HB3 - The Veldt
2009, Zegnotropic Records

HB3 is setting music free with a sound that combines organic electric instruments with electronic sounds and effects in fashion that might just be unique. Bridging the gaps from Charlie Parker to Eric Johnson to Yes and through Ravi Shankar on the way back, HB3 paints with a broad musical brush that's as interesting as it is hard to predict. HB3's latest album, The Veldt, is loosely based on the Ray Bradbury short story of the same name. HB3 looks to create a musical place of pure imagination and creativity both as a refuge from the world and a means to understand it.

The Veldt opens with Overture (Behold The Sea), sounding a bit like Mannheim Steamroller with Eric Johnson on guitar and Rick Wakeman sitting in on keys. Keyboard, guitar and piccolo bass pass the major and minor themes back and forth in a composition with theatrical implications. Pay Me Pray Me is described by HB3 as a prayer to Eros; the song itself is hard to decipher on the lyric side but plays like a very repressed alt-rocker with progressive tendencies in the chorus. The Veldt plays off of African rhythms and a somewhat demented bit of song construction to create a fantastical vision that crosses cultural and musical boundaries with each sonic breath. Perhaps the most interesting interlude in the song is a bass solo that sounds like it has been amplified with some electronic effects.

Casual Betrayal sews together threads of Brit Rock, Folk and 1980's keyboard-driven New Wave; the song explores the lack of honor in modern society and how it is passed from generation to the next like a social disease. HB3 manages to sound quite a lot like 54-40's Neil Osborne on this track. Manimal! combines Hip-Hop and Electronica with Horror-movie style themes. Manimal! is all over the musical map and is better heard than described. Harmonium takes Dennis DeYoung-style keyboard work (you might pick out distinct similarities to the opening of Fooling Yourself) and builds into something reminiscent of some of the experimental soundtrack work of the late 1980's. Fans of Giorgio Moroder will find themselves on familiar territory for much of the song.

On 007, HB3 pays tribute to Isao Tomita with a composition that runs the gamut Sci-Fi and Space Age novelty. Computers and spaceships as they may have been sonically imagined in the 1960's and 1970's reign here. Close But No Cigar is one of the most intriguing compositions here; I spent a dozen or so trips through this song trying to come up with a "sounds like" comparison and couldn't find anything that quite fit. The closest I came is to think of Pink Floyd as produced by William Ackerman. The Veldt closes out with Lion & Lamb which turns out to be something of a musical reprise of the entire album, in turns. Most or all of the major thematic elements of the individual songs come back in Lion & Lamb; a sort of musical yang and yin that compels the album while drawing all of the pieces together.

It's rare to come across a recording that's wholly original. HB3 achieves this not by fearing or shunning his influences, but by embracing them wholeheartedly and using them to loving create new ideas with old phrases. In a medium governed by eight basic notes it is often the music musicians themselves consume that drives their creations. HB3 takes all of these musical ideas that have entered his mind over the years and resets them as something wholly new and original. The Veldt is brilliant.

Rating: 4.5 Stars (Out of 5)

http://wildysworld.blogspot.com/2009/08/review-hb3-veldt.html

A short story by Ray Bradbury has provided the inspiration for The Veldt, the latest release from Zappa-inspired LA based alt rockers HB3, a three piece consisting of HB3 on vocals and bass, Steve Casa on guitar and Mario Lackner on drums. This is an album that crosses all musical boundaries from electronica and hip-hop to also incorporate elements of jazz fusion, African rhythms and prog. Parts are heavily distorted with random interjections of lyrics that thematically head off in a sinister direction ("Manimal", "Haunted Houses"). For the most part the cosmic jamming provides a tasteful and soothing aural experience ("Qu'est-ce Que C'est, Funky?") and the extended keyboard intro to "Harmonium" is a 70's prog rock fans delight but ultimately the overabundance of electronic effects suggest a Giorgio Moroder fixation within the band that is not always a good thing. "Green Fire In The Forest" arrives late in the day to offer an appealing ethereal soundscape that will delight aficionados of Mike Oldfield but this is one where "try before you buy" would be well advised and the majority of the album can be heard at HB3's MySpace site.

