SLANG! has created this Ethno-Coltranian Rock alum which I must say is a strange, ruff, direct, istinctive, tuned, kicked, no fear of what i want to present-way....
Well..., this is what this trio presents - music is good for a non-snob / I want to have fun - party / especially I imagine this when I listen to track 10, Save the Chiles, just 2.08 minutes of !? REC !!
It is done with percussions, bass and sax and hell it seems something that can be heard distractly on the radio, rock and jazz sametime but mixed in an original way. The singing is modern and a little depressed and dark but powerful! The band creates a great flow which I cannot say is rock and cannot say is jazz. Sometimes i hear blues oriented moments and wow i can enjoy it as it's not clear - it keeps on being mixed.

I find this album interesting and would recommend it to those Coltrane maniacs who dare try a Belgian band who alone called its music EthnoColtranianRock. I would also find this release easy to recommend to ethnic music lovers. As for me, I cannot recognize myself in any of the two groupsings for potential fans as I am interested in both) only superficially but i do enjoy this SLANG!. Among the tracks I especially like is tune 5, La Trilogie d'Apu which is highly arabic oriented.

From beginning to end you hear and enjoy this album but there is nothing suprirsing in this music. SLANG does a music that no one does - this is a fact. Anyway it's original and i invite you to support them ;) But as one who diets on extream and weird music, as I do, it sometimes feels like like a sea with no wind.

- PROGGNOSIS - Maya

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SLANG is a Belgian trio of sax, bass, and drums. As one would expect from a release on Carbon 7, this is a release rooted in jazz, in this case sounding like an accessible take on Threadgill's mid-90s work.
Both soprano and alto sax are used, and these are required to carry the top end in the absence of another lead instrument. Some of the material is song-based, with what I can only describe as a pseudo-reggae singing style and sax interjections for the chorus.
François GARNY is capable of getting guitar-style timbres out of his bass, which he does on "Small steps (for big people)."
Instrumentals such as this dominate the album, and while I certainly prefer them to the tracks with singing (sorry guys), this album doesn't stay compelling for the lenght of time it takes to listen to it. The instrumentals often repeat motives over and over without much variation, and this plus the apparent lack of improvisation leaves me uterly indifferent.
Fans of John Scofield and not-so-ambitious "jam jazz" may enjoy this. Others will wonder what the point is.

USA - EXPOSE - Sean McFEE

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SLANG - Save The Chilis

Belgian trio SLANG’s latest effort isn’t exactly brand new, but how many of us have actually heard these guys?
Upon learning that this is another bass & vocals, winds and percussion threesome, MORPHINE and TRIPOD instantly came to mind. Those two bands have a bit more in common with each other, while SLANG is a vessel all its own: the listener is taken through a veritable roulette wheelful of moods & colors throughout the eleven ethno-tinged, jazz~rock tracks on the curiously-titled Save The Chilis.
Bassist-vocalist François GARNY performs on electric, acoustic & upright basses; Manuel HERMIA’s alto & soprano saxes rule the roost, but he picks up a flute for the closer.
However, the most pleasant surprise happens to be percussionist Michel SEBA—that’s right, percussion, not drums of the standard kit variety. SEBA’s liquid tabla & conga grooves & snare treatments are what set this album far apart from those two other bands—in a most agreeable way.
That, and that the final recorded product sounds so rich, smoky and organic that if this was all recorded with PC software tools, my jaw may require a sling.

Roughly two-thirds of Chilis is instrumental, but songs “Sugar” and “Yukun Slang” set the tone: GARNY’s mastery of multiple bass styles couldn’t be more apparent, yet he plays with quite a bit of restraint, as though his lines come rather easily and he isn’t anywhere close to skirting the fringes of his ability.
Now, when it comes to his baritone vox, GARNY emulates certain jazz players who don't have much chops, vocally, but still choose to sing. This is a face-value factor that doesn’t really affect matters in the grand context—just soak up the juicy, distorted tone of that electric bass! “Small Steps” happens to have a great, “warbly” tone that lends a bit of an “extraterrestrial” feel one gets from Moog bass, while GARNY goes for an almost Clavinet-like sound on “Oude Fox”—the long opening phrase would likely be played identically on a real Clav.

“La Trilogie d’Apu” is the resident mini-epic, opening with an Arabic motif performed by HERMIA, countered by the drones of bowed bass and SEBA’s rhythmantra. Not to be outdone by GARNY’s constant shift in bassic colors, HERMIA’s alto sax pitches itself to the high of a violin squeak on “Hombre feli.” The title track is an uptempo one fuelled by a most aggressive bassline—it’s also the shortest (2:08). SEBA’s quick-draw snare fills are met with the only instance of a [triggered, or electronic] kick drum. The momentum is halted midway through for a sax solo. “La Gigue” closes things on a smoother note; HERMIA trades in his saxes for a flute—and engages in some fab unison lines with GARNY!
Save The Chilis’ only downside is that it’s been a few years since SLANG’s second release (Los Locos was the first). Maybe we’ll get a new one in ’04!

USA - SEA OF TRANQUILITY - Elias GRANILLO

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