pedal steel guitar is blending in perfectly with the rest of the music. The album's got the warmth of some classical jazz albums together with a little roughness, as found in modern music. Sometimes with an ECM-like touch, but never getting too soft and mellow.

FJB/O!-music 2006

passionate.......2005-08-04

This is what happens when a collective of some of today's not only talented, but passionate musicians gather together to make a recording. Regrdless of tempo or dynamic, the Fellowship manage to cohesively bring each piece together with great intensity and feeling. All the tunes move along with the utmost sense of urgency, but never rushing,each song moves forward and flows perfectly. Led by Brian Blade's masterful drumming( not to mention guitar/singing ability ) and musicianship, this band is one of the few on the current scene who has discovered its collective voice, one which speaks of music with a deeper meaning and spirit.

amazing and beautiful.......2003-01-24

What an amazing album...after a couple listens the record will slowly unravel for you. The ensemble writing is just brilliant! The use of the pedal-steel guitar as an arc of color throughout, makes the whole thing sound like...Daniel Lanois making a jazz record.

a true fellowship.......2002-08-17

When listening to this recording I can't help but sense the
love and empathy that these musicians have for one another. I especially enjoy the interesting blend of horns and electric guitars, and the full spectrum of emotions found in the music that is produced by them. Moreover, I believe this proves beyond doubt that Brian Blade is one of the best drummers to come around since may be Tony Williams. He certainly knows how to inject a sense of what I would call "sound expansion and musical-idea exploration" via his polyrhythmic approach to drumming. And for this reason it doesn't surprise me that he's now touring with Wayne Shorter (check out Blade on Shorter's "Footprints Live" and better yet don't miss them on their world tour!) who is amoung the masters at creating winding, detailed musical stories based on basic instrumental sound patterns.

Simply Amazing.......2002-03-20

Just when I thought that the Brian Blade Fellowship couldn't take me to new emotional heights, it does. Perceptual is Blade's second venture as drummer/bandleader but you wouldn't know that Brian wasn't playing every instrument because he and fellow band members blend so well, fuse so tightly, that it all flows out as simply "one" breathtaking, emotional sound. But... don't think that you won't hear Blade on the drums either, you will feel the highs and lows of his every drum beat as you take the journey into jazz unlike any you've ever heard or will ever hear again.

Average customer rating:

Beyond Great, Heaven!
Good, not great

Euphonia
Perceptual Outer Dimensions
Manufacturer: Caroline Distributio
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music

General | Techno | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music

Electronica | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music

General | Dance Pop | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music

General | Rock | Styles | Music

Techno-House | Dance & DJ | Indie Music | Stores | Music
ASIN: B000001C4R
Release Date: 1995-09-19

Tracks:

Preludeum
Euphonia
Voltaic
Neophilia
Eliquaform
De La Luna
Neptunium
Enchanted Loom
Inamorata
Compucosis
Macrocosm
Cathiode
Maelstrom
Thanatopsis
Nocturnal Montage
Terminus

Customer Reviews:

Beyond Great, Heaven!.......2005-10-12

This is my favorite electronica album, it is so much more listenable than any others. It is like a super chill One AD type disc. A rare soundtrack because it's perfect for dancing, dreaming, or traveling the realms!

Good, not great.......2000-10-13

I've had this disc for about 3 months now, and as much as I keep trying to get into it, it's just not doing it for me. I find that perplexing, because it's got a lot of the elements that I normally like in a good techno act: it has a wide range of sound samples, many of them lifted from various multicultural origins giving the music a sort of exotic flavour; it's not too repetitive; it makes good use of trippy, mystical vocal samples that talk about limitless reaches of space, spirits, and other dimensions; it goes after a fairly complex, psychedelic sound; and although a lot of the sounds are kind of floaty and ambient, it's all grounded in a steady beat that keeps things moving. And it's got a slightly dark, ominous edge to it that keeps it from getting too schmaltzy.

So what's wrong with it? While it's a solid effort, it simply invites too much comparison with other, better acts that have mined the same territory to greater effect. Intermix did this stuff way better on their "Future Primitives" disc, with better samples, melodies, and more complex arrangements. Delerium's "Semantic Spaces" and "Karma" CD's do a better job on the dark-ethnic-ambient sound. And for really good psychedelic-ethnic-ambient stuff, Loop Guru and the "Interior Horizons" compilation are just several steps beyond this disc in terms of complexity and interesting arrangements. While P.O.D.'s stuff isn't terrible by any means, it does sound relatively flat and unexceptional by comparison.

It's probably worth owning if you really like the above mentioned CD's, but if you're new to the genre, try listening to the other stuff first.

Journey to Planet Pod
Average customer rating:
Journey to Planet Pod
Perceptual Outer Dimensions
Manufacturer: Caroline Distributio
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music
Electronica | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music
General | Rock | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000008NV0
Release Date: 1994-11-01

Tracks:

Planet Pod
Hoodoo
Rafflesia
Hinge
Goofed Again
Salem
Translunar Injection
Aquanaut
Zhin
Bowbeana
Lurid Dance of the Erimite
Mellifluous

Average customer rating:

Brazilian Eye Colours

Manufacturer: Perceptual Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD
ASIN: B0002HBNOI

Product Description

This cd contains 11 tracks. A few tracks are Emergence, Cat and Breast, and Augmented Blues.