Track Listing
Overture (Behold the Sea)
Pay Me Pray Me
The Veldt
Haunted Houses
Casual Betrayal
Qu'est-ce Que C'est, Funky?
Manimal!
Harmonium
007
Close But No Cigar
Green Fire in the Forest
Lion & Lamb

Added: November 18th 2009
Reviewer: Dean Pedley
Score:

http://www.seaoftranquility.org/reviews.php?op=showcontent&id=8528

HB3 - HB3 Plays The Piccolo Bass
2009, Zegnotropic Records

HB3 is back. It wasn't all that long ago that we reviewed The Veldt, his fine collection of songs based loosely on the Ray Bradbury story. After such an ambitious project, HB3 wanted to create something that was simply beautiful. HB3 has played The Piccolo Bass on his last two albums and decided it was time the instrument came to the fore. The Piccolo Bass is an octave above a regular bass and an octave below standard guitar tuning. The instrument was developed by Stanley Clarke and is an amazing supple and expressive instrument in the right hands. If nothing else, HB3 Plays The Piccolo Bass proves that HB3's hands are the right ones.

HB3 opens with The Umbrellas, quickly introducing influences such as The Beatles and William Ackerman. There is a pensive feel to the song that periodically boils over into intense movement before quickly subsiding. The production serves to create an atmosphere of a room with wonderful acoustics. HB3 mimics mandolin and even lute on The Kermess, a song with roots in the Breughel painting of a medieval peasant dance. The song is a slow-build energy-wise, rising from a timid start to a sense of whirling timelessness. Haunted Houses is reinterpretation of a song from The Veldt that actually plays better here than in the original form. Stripping Haunted Houses down to its most basic form brings out the simple, subtle beauty of the melody.

Darjeeling Express is a near-eleven minute musical meditation that blends the rhythm of the rails with Indian tonal structures in surprising and pleasing ways. The sense of motion is palpable, as the impending sense of arrival each time the song slows. The key here, as it was on The Veldt, is HB3's phrasing. Regardless of what instrument he wields, HB3 seems to have innate sense for how things fit together, making even the most surprising musical turns seems as natural as breathing. Slap opens as a free-form improvisational peace that quickly degenerates into some of the most delicious slap bass work this side of Bakithi Kumalo (Paul Simon). Ariel is a meditation on female beauty, built in slowly undulating lines like the curves of a body. This is a gentle listen that's good for relaxation. HB3 closes out with Positive Venus, a conglomeration of two other tracks. HB3 took Positive Violence from his album Luminosity and married it to Venus, a previously unreleased track. The result sounds the rough cut of a movie score element. There's a real sense of life to this tune that is compelling, with an incessant rhythm underlying the plodding steps of melody.

As with The Veldt, HB3 manages the expected in unexpected ways. His phrasing through HB3 Plays The Piccolo Bass is flawless. Each song has its own life and energy, cavorting more like children than songs. In the middle is HB3 with his easy smile and cool demeanor, scoring the world around us like he knows all the answers. HB3 Plays The Piccolo Bass is probably a niche album, but it’s a splendid offering that should not be overlooked.

Rating: 4 Stars (Out of 5)

http://wildysworld.blogspot.com/2009/11/review-hb3-hb3-plays-piccolo-bass.html

"HB3 Plays the Piccolo Bass," a collection of jazz-inflected instrumentals performed on piccolo bass, is now available:

iTunes:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/hb3-plays-piccolo-bass/id341845978

Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/HB3-Plays-Piccolo-Bass-Hb3/dp/B002UFA4A4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1259109039&sr=8-1

And pretty much everywhere else you can buy music online.

........

