PDG is a keyboard/bass/drums trio from Montreal, Canada, who play an instrumental medley of prog rock and fusion styles. The band is comprised of Maryse Pepin on keyboards, Big Bass Pat Duquette on bass, and Daniel Giguere on drums. The CD features 15 mostly short and quirky pieces that hint at elements of 70's prog rock, fusion, straight jazz, and funk.
For the most part, this is all light-hearted and fun stuff, only occasionally going outside the box and becoming overly adventurous. Quirky and odd is perhaps the best way to describe the music of PDG, at times things sound like the soundtrack to a video game, as on "Funky D", every so often dipping into vintage sounding prog, like on "Attention Aux Démons", but for the most part coming across as a jazz/fusion/latin/funk/hip-hop hybrid, which is clearly heard on tracks like "D'oeil", "Psychose", and "La Première #1". All three musicians are fine players, and Pepin especially tackles most of the solo spots and high profile moments with her various textures and tasty sounding keyboard colorings, while Duquette lays down some funky grooves alongside Giguere's solid drum work. At times, I'm almost reminded a little bit of some of Frank Zappa's 80's recordings on the Synclavier, especially on tunes like the near 9 minute "Vingt De Cèdres" and "Never Car And Tea Tree", except with a more bubby and upbeat flair. The closing "Introduction Géniseurs" is the one odd-man out on this release, a brooding, heavy symphonic prog number featuring vocals from Duquette. It's an interesting piece and I wonder if the band might tackle this style in the future.
Overall, Less Is More/Trop C'Comme Pas Assez is exactly that, less on the histrionics, more on groove and feel. Some might long for this trio to rip it up just a bit more, as it is evident they have the chops, but the end result is a pleasant mix of many styles does the job quite nicely.
Track Listing
1 Riffs À Vendre
2 Funky D
3 Les Géniseurs
4 Odd To Bob
5 Cup And Pace Partie 1
6 Attention Aux Démons
7 Cup And Pace Partie 2
8 Spyder
9 D'oeil
10 Psychose
11 Never Car And Tea Tree
12 Vingt De Cèdres
13 La Première #1
14 L'avant Première
15 Introduction Géniseurs
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