Tribal Tech
Face First

Sometimes it happens that major bands or those that have enriched and defined a musical genre "disappear" or fade from the scene as if nothing happened. Tribal Tech is one of these. Everyone will remember this extraordinary quartet led by the legendary Scott Henderson on guitar (a versatile musician as well as a collaborator with many names in the fusion scene) and Gary Willis, a complete and precise bassist. The two are supported by none other than: Scott Kinsey on keyboards (whom I consider to be one of the most advanced keyboardists with a linear but well-studied voicing, thanks to his unusual harmonic progressions) and Kirk Covington on drums, one of the most sought-after session-men, see collaborations: Joe Zawinul, Allan Holdsworth, John Humphrey; not bad at all!

"Face First" dated 1993, though not an easy album to listen to, excellently demonstrates the great diversity present in this group and also the various nuances. This is because a work by Tribal Tech is almost impossible to categorize in a single genre, being a mixture of a modern funky sound, entertaining and explosive fusion, and also a bluesy mood when it comes to the more "predictable" passages.

The group's skill lies in "playing" with all these constructs, entertaining and also intriguing the listener, sometimes obsessing over finding the sonic boundaries among all of these. The result is that the band has been one of the freshest and most intelligent realities of the modern fusion scene.

But ending with the praises, let's move on to listening to the sonic "frames" of this album.

The title track is an extremely elastic funky piece in mixed time that alternates strongly syncopated phases with those with many typically fusion pauses. It's remarkable how the instruments insist on the same theme, Willis embarks on a very complicated yet almost playful bass line, full of ghost notes that make it seem "limping."

"Canine" features a storm of stopped rhythms, starting from the "palm-muted" bass intro. At a certain point, the piece bears a strong resemblance to an "Opus Pocus" especially in certain solo passages. In "Revenge Stew", there is even a country intro, which gradually gets "dematerialized," adding various dissonances and minor rhythmic figures. Along the way, the track slowly changes face, entering "pentatonic" territories that are anything but trivial and predictable.

"The Crawling Horror" immediately strikes us with its continuous references to the Weather Report sound. The sampled strings are a perfect base for Henderson's warm distortion, which together with the drums performs continuous and very interesting "rips." Worth mentioning again is Willis's strange and almost pathetic meowing walking bass. "Wounded", the last track, looms with a sinister and unexpected keyboard backdrop. The rhythm is strangely slowed down almost to make us forget the fury of the previous pieces. Even without a great arrangement, the piece has a remarkable crescendo, anticipated by Willis's soothing and reassuring solo, which then leads into abstract guitar intervals, but never reaching a peak, as the track's mood remains always suspended and undefined, very reminiscent of Holdsworthian passages. Certainly the track most distant from the sound of this record.

The group will disband in 7 years, obviously leaving us with a bitter taste, but with each member's promise to continue with the beauty and musical wisdom typical of this great band. Until next time. UH... Yeah OK.