You could say they're a Northwest band whose groove lies a little to
the East. Portland's Rotating Leslies combines ethnic influences, strong
rhythmic pulses and shades of electronics into a composite that feeds your
head as much as it coaxes your feet onto the dance floor. It is, in many
ways, Art Rock for the '90s: danceable, trippy and thoroughly intelligent.
For those familiar with '80s Art Rockers Japan and vocalist David Sylvian,
the similarities are striking. The slithery, slinky fretless bass textures
are there, as are cascading, ambient guitar landscapes, chunks of World
Music influences and compositional structures which take dissonant tangents.
And Rotating Leslies, like Japan, even contains two brothers.
Yet while Japan spent a lot of time concentrating on Chinese-influenced
music, the Rotating Leslies dwell in the Middle East. And in their kingdom,
groove is king.
``We've always had a strong interest in Middle-Eastern music,'' said bassist/guitarist
Jeff Dood of himself and his brother Brian, guitarist. ``I had originally
started this as an acoustic band. Then we took a percussion class and that
sort of sparked the interest in that. I then re-wrote a lot of our material
to include the percussion. But the more we used the effects, the more we
found we liked the atmospheric, trippy thing.''
There's an unwritten code of moderation between the Dood brothers when it
comes to effects, Jeff is quick to add. ``But with bass, you have to be
careful and try to remain tasteful with effects; especially with our
music, because we want to keep the rhythm at the core of everything."
The Dood brothers have periodically been augmenting this groove factor by the use of an auxiliary member/percussionist. Most of the time, this was Matt Siroka (nicknamed ``Bongo
Boy''), who also regularly plays with Jesus Presley (although his role has become increasingly limited due to the other band's schedule). Brian
occasionally drops his guitar for the dumbek, a drum which Jeff refers to
as ``a Middle-Eastern belly dancing drum'' - and with drummer Patrick Costello -
the entire ensemble erupts into a massive wall of infectious rhythm, melodically
anchored only by Jeff's otherworldly bass.
The Leslies also recently added a backup singer to their lineup: The golden-throated
and eye-catching presence of Claire Mittelstet. Her inclusion
has allowed the band to explore more territory, even diving headlong into
a beautifully surreal version of a Siouxie and the Banshees tune.
There's been another addition to the Leslies' family, too. After a long,
laborious eight months of fiddling with the dials on their digital home
recording equipment, the boys (and girl) of Rotating Leslies have finished
their first CD.
``Equipoise'' is the first release from this highly atmospheric,
groove-oriented band - a graceful, stately title that sums up the surreal
yet somewhat majestic music that is offered.
Adding a vocalist, as well as other ``minor'' details such as maintaining
the public profile of the band, are all things that Jeff Dood said were
put on the back burner during the making of ``Equipoise.''
``I know there is going to be a little rebuilding of the momentum because
of some people's attention that we probably have lost as a result of how
long it took,'' Dood said. ``The Portland scene can have a short memory.
There is also a definite glass ceiling that exists for bands without product.
And although it's not the main reason for releasing it, hopefully this CD
will expand our opportunities.''
Dood said the CD took so long because the band wanted to do some things
it couldn't do live, forcing band members to take a more difficult - but
less expensive - route.
``We started out by taking the typical studio approach, only to discover
early on that it was a very expensive and a therefore high-pressure environment
that wasn't going to get us the type of CD we wanted,'' Dood said. ``Basically,
it's hard to be creative when the meter is running, and you're watching
your hard earned gig money quickly evaporate before you even get decent
drum tracks down. So I ended up buying some decent digital PC-based gear
and we got to work on Plan B, which was to record it ourselves.''
The end result is a gracefully funky and experimental album that incorporates
the best of the Leslies' extremely groovy sensibilities while opening up
new vistas of the band's sound to its growing legion of devotees. It also
includes some stunning background vocal work from Portland singer Karling
Abbeygate who inserts some gorgeous, pre-Claire influences.
And of course, the unintintentional, stylistic veins of Japan and Sylvian
show themselves on the CD too. Still, the Leslies are truly a Northwest
band - yet without exploding into the macho rock, garage-band stylings so
typical of many local bands. Indeed, the Leslies dare to show their sensitive, quiet
sides.
``We seldom get up and 'rock out dude' live,'' Dood said. ``We `groove out'
or
`funk out,' but we don't do a lot of rocking out. Our sound is more about
hitting people with hypnotic, rhythmic vibe, I guess, especially live. But
I think that definitely comes out on the CD, too.''
CD Review - ``Equipoise''
As the second song says: ``Just close your eyes/Enjoy the ride.'' The Leslies'
unique brand of shimmering, surreal funk is about just that: Taking a heady
trip through the outer limits of pop.
This, the band's first outing, is more subdued than their live shows, in
which their freaky, mid-eastern funk keeps dance floors filled and heads
bobbing at the back of the bar. Bassist and vocalist Jeff Dood, as always,
causes his bass to bubble and gurgle in gleefully mind-bending ways while
brother Brian lays down the funk and the spacey textures with sharp precision.
But there's a punch that's missing a bit, one that usually comes across
on stage with infectious, dance-inducing hypnotism but is drained of fire
just a tad on CD.
The acoustic explorations here are much more mellow than the Leslies in
a live setting - and with mixed results. These, perhaps more than anything,
seem to lessen the energy level throughout the whole release. Still, when
these songs glow they do so brightly as they show off a much more human
side to the Dood brothers and often show the boys exploring some interesting
new sounds. Of particular note is the upbeat, highly melodic, acoustic instrumental
``Glass Palace,'' while ``Let Me In'' doesn't quite seem to achieve what
it's trying to do and is indicitive of the things that can go slightly astray
when the Dood boys get a little too mellow. Although still a beautiful song,
it has elements which sort of remind me of that confused period of Yes' ``Tormato''
album and something Journey might have done.
The best moments come as the Leslies take off into space and drag one Earthly
continent or another with them. One selection begins with some lovely, ethereal
East Indian crooning while others contain a sweeping, mid-eastern grandeur
which conjures the awe of seeing a foreign land for the first time.
Even with varying degrees of drifting energy levels, ``Equipoise'' is a
gorgeous, psychedelic journey with all sorts of third world influences melding
with Western ones, crossing space and time and landing the listener somewhere
in the near-future.