For the vast majority of the populace, good music means 4/4 time and "Yesterday"-melodic phrasing. Anything else is just pap. But, clearly, you're not one of those people, are you, or you wouldn't be reading this! So, if I tell you that there isn't a smidgeon of 4/4 or a whiff of "Yesterday" on Rational Diet's On Phenomena and Existences, then you won't be at all bothered but, instead, be impatient to learn what this music is about!
Well, I have to tell you that I told a little "white lie": "Unexpected Feiertag in Chemnitz" is as sweet and pretty a tune as you're likely to hear anywhere. This is, I surmise, the band proving that they can write pretty music, just so you listen to the rest of the album without dismissing them as no-hopers that can't write a melody.
Yes, you're getting an inkling now that On Phenomena and Existences is not an easy-listening album. Far from it, it is replete with what might be loosely termed an avant-garde modern classical/jazz/rock fusion.
The band hail from Belarus and twentieth century Russian classical composers are obviously a big influence on their music. A run through the many band members and their instruments will give you an idea of the type of sonic landscape to expect: Maxim Velvetov (guitar); Vitaly Appow (bassoon); Cyrill Crystia (violin); Nadia Christya (cello); Olga Podgaiskaya (occasional vocal, piano); Anna Ovchinnikova (cello); Dmitry Masiovsky (bass); Nikolay Semitko (drums); and Andrew Bogdanow (sound engineering).
It's a challenging listen but it's never unpleasant. Imagine Frank Zappa melded with Shostakovich. Can't? The only way out for you then is to listen to some samples, just make sure that it's not "Unexpected Feiertag in Chemnitz" because that's not what this music is really about.
Track Listing:-
1) Sleep is Teasing a Man (4:34)
2) Human Life in the Wind (4:14)
3) Somebody in the Spacious Tail-Coat (2:53)
4) Unexpected Feiertag in Chemnitz (1:05)
5) A Man Went to Sleep (4:26)
6) Chamber, Illuminated by the Dark Lamp (1:46)
7) Bet on a Marked Card (2:09)
8) In the Late Summer (1:49)
9) Living the Main Life (5:49)
10) Private Secrets of Machine (3:08)
11) Weimar Period (1:46)
12) The End of the Almshouse (2:24)
13) Passacaglia in Beautiful and Furious World (5:05)
14) In Five Steps (5:22)
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