Four

Translated from Dutch:
'Four' is the fourth CD of the duo Bad Luck. Life can be simple. However, this music is not.

Tenor saxophonist and electrical wizard Neil Welch and drummer Christopher Icasiano deliver the soundtrack for an imaginary trip to a dimension far away from here. The drumbeats and soundscape scenes from the intro ('Four') sound like pure John Carpenter (period 'Escape From New York' and 'Escape From L.A.'). Only these two draw the space card even more and add trance elements and voodoo rituals there. After three minutes they weld a first interludium, which immediately increases the tension because you know that the worst is yet to come. Gradually the horrifying scenes return. From subversive tension it goes to explicit horror with a howling tenor saxophone like a werewolf. Hallucinogenic sounds that go where Bowie ended his 'Black Star'. Welch sounds like a cross between Donny McCaslin and Albert Ayler. And this is only the first number.

In the second part, 'R.B.G.', the prologue is skipped. You are right in the middle of the action. The gentlemen are masters in creating chaos outlined according to well-defined principles. Here Icasiano incorporates African drum patterns in his playing and it seems as if Welch is trying to imitate a horrified horde of elephants.

That's how it keeps going. In total a trip of just under an hour in which a ripping sax and hypnotic drum beats always take on other forms. With a final catharsis that is already being used at the end of the penultimate 'Bends'. Producer was none other than Randall Dunn, well-known from his work at SUN O))) and Earth.

Phantom stimulating but then for informed listeners. In this case. Bad Luck is clearly the stranger to the Origin label that mainly deals in jazz that is more classical. You do not hear us complaining.