Most of the tracks from the "Veldt" and "Solo Piccolo" albums are now posted on the HB3 youtube channel, called, amazingly...

www.youtube.com/thehb3channel

Right now much of it is just audio with still photographs for placeholders...we will update as "real" videos become available. 

Amazon: 

"Green Fire in the Forest," is a three and a half minute instrumental featuring the piccolo bass.

"Close But No Cigar" is meant to be a kind of Brechtian soliloquy, an operatic interlude.

"Lion & Lamb" is an folk-electro freak-out, with nods to "Jesus Christ Superstar" and Jean Cocteau.

These are the last three songs on the new HB3 album, "The Veldt." The actual track list is:

Overture (Behold the Sea)
Pay Me Pray Me
The Veldt
Haunted Houses
Casual Betrayal
Qu'est-ce Que C'est, Funky?
Manimal!
Harmonium
007
Close But No Cigar
Green Fire in the Forest
Lion & Lamb

So what you have on the player right now represents the second half of the album, in the wrong order.




Close But No Cigar

Wake again
Suffocating
At the thought of what we are
Ache
In silence again
In violent tumult again

All we thought we are
Close but no cigar

For nothing
Nothing at all
Do we embrace
At the end of what we are
So I let it go
You switch it off, just so

All we thought we are
Close but no cigar

It's a fading nightmare
As you slowly drift away
But time unfolds its curse
It's everywhere on Earth

All we thought we are
Close but no cigar

And as in a dream
Forever I will see
Your car against the curb
Then your knock on the door
I let you inside
So happy you've arrived

You've finally returned




Lion & Lamb

Sun-dried lands
Ancient sands
An endless war
In an endless fall
The beasts of prey
Yet rule the day
But deep within
Comes a quiet call

Lion and lamb
Devil and man
How can he stand
In his misery?

Til Kingdom Come
Our work is done
Long will we stand
In this mystery

And from the sea
A heavy breeze
The thundercloud
Coming into view
The ancient rush
The secret touch
Of burning rain
Flowing off of you

The Lion and the Lamb

A wounded beast
Will learn his peace
Upon the touch
Of a loving hand
And be relieved
Of agony
So lay him down
In a quiet land

Lion and Lamb
Devil and man
How can he stand
In his misery?

Til Kingdom Come
Our work is done
Long will we stand
In this mystery

The deepest grief
The blackest priest
Will find relief
In the coming dawn
This nightmare cease
Ye rest in peace
This gentle beast
That the lamb will calm

First, it was initially titled, "Manimal!", with an exclamation point. However, myspace will not let you add exclamation points to song titles -- apparently this is viewed as bad taste or something. I don't think they'll let you put stuff in all-caps either. Anyway, now looking at the exclamation-deprived "Manimal," I'll be damned if I know which way is better.

The recurring question, "Who should you fear more, the animal, or the manimal?" is spoken by Mario Lackner, drummer for HB3: www.myspace.com/stiletto69

The middle section is adapted liberally from Iron Maiden's "Killers," and performed by the Electric Maiden Mayhem Band.

Lyrics:

The world has rendered me a monster
Raw in tooth and claw
An act of murder filed in secret
Bound with force of law
Convicted by my friends without a
Second thought
Not a second thought...

Who should you fear more, the animal, or the manimal?

Manimal, manimal, manimal!

My love and freedom are a secret
Buried deep within
And in the depths of my undoing
That devil starts to grin
My fangs are lengthened, claws extended
It's time to begin
Are you ready to begin?

Who should you fear more, the animal, or the manimal?

Manimal, manimal, manimal!


From the ashes comes a spark
A spark becomes a flame
A flame becomes a fire
That can nevermore be tamed

From the ashes comes a spark
A spark becomes a flame
A flame becomes a fire
To reveal the motherfucker called the manimal!


