| As the years pass after Jimis sad early demise, his work continues to grow in stature. It is his songwriting talent that looms largest in the history of the man as his impact as a performer and even guitarist gets swallowed up by the advancement of time. His impact into the scene back in the sixties was a moment in time that will never be duplicated. It was raw and real and of its time. Today a performers impact is a product of so much more manipulation and media. Will anyone, ever duplicate that kind of impact? Seen through a musicians eyes, Jimi also represents something that is increasingly rare today, a pure source of inspiration. Not as a single source either, not just a guitarist or performer but the creator of a blueprint. The basis for a level of exploration. Stepping into this mind set is Machine Mass. This trio of musicians (Michel Delville, Tony Bianco and Antoine Guenet) have the chops of course but also the vision to do something in line with the true spirit of the man. Not reinterpretation but reinvention. - Rob Hudson, ModMove, Australia
(5 stars) To the outskirts of infinity: fusion reimagining of highlights from a revolutionary catalogue finds different shades to whats been known. Usually, its lack of creative ideas thats the reason of artists resort to covering outside material, but for this band doing what they do here seems more of a self-imposed challenge which entails a lot of fantasy. Taking a full advantage of a trio format, although this configuration is different from combos of the one whose songs they refract through a jazz-rock prism, Machine Mass uncover fresh flexibility and fathom depth in not-so-deep tracks from a famous music textbook. - Dmitry Epstein, DMME, Let It Rock, Canada
Tremendous breakthrough psychedelic jazz record that demands serious international attention. Machine Mass Plays Hendrix is a major triumph, it's a Masterpiece." - Jerry Gordon, WPRB Radio, Princeton University, USA
Along with the likes of Davids Torn and Kollar, Roger Trigaux, Richard Pinhas, and others defined as nominally rock plank spankers, Michel Deliville shares an exploratory and individualistic approach to his instrument that ensures that this album, and indeed everything hes ever been a part of, never falls into clichι, and tackling something as iconic as the Hendrix songbook takes these timeless songs into a new place, a place that Jimi would no doubt approve of. Bravo! - Roger Trenwith, The Progressive Aspect, UK
MoonJune Records' heavy weight, Belgian-Italian guitarist extraordinaire Michel Delvilleis returning for the 9th time to the extended MoonJune family (his 10th album participation on MJR, on Dominique Vantomme's new album "Roads", will be released before the end of the year).
Augmented by the addition of the otherworldly talents of young maestro keyboardist,Antoine Guenet (The Wrong Object; Sh.TG.N; Univers Zero), fellow sonic adventurers -- and Machine Mass founders -- guitarist Michel Delville (The Wrong Object; douBt; Alex Maguire Sextet) and drummer Tony Bianco (douBt; Elton Dean; Dave Liebman) combine forces to steam through a set which provides a refreshing retake of some of the most influential psychedelic rock classics from the '60's that changed the face of music! While the songs reference frameworks familiar to most classic rock aficionados, the comparisons end there: the trio follows flight plans which are uniquely their own, achieving moments stunningly fresh, instinctive, profound and moving. The addition of piano and keyboards to the tracks provides a welcome approach, imploring reharmonizations as well as complete revisions many hipsters, both young and old, will revel in!
In typical Machine Mass fashion, the music thumbs its nose at convention and is unapologetically uninhibited in its delivery. The group pushes boundaries on all front, producing a record that is as fascinating from a tonal / textural perspective as it is from the 'harmonic rethink' and the mass of corporate liberties taken within the song structures, respectively.
Machine Mass' "Plays Hendrix" is an engrossing, brilliantly conceived retake on some of rock's most adventurous classic moments; a quintessential album for fans of rock, psychedelic and progressive, alike. | |