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Sample Track 1:
"Riff Cloud" from This Train is Now
Sample Track 2:
"Tsamika Tarragona" from This Train Is Now
Layer 2
Album Review

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New York Music Daily, Album Review >>

Let the Crickets Decide, another Greg Squared tune, is arguably the album’s best track: there’s a whole lot going on here. Syversen bubbles evilly over an ominous low sax note, followed by a mysterious sax solo that eventually goes screaming with the bent notes and microtones…and then they sprint to the finish line. Tsamika Tarragona, by Godwin, alternates between warmly soulful and biting, with a brief carnivalesque interlude. Bump, by Syversen, is the album’s catchiest track, emphatically anchored by the accordion alongside Godwin’s unexpectedly nimble, tiptoeing pulse, Syversen taking a turn to swoop and weave through a mist of microtones.

Bloody Knuckles, by Greg Squared, is a cage match of sorts between the horns, locked in combat or exchanging lively riffage: the fun these guys are having is irresistible, through all kinds of intricate time changes to yet another long, killer Syversen solo. For Mia, by Fass, makes quite a contrast with its lullaby intro, building to a gorgeously creepy accordion solo that the horns pick up from there. There are two traditional tunes here: a brisk, bristling take of the Macedonian tune Shapkarevo Kasapsko Oro, which manages to be just a little more polished than the tracks on the previous album; and the famous Roma Karsilama, with its animated call-and-response and aggressive trumpet solo. The album ends with Greg Squared’s Segan Sirto, which begins allusively and then hits its evil stride over Godwin’s slinky groove, the song’s writer taking the most exhilirating, dynamically-charged solo on the album: the way he weaves from smoky to crystalline will give you goosebumps. Is this the best album by a New York band in 2013? Maybe. Raya Brass Band’s next New York show is on Oct 12 at 9 PM at the Ukrainian National Home, 140 2nd Ave. off of 9th St.; cover is $15.

 09/08/13 >> go there
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