Now here's a bit of information
When the time comes to get some killing done
Just make sure you're a success at your vocation
Because sometimes they return
And then you will burn
Slowly, in your turn

Who should you fear more, the animal, or the manimal?

Manimal, manimal, manimal!

"Turkish Delight" was played on KXLU's Demolisten on 6/27/8 -- you can hear the show archive at:

www.demolisten.org

Thanks Fred and Octavius.

First, much love and gratitude to those who helped: Rev Recluse, Cat Number Seven, Shmedley Z Pearlman, Penny Savage. Thanks also to the members of my band: Mario Lackner, Jason Farnham, Johannes Specht, Steve Casa. Many have inspired, aided and assisted.

I notice in various reviews of my "Luminosity" CD that I’m getting comparisons to hipster bands/artists like Beck, Beta Band, Beastie Boys, Ween, etc. There was some rapping and hip hop beats going on in that material that is, so far, absent in this newer material. So I’m once again undercutting myself, defying categorization. On the other hand, I’m also getting a lot of Zappa comparisons. I suppose I’ve moved more in that direction, though I’m nowhere near that level, of course.

So what is this new sound? It’s big, opulent, lush -- operatic. I’m continually thinking back to the soundtrack The Who did for Ken Russell’s adaptation of "Tommy." In many ways a horrible soundtrack, it embodies the most "synth heavy" sound Townshend ever created. I’m not sure what keyboard(s) he was using, but I’d guess the Arp 2600, since that’s what he used on the famous "Who’s Next" material ("Won’t Get Fooled Again" and "Baba O’Reilly"). I really love that sound. It’s a funny and ultimately winning combination of very impassioned emotion, vintage analog synth sounds, and, in Townshend’s case, not-particularly-advanced technique as a guitarist. Somehow, this is enormously appealing to me. When I created the track "Overture (Behold the Sea)" I was specifically thinking of the Who instrumental pieces from this period; that continued to develop into the sound for the rest of this material.

"Qu’est-ce Que C’est, Funky?"

My father once spent a few months in Paris researching an unpublished book. He attended some lectures at the University of the Sorbonne; one of them, he told me, was titled "Qu’est-ce Que C’est, Funky?" You can imagine the French professor coming in and asking this question. The lecture dealt with all the different meanings of the term. So, this song attempts to answer this baffling question. One of the things I initially thought about was having some lyrics in French; I had a friend who speaks the language translate a few lines, which I never ending up using, but, in English, the anwer to the question was:

It’s the sound of your own beating heart.

In other words, funk lives in the body, an expression of its tides and rhythms.

Instead, I ended up looking at some Dadaist poetry for inspiration, and as the song developed, I developed the figure of "Monsieur Funky," who is basically a French Dadaist figure, like Salvador Dali (who was actually Spanish, but you get the idea). The Dadaist employed nonsensical verse to point to a higher reality like Lewis Carroll or any of the other "nonsense poets." So, therefore, I wrote:

"It’s the dynamo of the mountain
The curling arc of your thin moustache
It’s the dragon’s breathe and the rabbit’s run
Burning in the sun"

That curling arc and thin moustache being specifically a reference to the image of Dali, the poet of revelatory nonsense.

So the song is a curious combination of references to French poetry and American funk, like Parliament Funkadelic, who also developed their own cast of characters, such as Dr. Funkenstein, the Funkapuss, and Sir Nose. I’d like to think that Monsieur Funky could fit in with that crowd.

Musically, this song evolved with me experimenting in my studio for a long time. I’d gotten a bunch of new equipment, so I spent a lot of time exploring in different directions, going all over the place. There’s a lot going on in this song. I use my Alembic short scale bass for the main, all-important bass line, for that 70s, Stanley Clarke sound. The keyboards are the Yamaha CS-80, used by Vangelis and Tomita for their masterworks. I used two drum kits, the predominate one employing the same sounds used on Prince’s "Purple Rain" album. There’s also a Line 6 rackmount echo and a Moog ring modulator to create the twisting, accelerating echo effect at the end of the song. A baritone guitar to play the lead. A vocoder to create the voices at the beginning. And a "virtual choir" program to sing the church choir section in the middle:

"You Frenchy little funk machine
How can you be so fucking mean?
You come to me as in a dream
Where nothing is as it will seem.
What is the what that makes us real,
That gives us such undying feel?
A solar psychedelic feel
To wash away the devil’s deal."

