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**Frownland** · 03-28-2013, 12:29 AM

I've listened to the album again, so here are my belated thoughts.

When I was listening to Kef, I initially thought that the guitarist Marc Ribot was playing the guitar part. However, this was incorrect. The guitarist (Aram Bajakian) has an extraordinarily similar style to Ribot, and I was hoping that the album would go beyond Ribot worship. Fortunately, Ribot is one of my favourite guitarists and the Ribot worship is lauded, even if it comes with the distaste of something that sounds so fresh ending up to have a stale sound.

Luckily the album progresses and the song "Karasalama" lets Bajakian's unique style seep in without seeming like an attempt to emulate Ribot. It clearly takes a skilled musician to play some of these songs, some of which are damn catchy.

When I first gave the album a listen, it sounded as if John Zorn had a hand in this album due to the similar sound quality to Book of Angels and the Klemzerish style of it all. Considering that this album was released on Zorn's label Tzadik, isn't it odd since Ribot is the house guitarist for Tzadik records. Maybe Ribot was one of the leading influences on the album, possibly?

The bass is fun, unique and refrains from creating much cacophony. There were a few songs where I thought that the textures of the instrument didn't quite fit together that I noted when I first listened to the album, but when I listened to it again, I found that they blend together quite nicely. Hopefully Kef can be a group on a John Zorn series similar to Book of Angels, which this sounds like to me.

Overall I'd say that it's a good album, although it did take a little time to warm up to it. Now I feel as if it's something that I would make if I played with a middle eastern based bassist. 7/10

03-28-2013, 12:29 AM	#13 (permalink)
Frownland SOPHIE FOREVER Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: East of the Southern North American West Posts: 35,548	I've listened to the album again, so here are my belated thoughts. When I was listening to Kef, I initially thought that the guitarist Marc Ribot was playing the guitar part. However, this was incorrect. The guitarist (Aram Bajakian) has an extraordinarily similar style to Ribot, and I was hoping that the album would go beyond Ribot worship. Fortunately, Ribot is one of my favourite guitarists and the Ribot worship is lauded, even if it comes with the distaste of something that sounds so fresh ending up to have a stale sound. Luckily the album progresses and the song "Karasalama" lets Bajakian's unique style seep in without seeming like an attempt to emulate Ribot. It clearly takes a skilled musician to play some of these songs, some of which are damn catchy. When I first gave the album a listen, it sounded as if John Zorn had a hand in this album due to the similar sound quality to Book of Angels and the Klemzerish style of it all. Considering that this album was released on Zorn's label Tzadik, isn't it odd since Ribot is the house guitarist for Tzadik records. Maybe Ribot was one of the leading influences on the album, possibly? The bass is fun, unique and refrains from creating much cacophony. There were a few songs where I thought that the textures of the instrument didn't quite fit together that I noted when I first listened to the album, but when I listened to it again, I found that they blend together quite nicely. Hopefully Kef can be a group on a John Zorn series similar to Book of Angels, which this sounds like to me. Overall I'd say that it's a good album, although it did take a little time to warm up to it. Now I feel as if it's something that I would make if I played with a middle eastern based bassist. 7/10 __________________ Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth. d e a f b o x Last edited by Frownland; 03-31-2013 at 08:19 AM.