RAYA BRASS BAND
This
Train is Now
Rayabrassband.com
* * * ½
The metro
New York-based Raya Brass Band is more Balkan than Brooklyn—sort of what you’d
get if you merged a hora with a village riot. This high-energy quintet is built
around instruments designed to pump up the noise: saxophone, tuba, trumpet,
accordion, and drums. Tunes like “Locks and Latches” aim to get your body
limber and your feet moving and even when the pace slows, as in “For Mia,” the
tempo remains jumpy in the way that a carousel horse elevates and descends. Dance
tempos dominate. "Bump" opens with thumping drums, segues to a
muscular brass blast, then settles into its namesake staccato rhythm, one with
playful echoes of drum and tuba. The Balkan-flavored "Shapkarevo Kasapsko
Oro" conjures mental images of a frenzied village fest in which locals
take turns trying to one-up each other in the dance spotlight. A personal
favorite is the aptly named "Riff Cloud," in which melodic hooks are
tossed about to see what can be made of them. This band throws a bit of
everything at you: some Balkan jazz, some Dixieland, hints of punk, and on the
title track some melody lines that sound like a mariachi band at one moment and
faintly North African the next.
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