Funk, jazz, metal and yes, even a tiny bit of thrash, collide on Thrash Funk — what appears to be the debut CD from the Texas instrumental collective known as Little Brian. The group features up to 14 members and takes its name from the recently released novel of the same name. In fact, Thrash Funk includes a disclaimer on the back cover that states, "Music is only half the story. To fully grasp the meaning and purpose, read the novel Little Brian by Tarah Damask." (Full disclosure: Damask appears to be related to Little Brian's bass player, Sam Damask.) I'm not so sure that a piece of fiction — described on Damask's web site as a "highly conceptualized stream-of-consciousness novel, which portrays the struggle of grasping for order in disorder, and the extreme emotional capacity humans are capable of realizing" — will lead to additional enlightenment about the 11 songs on Thrash Funk. But, whatever.
Here's what you really need to know: These dudes wear haz-mat suits and masks on stage, and most of the tunes on Thrash Funk clock in at under four minutes. The music is tight, groovy and (with as many as 14 musicians involved) often dense. Opener "Slow Greasy" simmers in a jazzy vat, "T-1000" adds brass and sass to the mix, "Bitch Gets Punked" justifiably injects some metallic flavoring, and the metal gets heavier on "Car Chase." The major exception to all this is the 27-and-a-half-minute(!) closing cut "Party" — which sound like anything but a party. Full of drones, electronic effects and harsh feedback, the track acts as the antithesis of everything that came before it.
Track Listing:
1) Slow Greasy
2) T-1000
3) Ondarf
4) Bitch Gets Punked
5) Animal Cruelty
6) Car Chase
7) Rat Damage
8) Slaughtered Seals
9) Thrash Funk
10) Symptom
11) Party
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