So...yeah. A lot in there.

Also, you need to know that the song also represents Part II of the "International Sex Trilogy," the first part being "Turkish Delight," off the "Luminosity" album.

And yes, I sampled a porno movie for the "Oh, Oui!" line and other various sex noises. I normally don’t like sampling porno movies, as this is highly overdone. However, in this case the "Oh, Oui!" line is relevant as an expression of the poetic "Eternal Yes," which is what it is.

"Overture (Behold the Sea)"

As I said, The Who instrumentals from the "Tommy" soundtrack and "Quadrophenia" were the major influence here. The choir program is used again for the opening line, "Behold, the sea!" and the CS-80 returns again, playing along with a Moog Little Phatty, for the extended keyboard lines, trading solos with the guitar. This is the only instance in the new material where I played a traditional six string electric guitar -- again, the intended effect was, with the guitar solos, high levels of emotion combined with a relatively simple technique, and kind of a thin tone, distortion-wise. That was the fun of it. I used a Rob Allen fretless F2B bass, which I thought was most like John Entwhistle’s tone on "Quadrophenia," much thicker and bassier than the crunchier, more trebly tone associated with him. Everything finally culminates in a piccolo bass solo in the concluding section.

"Pay Me, Pray Me"

Something of the odd man out in this collection, as it’s the earliest piece, kind of a knock off that came out well -- it’s just guitars, no ’boards of any kind. I may return to this and put some in there, I don’t know. Lyrically this is a "love-death song" in which the narrator experiences feelings of both transcendence and self-annihilation --

"Sacred City
Take me, break me
All fall down
To the sound"

And

"Mystic lover
Share your poison"

And a nice piccolo bass solo. Creating the drum part for this song was a living hell. Nevertheless, I finished this track relatively quickly, in about a week. It’s short, punchy, and to the point, and after I finished it, I thought I should do a whole album of material like this. That didn’t really work out, though....

"The Veldt"

Instead I did "The Veldt," which is completely insane. Everything about this track was an intense technical challenge. It made me realize that modern software sequencers for music can really accentuate -- even create -- obsessive-compulsive tendencies. You can edit forever, making infinitessimal changes that no one will notice, and in fact YOU won’t even notice, after you forget about them. The loops were taken from the soundtrack to "Hatari!" by Henry Mancini, a track called "Sounds from Hatari." It’s a John Ford film set in deepest Africa, with John Wayne. The tempo was all over the place, though, so the first thing I had to do was "lock" the various loops to tempo; the problem was: say you’ve got a horn part you want to loop. So you do that. However, there’s also percussion in the background of the loop. By locking the horn part into time, you through the percussion in the background out of time. So now what?

Welcome to the obsessive-compulsive nightmare of "The Veldt."

Ultimately it simply involved endless tweaking of tiny little audio parts to get it to sound right. And it is amusing. A few people told me it sounds like something you’d hear waiting in line for the "Jungle Boat" ride at Disneyland. Except for the lyrics, however, which are about a group of crazy, would be "white hunters" who are in fact dangerous incompetants, possibly sociopaths. They’ve come to Africa to "indulge their infinite lust" away from civilization, but are such lousy shots, "we’re so damn lucky that we haven’t touched/The servants who fix us our lunch."

It’s a song we call...The Veldt!

I play a 5 string Pedulla Buzz bass on this one, which is what the bass player on Paul Simon’s "Graceland," another African "tribute" album, used. I played and assembled the horn solo in the middle; the rest are samples.

