Doom Salad – Further, Unafraid, Into the Light (2016)

One would find it hard to argue that experimental-math-jazz oddballs Doom Salad aren’t dedicated. Since 2013, the band has been birthing a progeny of (good) EPs dating back to 2013, about 1.5 per year by our count. As step up to the plate with their first full-length, Further, Unafraid, Into the Light, it would seem that their fecundity knows no limits.

And, like their previous EPs, this isn’t just prosaic run-of-the-mill improvisational jazz, the stuff that might be slightly easier to purvey quickly and frequently. Further, Unafraid, Into the Light is rich with well-orchestrated technical percussion, disjunctive chord progressions, and armed with wild key changes worthy of the legendary Cardiacs. At odds with the angular excess is the occasional experimentation with musical space and the removal of rhythm, most notably in ‘Kreamacornifornication’, which calls to mind Ahleuchatistas and Upsilon Acrux. The aptly-titled closer ‘Piano Math’ is an interesting blend of rega-style fusion, intricate piano jazz a la Tigran Hamasyan or Magnus Ostrom, and… well… the quirkiness of Doom Salad. As usual the distorted keys add a kitschy layer to the twerked Doom Salad sound, tipping a hat to the vestiges of Zappa prog.

Overall, Further, Unafraid, Into the Light is an album teeming with imagination and unpredictability, everything that befits this band. And I’m making this an Editor’s Pick because I am having serious fun listening to it. Go fuck yourself.