(09-19-06)
Music-versity.blogspot.com review
Instrumental Quarter – Traffic Jam / Sick Room
Italy’s Instrumental Quarter, obviously an instrumental quartet (so much for
a mysterious moniker), combines influences from the traditional music and
mountainous backdrops of their hometown in Saluzzo with the experimental
post-rock and urban sprawl of their second home in Chicago. Featuring three
of the four members of the late 90s alternative pop/rock ground Kash, who
teamed with Steve Albini for a 2001 release, IQ finds a comfortable niche
between the acoustic guitar driven Pele, the meandering and dramatic Six
Parts Seven and the liberal violin usage of the Dirty Three. Their most
appealing aspect is the ability to accentuate straightforward rock
arrangements with jazzy avant-garde and fusion experimentation without
straying too much from either genre. Traffic Jam is a solid album from start
to finish, but I doubt it will emerge from the shadows of the sensational
Midwestern post-rock scene; nonetheless IQ puts together an enjoyable album
of innovative instrumental warmth.