"Haunted Houses"

This song was completed around Halloween; I was going for a creepy, gothic feel. The lyrics are about a guy living alone in a big house. The ghosts in it are starting to talk to him, and he’s starting to listen:

"Haunted Houses, teach me now
Devil’s in the hallway now."

There’s also a missing beloved he’s trying to reconcile with and has thus far failed; but he thinks the voices can help him, and so he’s being seduced by the monstrous presence in the hall.

This time I used a soft synth emulating the old Mellotron synthesizer, used on a lot of the old Beatles, Led Zeppelin, and Moody Blues albums. It’s a string sound that sounds artificial, but in an interesting way, unlike a lot of the more modern string sounds. Like "The Veldt," it’s another song about madness and breakdown. The narrator knows he’s going crazy, but can’t stop himself -- it’s too romantic, too sexy in a way to stop. There’s a Moog synth line and piccolo and baritone in there again, but no guitar solo.

I will have more to say about the ultimate meaning of these songs: "Overture (Behold the Sea)," "Pay Me, Pray Me," "The Veldt," and "Haunted Houses" in the next few months.

"Casual Betrayal"

A song that’s pretty self-explanatory. Passive-aggressive rejection is the order of the day, made possible by technological convenience -- just do nothing. Why not do nothing, and reap the rewards of your indifference? Lots of keyboards over a piccolo chord progression. Once again, it’s the Moog Little Phatty and the CS-80 creating the vintage synth sounds.

I see I’ve gone on quite a bit here, so I’ll cut this short and print the lyrics. Thank you for reading and listening. A lot of time, love, and passion went into creating this material; your support is truly appreciated.

And as far as the "bonus track," you’ll just have to wait to figure out what that’s all about. ..


Qu’est-ce Que C’est, Funky?

Hey you freaky French motherfucker
What’s that step in your brand new bag?
What’s the way in sound from way out?
Is it up for sale?

Qu’est-ce que c’est
What you say
Qu’est-ce que c’est, Monsieur Funky?

What’s the sign
Signify
Why the what and what the why?

It’s the man in the black pajamas
The blackened heart of the sacred sun
The happy ass dropping in your face
Fun for everyone

Qu’est-ce que c’est
What you say
Qu’est-ce que c’est, Monsieur Funky?

What’s the sign
Signify
Why the what and what the why?

It’s the turbine in the mountain
The curling arc of your thin mustache
The dragon’s breath and the rabbit’s run
Burning in the sun

br:

You Frenchy little funk machine
How can you be so fucking mean?
You come to me as in a dream
Where nothing is as it will seem

What is the what that makes us real?
That gives us such undying feel?
A solar, psychedelic feel
To wash away the devil’s deal

Qu’est-ce que c’est, qu’est-ce que c’est, qu’est-ce que c’est?


Overture (Behold the Sea)

Behold, the sea!


Pay Me, Pray Me

Pay Me, Pray Me
Pay Me, Pray Me
Devil’s pawn
Quite far gone

Sacred City
Take me, break me
All fall down
To the sound

Silent symbol
Ancient ocean
Hold to me
By the sea

Mystic lover
Share your poison
By the round
All fall down

Pay me, Pray Me
Pay me, Pray Me


The Veldt

A human being is a talking horse
Responds to the lash and the bit
So take a drink from this unholy source
Drown in the milk from her tit
Your life is running down a savage course
Dance through the fiery pit

It’s a song we call...The Veldt!

A man of leisure in a linen suit
Crowned by a safari cap
Is looking to defray his naked prey
And indulge his infinite lust
And finally within the secret bay
Drink from the forbidden cup

It’s a song we call...The Veldt!

So dropping off the keys with the valet
(He’s quite an insufferable punk)
Within the bush we start to flail away
And struggle to aim when we’re drunk
The ladies all will try and wave away
The stink of the elephant funk

It’s a song we call...The Veldt!

