Immortal Machinery
Bartok-ReOrganised
(Immortal Machinery)

A spikey, even slightly scary “Allegro Molto,” with slicing violin and super-tight snare sound, begins Immortal Machinery’s new album Bartok-ReOrganised. Steph K’s wild violin flights are matched with slowed down quieter moments at the two-minute and again four-minute mark, allowing Mateusz G have his bass moments (he also adds the drum programming and produced this EP), making for a great intro to the brew ahead.

I love the sliding acoustic bass and jazzy piano hesitations on “Melody in the Mist,” probably my favorite song of the 5. There is some real expressive bass playing on this one (great bowed moments as much as plucked), and the piano’s simple lines stay out of the way just enough. “Clash and Clang,” as the name of this tune implies, begins with a loud and scary roll of noise. It follows with organ and acoustic bass solo moments giving forth to piano runs, with the occasional break for organ and clashing cymbals. It’s definitely the ‘noisiest’ track of the five, the one that’s hardest to tap your feet to (if you ever do that at all here), but I dig how wild it is.

“Notturno” ends the set with a slipping acoustic bass, laid-back cymbal hit, and spooky two-note organ riffing opening. We then get into modern jazz with a piano/bass duet through the tune.

In their tribute to Hungarian composer Bela Bartok, the duo here manages some tightly woven, superbly played modern classic-jazz mixed stuff. Bartok-ReOrganised is excellent, a great way to cool your ears and set things just right with a modern take on a world-class composer.