Naked Truth - Ouroboros (2012) CD-Rip

Naked Truth fuses the polyrhythmic electro-acoustic beats of King Crimson and Stickmen drummer Pat Mastelotto, the fuzz-inflected lines of electric bassist and producer Lorenzo Feliciati, and the jazz-informed textures of Fender Rhodes, Hammond B3 organ, piano and synthesizer player Roy Powell, and finally the unique voice of avant-jazz cornetist Graham Haynes. On Ouroboros, their second release, the members of Naked Truth push the envelope of contemporary electric instrumental music, an edgy blend of jazz, prog-rock, ambient music and electronica.

The opener, “Dust” pits aggressively driving rhythms from Feliciati and Mastelotto against the relaxed, ambient textures of Powell’s spacious piano and Haynes’ lyrical cornet work floating over the top in half-time. Atmospheric offerings like the lyrical “Orange” and the cinematic “Garden Ghosts” weigh in on the other side of the dynamic spectrum from the thunderous barrages of powerfully kinetic playing heard elsewhere on Ouroboros, as on the crunching, rock-edged “Dancing with the Demons of Reality” and the intense, syncopated backbeat number “In a Dead End with Joe.”

The slamming, upbeat “Right of Nightly Passage” sounds like electrified trumpeters Miles Davis and Jon Hassell sitting in with King Crimson, with Mastelotto providing an insistent undercurrent of “Thela Hun Jinjeet” styled drumming on the tom toms. Haynes’ muted and wah-wah-inflected cornet lines float ominously over Felicati’s bubbling bass lines and Mastelotto’s precision fills in the groove on “Yang Ming Has Passed”. The newest member of Naked Truth also provides some ethereal harmonized trumpet work on the sparsely appointed noirish closer, “Neither I,” that lends a chilling sense of mystery to the proceedings. A distinct feeling of search and discovery permeates every track on this adventurous renegade outing that defies genre categorization."