It's hard for me to decide how I feel about Boulder, Co. based white-guy groove band The Motet.
On one hand, I can quickly dismiss the three-year-old act as derivative of everything bad about jazz and jam bands - cheesy '70s organ, noodling bass lines, bongo drums and endless repetition. But from a different angle, I can see why these guys have quickly built a loyal following with their world beat-influenced funk and protracted African drum freakouts.
Conceived on Halloween of 1998, The Motet comprises some of Boulder's premiere musicians. Setting the foundation is Dave Watts on drums. Watts has played with the likes of Keller Williams, Shockra, Skin, banjo guru Tony Furtado and The Theory of Everything. New Orleans native Scott Messersmith brings the flavor of his hometown, as well as a wellspring of knowledge about Cuban, West African and Brazilian drumming to the mix on percussion. Jans Ingber contributes vocals and drumming. Mike Tiernan adds blues, jazz and slide guitar to the stew. Rounding out the bill are experienced keyboardist Greg Raymond and newcomer bassist Paul McDaniel. And, of course, a slew of guest musicians are always on hand to keep the sound thick and diverse.
The Motet are now touring to promote the band's first studio recording, Play.
I've heard the band's first CD, the live Breathe, and I'll attempt here to draw a conclusion about the importance of live performance by bands like this.
Play has received critical accolades, sometimes for good reason. Reviewers have called it "a convergence of dance grooves and free-form improvisation that lays the groundwork for an eclectic musical adventure," and "the very same exploratory sounds that I've been looking for all along."
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Maybe I'm missing something, but while I would say that much of the work on Play is great - energetic and sincere to its roots - a lot of this album is just downright boring. In fact, I think it's the leading tracks that bore me the most. Take the first track, "Chicken Scratch," for instance. Corny bass, predictable horns, a hideously anachronistic electronic squeegee effect on the organ and seemingly endless repetition of the same thing over and over again. Maybe the laid-back Boulder students enjoy this sort of masturbatory jamming, but after about 10 minutes of it I start to get a little restless.
Oh wait, are we already on track two?
Isn't that an old Sade song - is someone really writing lyrics like this in this century? Didn't this Moog thing go out with Stevie Wonder and Steely Dan?
But just when I think I can't take any more of this shmaltz, we jump to track three, "Madrina Ayudame." Guest vocalists and rhythmic tribal percussionists make this African-influenced song jump from the speakers. Whew.
And that's par for the course with this disc. Play switches back and forth from bad '70s funk to exotic and sophisticated explorations of traditional music from all over the world. But if the live recording Breathe is any indication, audiences should be in for a treat. This one will be hard to take sitting down.
The Motet play the Paramount in Santa Fe Thursday with Santa Fe-folksters Standing Wave as the opening act. Tickets are $8.
For more information, call (505) 982-8999.
