Imitation Electric Piano – Review

Imitation Electric Piano

(Drag City)
by Tim Den

A five-man instrumental team of jazz musicians (featuring members of Stereolab) playing what sounds like jungle-meets-post-rock. There’s a trumpet player who carries the lead melody with confidence, there’s a keyboard player whose eerie crescendos surpass all trance cliches, and there’s a drummer who makes electronica sound right at home playing 6/4 timing. Pretty fuckin’ inventive, if you ask me. The fact that Imitation Electric Piano tackle all these facets without sounding contrived is already no easy feat, yet the band somehow comes off even more technical, more ambient, more avant garde, more groovy, and overall more surprising than each individual genre. Incredible.
(PO Box 476867 Chicago, IL 60647)