Inner Ear Brigade • Rainbro (2012)

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Inner Ear Brigade — Rainbro
Location: San Francisco Bay Area, California
Album release: 2012
Record Label: AltrOck
Duration:     52:36
Tracks:
01. Knee      5:06
02. Oom Pah      5:09
03. Missing the train      3:42
04. Rainbro      5:02
05. Too good to be true      4:11
06. Somnambulist subversion      4:35
07. Nut job      3:12
08. Forgotten planet      6:01
09. Dirty spoons      5:12
10. 25 miles to freedom      10:31
Musicans:
Musicians on Tracks 1–9:
• Melody Ferris: Vocals
• Ivor Holloway: Tenor and Alto Saxophone, Clarinet
• Pat Moran: Electric Bass
• Nick Peck: Hammond B-3 organ, Clavinet, Fender Rhodes Electric Piano, Minimoog Voyager, Mellotron, Piano, Arp Sring Ensemble, Wurlitzer 200A Electric Piano.
• Doug Port: Drums
• David Shaff: Trumpet
• Ryder Shelly: Vibraphone
• David Slusser: Slussomatic and Electronics
• Andrew Vernon: Keyboards, Farfisa organ
• Bill Wolter: Electric and Acoustic Guitars, Keyboards, Electronics, Compositions
Musicians on track 10(25 Miles To Freedom):
• Shayna Dunkelman: vibes, crotales,
• Melody Ferris: Vocals,
• Jordan Glenn: Drums,
• Ivor Holloway: Tenor Saxophone,
• Curtis McKinney: Electric Bass,
• Charith Premawardhana: Viola,
• Max Stoffregen: Piano and synth,
• Bill Wolter: Guitar, Keyboards
Website: http://innerearbrigade.com/
• I feel lucky to live in the Bay Area. Why? Inner Ear Brigade, that’s why. They’re playing in a few weeks in San Francisco and this is a show I’m not going to miss. Rainbro presents an electric mix of genres; notably, I’m hearing elements of jazz (especially Brazilian), mixed with RIO, prog and experimental genres. The album is extremely upbeat and grooves really nicely. It’s complex, but doesn’t have to go into virtuoso territory to do so. Despite complex chord progressions, dense arrangements, and varied instrumentation, Inner Ear Brigade never intends to lose the listener. The songs are very easy to follow along, but they still have lots of depth. In the end, Rainbro presents music that is fun, happy, accessible, and proggy. Whether it’s gorgeous vocals, Moog synths, vibes, or Hammond B3, it’s all there for your pleasure. Pick this one up for sure, and if you’re in the Bay Area, make it to the show.
Fortaken: http://progulator.com / Rating: ****
Review by: Rok Podgrajšek   /   Rating:   9/10
• Inner Ear Brigade comes to us as another marvellous find of the Altr0ck label. This American band had some tough acts to follow if you consider that they’re trying to walk a similar path as bands like Thinking Plague, 5uu’s, Hamster Theatre and such. Could they give us an exciting new dose of American rock in opposition (RIO) with Rainbro or some stale, chewed up bread?
• When I started listening I thought I would get another dose of typical American RIO, with typical dissonant patterns especially when it comes to the vocal lines, but the music gets better as the album moves along and even more so after repeated listenings.
• The vocal lines is where the band stays most faithful to the traditional American school of RIO (5uu’s, Hamster Theatre, Thinking Plague, etc.), if one could even call it that. But even the vocal melodies are so well thought through that those similarities soon evaporate from your mind.
• With many new RIO bands I really get the sense that they're rushing and getting as many ideas as possible out there without having worked enough on them. However, Inner Ear Brigade take their time, they don't hurry, put a lot of thought into the finished product and “milk” the ideas for all their worth, letting them develop naturally in terms of tempo, flow and arrangements.
• Along with the RIO elements, there are some elements of Canterbury and Zappa to their music as well, especially in the way they employ wacky lyrics, which means that they don’t take themselves too seriously, even though the music certainly deserves our attention and the band itself is a serious contender for one of the best new bands out there.
• For even greater diversity the band’s secret weapon is alternative rock. The occasional use of off–key chords makes one think of Sonic Youth. The most astounding thing is how they manage to incorporate this influence into their compositions without even the slightest trace of anything being out of place or any balance broken.
• Rainbro may sound like a typical American RIO album on the surface or if you listen casually. The truth is that this impression remains only with the vocals, which is by no means a bad thing. If you dig deeper, you’ll find the music here incredibly rewarding, lush and playful. It does give a huge nod to the masters that came before them, but it is different enough and boasts an arsenal of memorable compositions and arrangements to stand on its own feet.

Personnel:

≡ Bill Wolter Guitar
≡ Chris Lauf Drums
≡ Stevo Wright Bass
≡ Andrew Vernon Keyboards
≡ Ivor Holloway Saxophone
≡ Melody Ferris Vocals
≡ David Shaff Trumpet
¶ Inner Ear Brigade’s music stretches boundaries and sweeps genres. Their music fits somewhere between jazz, experimental new music, art–rock, funk, and progressive rock. Utilizing the vintage sounds of a Hammond B3 organ, Fender Rhodes, and Moog synthesizer, vocals, vibes,and viola, you may notice sounds that are all at once sweet and silly, riff–crazed, but deceptively free and simple. We are inspired by the sounds of Sunra, Japanese prog duet ‘Ruins’, French epic proggers ‘Magma’ as well as a host of other denizens of boundary pushing music.
¶ History:
¶ Inner Ear Brigade formed around 2005 in Oakland, CA by Bill Wolter. The band started with a self released four song EP Belly Brain. The EP featured the talents of Doug Port — Drums, Marvin Ibe — bass, Max Stoffregen — keyboards, and Bill Wolter — Guitar. Throughout the later 2006 — 2008 the performing band formation shifted around and with the addition of Eric Hoagland — tenor sax, and Alex de Soria — Bass. IEB played several venues and festivals around the Bay Area with other like minded bands. Around 2009 the band expanded from a 5 to 7 members with the addition of Ivor Holloway — Tenor Sax, and Melody Ferris Vocals, and Ryder Shelly — Vibraphone. In January 2012 IEB released their first full length album ‘Rainbro’ on AltrOck Records (Italy).
¶ Honorary members and collaborators in evil sound science:
≡ Doug Port Drums
≡ Ryder Shelly Vibraphone
≡ Nick Peck Keyboards
≡ Max Stoffregen Keyboards
≡ Eric Hoagland Tenor sax
≡ Alex de Soria Bass
≡ Rob Fix Bass
≡ Pat Moran Bass