Sonic cinema

V. Majestic's liberating debut

by Michael Caito

Been listening to a ton of foreign movie soundtrack material lately, having learned that even the most rancid of films can have exceptional goodies buried within. Most are leavened with at least one surefire contemporary radio hit, golden oldie or classical breadwinner, no matter how crap the film -- domestic or otherwise -- is. Even Ghost had "Unchained Melody," and Angel Baby had two gems by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan plus a new composition by Peter Gabriel.

Two of the members of the Providence-based quintet V.Majestic are film zealots. Guitarist Robert Jazz hosted the Mystery Box Film Festival around town for a while. Our local King of Buñuel focused on offbeat "cult" classics, while electronic keyboard/noizemaker Frank Difficult still takes an active role in Obsidian Video at the foot of College Hill.

It's a film score sensibility which permeates V.Majestic's self-titled debut on their own Edgy Records. Formerly known as the Robert Jazz Quartet, they released the Fist of Dad Suite on cassette a few years ago, and it should have served enough notice that the band had not much at all to do with jazz itself. (They weren't a quartet, either.) Somehow the public remained confused by the moniker and it was changed.

Other changes and improvements make this CDa champ. Keyboardist Difficult's contributions to Fist of Dad were extremely distracting. His kamikaze, sugar-buzz afterthoughts too often torpedoed the RJQ's angular melodies and unconventional pop arrangements. On the new 10-song disc his dual role as synth gadgeteer and chief engineer (he mastered the entire record via Power Mac) must have altered his perspective. His keyboards remain perplexing and good for the head, yet don't have the bratty, fingernails-on-a-chalkboard feel. He sounds great, perhaps doing for lounge music's synth tinkering what Six Finger Satellite do for rock and roll. Rough it up. Lose the rulebook. Poke in the eye.

Robert Jazz's communicator of choice remains his twusty '63 Fender Jazzmaster (recently wielded by Nick Saloman of the Bevis Frond at Terrastock), and through tasteful application of said axe the debut has a trippy and yes, psychedelic tinge. Sneaky-clean drummer Stuart Powers deftly accomplishes what it takes two percussionists to do in the Amoebic Ensemble, and the fact that he and Jazz revere melodi-pop doesn't hurt (Jazz's old band Camera Ready could have blasted any number of slatternly indie-rockers to bits had they stayed intact). Horn player Gerry Heroux, an Amoebic alum, brings seemingly disparate elements into play -- the decorum of classical and the theatrical whimsy of performance and music troupes like Meatballs/Fluxus. At times his horn work is a harbinger of a promising dawn; occasionally it's reminiscent of a night that's gone on a tad too long. Russell Kellogg, the bassist who joins Heroux for occasional vocals, is probably more familiar to area audiences for his numerous riotous roles in off-Trinity productions. Though he plays it comparatively straight on bass, he and Heroux create memorable, humorous vocal characters.

So what does it sound like? Clouds of superelasticbubbleplastic psychedelia shot through with rare sunbeams of pure pop, only to be vaporized by a smelly laser beam from Difficult's synths. At the sonic forefront is an array of synth and guitar effects -- usually with nasty head colds -- re-focused by the clarity of Heroux's assuaging French horn and Powers' eclectic rhythm patterns, which evoke medieval imagery of knights and castles up through '60s acid trips and whatnot. Each composition seems perfect for one scene in the best movie you've never seen, yet taken song-by-song the disc remains satisfying. It's both a record and soundtrack. It's also rock and lounge (vibe-o-rama!) and neither, mysteriously working on all levels, which is mighty impressive. Satisfying, too, unlike some aren't-we-hip art-rock record on a psych trip too self-indulgent -- or designedly esoteric -- to even bother being interesting. V. Majestic may be attempting to make campfire pals of Beefheart, Beethoven and Bongwater. Of course, to complete the image they'd all be sittin' around listening to Pere Ubu 45s on 33 and watching Rainer Werner Fassbinder films scored by Peer Raben, providing a truly freaky cinematic counterpoint to the psychedelia. Yeah. Like that.

