{"id":16103,"date":"2019-02-16T05:30:16","date_gmt":"2019-02-16T10:30:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=16103"},"modified":"2019-02-14T16:00:42","modified_gmt":"2019-02-14T21:00:42","slug":"album-review-stig-agreed-upon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2019\/02\/16\/album-review-stig-agreed-upon\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Review: STIG — Agreed Upon"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Some artists play music that \u2013 if one wishes to label it \u2013 requires several words to describe. Formed by five students at Boston\u2019s Berklee College of Music, STIG (the band spells its name in all caps) self-identifies as an \u201call-instrumental progressive jazz funk\u201d band. In a hurry, some might be tempted to label the group a jam band, but the tunes \u2013 lengthy as they often are \u2013 do adhere to a tight construction aesthetic that belies that label. Recently relocated to Asheville, the group has recently released its first studio album, Agreed Upon<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Coming on the heels of two live collections (2016\u2019s debut Flex<\/i> and Live at the Orpheum: 10\/8\/17<\/i>), Agreed Upon<\/i> aims to capture the spontaneity of a live STIG performance in the controlled environment of the recording studio. In fact four of the new studio album\u2019s seven compositions appeared on the 2017 live release.<\/p>\n

Though its title indulges in a bit of shooting-fish-in-a-barrel humor, \u201cJohn Travolta Comes Out\u201d is a catchy New York City-flavored funk-jazz stomper. The rhythm section \u2013 bassist Artie Sadtler and Jack McChesney on drums \u2013 lays down a throbbing, insistent groove. That foundation serves as a sonic canvas upon which saxophonist Ryan Stigmon splashes an extended solo that takes up the first five minutes of the cut. Once Stigmon has his say, keyboardist Thomson Knoles lays down a tasty and soulful Rhodes-flavored keyboard solo. As the tune winds toward its end, guitarist Riley Hoover \u2013 who up to this point really hasn\u2019t had much opportunity to shine \u2013 vamps a bit.<\/p>\n

\u201cMoomaw\u201d \u2013 one of the tracks heard on the previous disc \u2013 executes a knotty bit of interplay between the instruments. Stigmon lays down multiple horn parts, and the focus bounces endlessly \u2013 multiple times per measure, even \u2013 between sax, guitar and keys. Hoover gets his turn in the spotlight, and makes the best of it with some nicely effected single-note runs up and down the guitar fretboard. Near the track\u2019s end, the kinetic interplay between instruments returns to center stage.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo Dads\u201d is one of three STIG tunes not found on previous releases. The performance fades in, suggesting that the recorded take \u2013 nearly 11 minutes long \u2013 is part of a longer-still studio run-through. The melody alternates between an insistent, single-note section and a twisting burst of notes. Knoles\u2019 keyboard is the centerpiece of the cut\u2019s first several minutes; his watery 1970s-styled electric piano is subtly accented with feedback guitar that evokes memories of Cannonball Adderley\u2019s futuristic soul jazz outings with keyboard master George Duke and guitarist Mike Deasy. The tune\u2019s midsection leans in a kind of Steely Dan jazz-pop direction, with subtle hints of George Benson. After a wild, horn-led interlude, Sadtler takes the (inevitable in the jazz idiom) bass solo. Or perhaps it\u2019s a synth-bass, or both instruments together; it\u2019s difficult to tell.<\/p>\n

The uncharacteristically brief \u201cBring Your Snorkel\u201d starts off with some seaside sound clips, and the tune unfolds as one with stuttering wood-block percussion, watery guitar picking and \u2013 in case anyone missed the theme \u2013 electric piano that sounds as if it\u2019s submerged in a swimming pool. A full thirty seconds of waves-on-the-shore sound effects round out the two-and-a-half minute track.<\/p>\n

\u201cJane\u2019s Brownies\u201d ran nearly 14 minutes on Live at the Orpheum<\/i>; for Agreed Upon<\/i>, the funky number is trimmed to nearly half that length. With a complex melodic line redolent of the Meters, it provides some of the strongest musical moments on STIG\u2019s new record. Knoles\u2019 organ engages in dialogue with the rest of the band, and a catchy, memorable musical phrase gives the band a safe base from which to explore. An infinitely sustained note (or so it would seem) gives space for Stigmon to wail on his sax; he continues to do so even after the rest of the band returns to a more intricate vamp. The last few moments are given over to some Shaft<\/i> soundtrack-style funk jamming, with bassist Sadtler and wah-wah-ing guitarist Hoover out front.<\/p>\n

\u201cKangaroo Pitstop\u201d opens with heavily distorted Clavinet; the rest of the band executes a slow-churning, heavy riff that suggests Black Sabbath with a funk mindset. That recedes to make space for a vaguely reggae-flavored section; the two disparate styles alternate throughout most of the track\u2019s nine minutes, with some laid-back Stigmon soloing as a highlight.<\/p>\n

The final seven minutes of Agreed Upon<\/i> are given over to \u201cPoultney Parade,\u201d a simmering yet cheery musical excursion that features Knoles\u2019 electric piano supported by tasty chording from Hoover. Overdubbed brass and lots of handclaps imbue the track with some urbane gospel seasoning.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some artists play music that \u2013 if one wishes to label it \u2013 requires several words to describe. Formed by five students at Boston\u2019s Berklee College of Music, STIG (the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16104,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[31,40,42,49,56,65],"tags":[237,3724],"class_list":["post-16103","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-funk","category-instrumental","category-jazz","category-new-release","category-prog","category-review","tag-asheville","tag-stig","cat-31-id","cat-40-id","cat-42-id","cat-49-id","cat-56-id","cat-65-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16103","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16103"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16103\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16105,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16103\/revisions\/16105"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16104"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}