Three Piece Combo — Three Piece Combo

The three piece combo erm... Three Piece Combo are hailing from Oakland, California and make a form of instrumental rock with influences ranging from prog to jazz. They make instrumental music because, without a singer, soundchecks are much easier.

Jon Curtis (drums), Alex de Soria (bass) and Matt Lebofsky (guitar) are stressing that they are not a jamband. Everything has been meticulously constructed and you can hear that. Yet, the overall sound, probably because it’s a guitar/bass/drums trio reminds me of decidedly more improvisational bands like Primus, Ohm or Stinking Lizaveta. Without vocals you can expect the compositions be varied and on a technically high standard. You’ll find odd rhythmic structures and almost atonal patterns like in Arcata March next to hard rockin’ riffs like in Walk It Off. Technical proficient as they are and notwithstanding the complexity of some of their compositions the music does come off a bit as ‘musiciansmusic’, which I don’t mean as something negative, just to indicate that this will probably appeal more to a King Crimson- than a Neil Young-fan. It’s definitely not all complex though, as the album’s pretty straightforward closer, Enough, proves.

The recording sounds very much live, a bit like a well recorded rehearsal, which may be a bit of critique. I miss a bit of fire, as it does come across a rehearsal: a bit sterile. Maybe a straight-up liverecording would’ve been a good idea. I know I wouldn’t mind some extra noises if there is the rough energy of a good performance and an audience can be a great help in achieving that. You can get this charming debut at Matt’s Store.