It's obviously going to take months to settle in; there's still an array of detail to unearth for the first time after easily a dozen sit-downs with the damned thing. That's OK too. It's here in all its majestic glory, and you can already buy it online from Cranium's mail order set-up (based in New Zealand), so don't consider this a localized phenomenon. One thing is certain:this release is liberating.

V. Majestic's record-release party is Sunday at the Call with the Eyesores.

CLASSICAL GAS. The ninth annual Summer Chamber Music Festival at URI occurs a little earlier this year. The four concerts (June 19, 21, 25 and 27) represent a homecoming for several Ocean State natives who have made waves throughout the world of classical music. Violist Michael Nowak, a Providence native, appears with violinist Benny Kim, Wakefield-based cellist Michelle Djokic and pianist Gail Niwa for Beethoven's Piano Quartet in E flat major, Opus 16 which opens the Festival on the 19th. That is followed by Napoleon Coste's Bolero, a pair of Astor Piazzolla tangos and a suite of State-side works by Benjamin Verdery, Frederic Hand and Bryan Johanson which features guitarist Julian Gray. After intermission Kim, Nowak, Djokic and the festival's director, violinist David Kim, are joined by bassist Timothy Cobb for Dvorak's String Quartet in Gmajor, Opus 77. Saturday the 21st finds the Kims, Nowak, Djokic and Cobb essaying Mozart's Eine kleine Nachtmusikbefore flautist Linda Chesis joins Niwa for Reinecke's "Undine" sonata. Schumann's Piano Quintet in E flat major, Opus 44 brings back the opening quartet from Thursday's Beethoven and adds David Kim. Wednesday the 25th features a piano four-hands work by Ravel, featuring Niwa and Raija Kerppo, followed by a Beethoven string trio. After the break Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor is followed by a piece by Eric Ewazen and a suite of Early Music by the East Hill Brass Quintet. That quintet originated as a student ensemble at Juilliard featuring Ponagansett High grad Brian Benson. After finishing Juilliard in '93, Benson became principal trumpet for the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra and the Manhattan Chamber Orchestra; he has also performed with the Connecticut Symphony and at the Marlboro Music Festival with the New England Bach Festival Orchestra. A Brahms sonata and Bartok piano quintet wrap up the festival on the 27th. All concerts are in the air-conditioned yet exquisitely ugly Fine Arts Center in Kingston.

WILD IRISH ROSE. Just re-read the tremendous '93 anthology The Picador Book of Contemporary Irish Fiction. Like all worthy collections, it showcases diversity. Here, of a small nation whose past, present and future shapes are the concern of Catholics, Protestants, Nationalists, Unionists, Communists, Fascists and more. Today it's an extremely young country (average age around 26) full of keen-eyed storytellers who have little regard for malarkey. I'd guess that Sinéad O'Connor has read or met many of these writers; her songs have always worked similarly -- on nitty-gritty detail and larger-truth levels. Love in times of oppression, the fortitude to express, the refusal to allow bitter control freaks to swallow you up. Revisit the stark beauty of Lion andthe Cobra. It stands. Never gave a fig about her hair or looks, but continue to admire the voice, songs and courage. At the Strand Tuesday.

R.I.P. Matt Botelho, formerly of Step Forward and major songwriting force behind early One Ton Shotgun and most recently Fall River Overdrive. Chil Mott writes of his friend, dead at 28:

As a passenger, I had to grab the wheel of Matt's car more than once in my time as his friend. Sometimes it happened because we were busy laughing, sometimes we were at each other's throat. Matt had a way of bringing chaos with him wherever he went, and all his friends thrived on it. In an increasingly complacent community, the loss of Matt's brand of originality, creativity and passion is of great consequence. Matt will be deeply missed.