| CD REVIEW Bastian |
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Band : Bastian Bastian is the artist and bandname under which Dutch musician/ producer Bas Bron displays his love for Funk Rock music, his other projects (Seymour Bits, Comtrom, Gifted, Fatima Yamaha) being primarily electronic. As Majoor Vlosshart or De Neger Des Heils, he also operates as the producer of the band De Jeugd Van Tegenwoordig. In 2005 he collaborates with Kostijn Egberts (known also as dj Parker Jones) to erect his own record label Magnetron Music, today housing such acts as Le Le, AKA The Junkies, Rimeroni Vumani, and others I never heard about. But this is about Funk outfit Bastion, right? Well, under that pseudonym and with that band Bron already released three previous albums: the 2001 debut Ready, the 2003 It's All Downhill From Here, and the controversially titled third one IV (2007). To promote that album the band Bastian (which had just gone through a line-up change – current line-up includes Bron on synths and lead vocals, Michel Stomp on the guitar, Freek Cerutti on the bass, Vincent Koning on additional percussion and backing vocals, and Eelco van Zanten on drums, additional synths, and additional backing vocals) even toured outside the boundaries of their home country. Off that album first single “Groceries” was used in a promotional action by beer producer Heineken, enabling the fans to “win” the mp3 by remixing a Bastian tune of their own choice. Four years after their last album, Bastian return with their fourth album, and here's some oddities about that release. For starters, something weird happened during the recordings at the Weesp-based Soundenterprisestudio. Just for fun, the band members had tried to “make contact” through a Ouija board with Funk Greatness Rick James, whom had passed on from this world in 2004. After these scéances, weird things began to happen when the tuning on instruments, amplifiers and the mixing panel began to change, without anyone in the studio altering 'em. One specific microphone stand was constantly found in another place, and a bottle of Jameson whiskey disappeared. The weirdness disappeared past August 6th (James' date of death), but it did inspired the band into writing the extra track “Rick Jameson”. Other niceties mentioned on the info sheet we got along with our (download) promo copy, states that the track “Powermove” has “...a phrase alà Van Halen's “Panama” and an epic tune which belongs in between partying top models on a luxury yacht in the late '80s (o...kay...check!). Also, “Self Fulfilling Prophecy” has to be seen as a mix of Moris Day & The Time and Queens Of The Stone Age (hum...I haven't heard the QOTSA reminiscence yet). During the recordings the band made use of the same amplifiers as used by Def Leppard to record their epic 12-time Platinum-selling album Hysteria. Also Bron had an additional Oberheim OB-Xa synth flown in from the US, even though he already had such an instrument. It had to be one from Minneapolis, and apparently he's able to hear a difference! Whatever...I suppose you have to be a sound addict like him to be able to do that...but at any rate it's been quite a while since I've heard such a nice Funk Rock album. As you can gather from the above ghost story passage, Bastion play a Funk Rock inspired by the Funk greats (take Rick James, Parliament, Funkadelic), rather than by the Funk Rock acts of the late '80s and early to mid '90s (think Red Hot Chili Peppers, Faith No More, etc)...which makes the band's music that more delectable for the nostalgic among us! But I'm sure there's possible fans of this type of music among younger music fans as well, and in my opinion all these youngsters need to do in order to get contaminated by this highly infectious music, is to get in touch with Bastion's music. In order to get that to happen, some songs by the band were posted at (www.) myspace.com/bastioniv...but none were off the new album when I checked the info. I guess you'll have to look up the album's page at one of your trusted online sales sites (Amazon, iTunes...you check for yourself, alright?) to find 30-second samples of its songs. Great stuff! 95/100 Tony. |