Mats/Morgan Band

Buy from Amazon

I decided I wanted to be a studio musician when I was fifteen. As such, I got heavy into the electronic side of music, especially anything having to do with synthesizers -- this was, after all, the mid-eighties. My other boffin friends who I would hang out with at the music stores on Saturday afternoons were all into progressive groups like Weather Report, Yes, Sun Ra, and Frank Zappa. I wanted to be cool like them so I tried to listen to Joe Zawinul and Wendy Carlos but in the mid-eighties in Wilmington Delaware, the radio stations mostly played Madonna and Paula Abdul. I finally got my hands on the Heavy Weather LP and at first, I thought there was something wrong with my record player. Progressive, as I would learn, is definitely an acquired taste -- best suited to those who already have a keen appreciation for jazz as it gives the listener the benefit of realizing that polyrhythmic runs are not mistakes.

It’s been a while since I’ve heard any new progressive music and am pleased to report that Thanks for Flying With Us is something special. Mats Oberg and Morgan Agren were the ultimate Frank Zappa fans. Their Zappa tribute band, Zappesteetoot, toured widely in their native Sweden in the mid-eighties an eventually came to the attention of Frank who took them on as his protégées.

On Thanks for Flying With Us Mats and Morgan have twelve studio-recorded tracks. Trying to describe this album would be like trying to describe sunlight. It’s invisible, yet bright and warm. This same description works equally well for Thanks... a collection of intense, yet soulful electronic sequences and obscure vocal samples that require not only your attention, but a little imagination as well. Much like Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of The Moon or Big Audio Dynamite’s Medicine Show , Thanks... is a musical journey that is best listened to as a whole, rather than carving it up into a few singles. Like any trip worth taking, it requires a little effort but is always worth it.

Highly recommended for fans of Return To Forever, Frank Zappa, Allan Holdsworth, and Weather Report.

Ben Jones

Thanks For Flying With Us

Cuneiform, 2005

Tags

Similiar Artists