We chase the pig into the savage brush
And wait for the deadly attack
But then the beast will spring and so we’ll rush
In every direction at once
We’re so damn lucky that we haven’t touched
The servants who fix us our lunch

It’s a song we call...The Veldt!


Haunted Houses

Haunted Houses
Teach me now
Devil’s in the hallway now

Love you, miss you
I need you now
Now...

Another home is emptied
Another home that will be lost to us

Haunted Houses
Teach me now
Devil’s in the hallway now

Love you, miss you
Where are you now?

Haunted Houses
Teach me now
Devil’s in the silver now

Love you, miss you
I see through you now

Haunted Houses
Teach me now
Devil, can you show me how?

Love you, miss you
But no mercy now
Never, never, never.


Casual Betrayal

Just another casual betrayal
Just another bad betrayal
Use ’em up, and when they’re done
Plenty more where that came from

I don’t fucking care
’Bout your suicidal air

Just when you think they’re drawing near
Without a word they disappear
Here you thought you’d done your best
Don’t know why you failed the test
Could’ve sworn you booked a show
Where did all the people go?
And when you’ve given them your life
They’ll know where to put the knife

Just another casual betrayal
Just another bad betrayal
Use ’em up, and when they’re done
Plenty more where that came from

And don’t you know you’re being trained?
Pretty soon you’ll do the same
After they’ve been left to drown
On your head they’ll place the crown
Lift you on up towards your goal
Love you for your sickened soul
Now here’s a question for you, boy --
Have you found your secret joy?

Just another casual betrayal
Just another bad betrayal
(etc.)

And if they cry in rage and pain
You don’t need to play that game
There’s a beast of fallen frame
Now he wants to know your name
And you’re feeling somewhat strange
Waiting for the light to change
You were the one to roll the dice --
This time you’re the sacrifice.

Just another (etc.)

So they’ve got you on the rack...
Lemme call you back...


Bonus Track (Performed by Mario Lackner)

Who should you fear more, the animal or the manimal?
Who should you fear more, the animal or the manimal?
Who should you fear more, the animal or the manimal?
Who should you fear more, the animal or the manimal?

Here's the link:

www.amplifiermagazine.com

or:

http://amplifiermagazine.com/amplified/hb3.php

Here's the CD review, which is different from the feature:

HB3
LUMINOSITY
INDEPENDENT

Where were you when you first heard HB3? In every generation or so, an artist emerges to wipe the slate clean - from Charlie Parker to Jimi Hendrix to Jaco Pastorius to Nirvana. It's been a while...however, the mysterious HB3 (the artist declines to divulge is name) has the potential to wake rock as we now know it from its corporate induced doldrums with the mind blowing Luminosity. Now here's the shocker: discovered by way of California's Live365's Radio Enigma program, HB3's thunderous debut is fueled by the sounds of a piccolo bass (an instrument pitched lower than a guitar yet higher than a traditional bass) run through a myriad of effects such as flange, distortion, delay et al. As a vocalist Mr. 3 can spit out a thought provoking - politically charged rap with the ferocity of Primus' Les Claypool ("Turkish Delight") or wax angelic akin to such alt-rock crooners as Chris Martin ("Doggyville"). Musically, Luminosity is all over the map - delving into progressive, acid, Indian, metal, pop, and punk (sometimes all within the same track) with a heavy dose of humor which the artist traces back to Frank Zappa's infamous quote during the horrific Regan years, "can there be humor in music?" And if that's not enough to convince you that a musical Armageddon is upon us, dig the funky Stax-like horn intro to "Bundeswehr" which asks the listener to "suck it and see how long it lasts." Toss in the multi-cultural epic "Another I & II" - which could be Jimi and Ravi jamming on heaven and earth, and Luminosity is a most enlightening experience indeed.

--Tom Semioli

http://amplifiermagazine.com/reviews/cds/hb3_cd.php