Average customer rating:

relax and enjoy!
Cinematic, Passionate, and Challenging
Good mix
Perpetually Contorted Most Satisfactory
R-3 perceptual distortion

Perceptual Distortion

Manufacturer: MRC
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music

General | Alternative Rock | Indie Music | Stores | Music

Rock | Alternative Rock | Indie Music | Stores | Music
ASIN: B00006WS7E
Release Date: 2002-11-11

Tracks:

Little Bitter Love
Lazy I
Elsa Green
The Wolf I Feed
Celluloid Erosion
Perceptual Distortion
Secrets
Secrets (refrain)
Breathe Memoria
The Golden Center
Prelude to Silence
10 Seconds of Silence
Secrets (Radio Edit)

Album Description

Dubbed MetaPhysiTronica (an entirely new genre required to describe this music) by Grammy Winner Greg Hale Jones, 'Perceptual Distortion' is the groundbreaking, genre crossing debut release from the progressive electropop collective: R-Three. Seamlessly blending elements of pop, rock, acid jazz, progressive rock and world music into an adventurous, atmospheric and profound musical journey, R-Three manage to create a unique sound of their own while maintaining a "sonic link" back to modern recording pioneers such as Neil Finn, Peter Gabriel, Thomas Dolby, Roger Waters (Pink Floyd), Radiohead, Can, Moby, Talk Talk and The Cure. 'Perceptual Distortion' is an intense, rich and lyrical album that explores and questions how we look at the world, how we relate to others and how we perceive our own place the schemes of things. Musically, the cross pollination of musical styles, textures, catchy melodies and worldly grooves ensure that this album will appeal to fans of rock, alternative, progressive, electronica, acid jazz and anyone interested in something honest and new.

Customer Reviews:

relax and enjoy!.......2006-04-28

This album was recommended by a friend. I was not disappointed. The hauntingly beautiful instrumentals appear to become more complex with every listen. The tv/radio bulletins in the background of several of the songs really add to the overall experience. It reminds me of the scene from Pink Floyd The Wall when Bob Geldof was in his easy chair during "one of my turns". It is subtle but adds to the depth of the message being portrayed.

Speaking of which, the lead singer's vocals remind me of Bob Geldof as well. Imagine the Boomtown Rats with more passion and darker undertones.

This material is deep and more on the dark side, but you only notice it if you are paying close attention. I am aware of the lyrics yet find myself just listening and relaxing to the music.

My favorite tracks would probably be Breathe Memoria and The Golden Center, yet I like the work as a collective whole.

I look forward to future releases, messages, and passion. To me this story is not complete.

Cinematic, Passionate, and Challenging.......2004-02-23

Perceptual Distortion is one of those rare albums that takes time to appreciate. Unlike most of today's pop music, which aims to grab the listener on first listen, this disc's reach goes beyond the superficial level on which most pop records attempt to communicate.

Musically and sonically, as one of the reviewers below notes, Perceptual Distortion has a cinematic quality about it, particularly in its use of world music elements and club-friendly rhythms.

Lyrically and vocally, the songs are almost nakedly passionate, their protagonists struggling to maintain a sense of hope in a world gone awry, where war, hunger, and disillusion are the order of the day. You'll never hear Britney singing about any of this stuff, that's for sure.

The disc, which I've owned since last summer, has taken time to grow on me. On the first couple of listens, I really liked the instrumentals, but cringed a little at the songs, which initially sounded too earnest to these ears. On further listening, I've come to appreciate the album more and more, though, to be honest, the last three tracks still don't do much for me.

Oddly enough, "Elsa Green", the song that I liked least on first listen, is now probably my favorite - or at least it's now the song I most identify with this album.

In any event, R-Three clearly are not content to simply entertain; they want to engage the listener on a deeper level. They want you to care as much as they do. The choice is yours...

Good mix.......2003-05-14

Not every song is a keeper, but so many of the tracks are high quality. Gets better every time you listen to it.

Perpetually Contorted Most Satisfactory.......2003-01-30

Boy oh boy... this is one eclectic cross genre piece of work that is neatly stitched together on a centrally themed cut of silk. It's probably the most interesting work I've heard in the past year. The number of instruments on it speak volumes for the experience you're going to have listening to it. Keys, Vocals, drums, Percussion loops, samples, Theramin, Radio, Guitars, Loops, Violin and more. It definitely has parts that remind me strongly of Roger Waters' 'Amused to Death' which was probably my favourite and most listened to album of the 90s. Not only in it's sound - lush arrangements mixed with static bursts of pointed radio excerpts - but also in it's central themes. These being man, religion, civilization and just how messed up everything really is but not without a dash of humour. Vocally I get strong shades of Peter Gabriel's earlier albums, but this is only conveyed in three centrepiece songs. The rest is really rather mindblowing stuff. I kept getting reminded of Stanley Kubrik's 2001. You know the bits that have that great big monolith lurking menacingly and enigmatically. It's a highly cinematic soundscape with strong leitmotifs throughout that give all the tracks a strong omnipotent coherence. They all blend with each other exceptionally well while not being the same. The delivery appears suprisingly easy given the complexity. With the mixing of styles, the sheer detail in the textures and the lush depth that is presented here, this an album that serves as something of a masterclass in production values. It's a seriously hard album to pinpoint to any particular genre with the eclecticism contained in it. World, jazz, rock, electronica, dance, pop, ambient, classical: it seriously knows no bounds, but the crucial thing is that R-three really pulls it off masterfully in a way that few artists could. I suppose if I were to create a genre for this it'd have to be 'cinematic' as it definitely goes a long way further than soundtrack music in the fact that the visuals are so contained in the music itself. Go grab yourself a copy, lay down in your cozy armchair and let yourself drift into this celluloid technicolour extravangaza for the ears. A real recommended trip it is indeed.

R-3 perceptual distortion.......2003-01-04

This album sounds like a cross between Brian Eno and Sonic Youth.If you like these bands,this is the album for U.Great pieces on this album!Very unique sound.Go buy it!

Jazz Music:

Jazz Music

Jazz Music