ALBUM REVIEW: Spaghetti Eastern Music - Two Bass Hit
“Each song at one point or another showcases every band member’s near-virtuosic level of playing.”
Some albums you can pick out, put on and have the music wash over you in easily digestible bits of audio. Others require a deeper dive and a devoted listen to fully appreciate what the artist created. Spaghetti Eastern Music’s latest release, Two Bass Hit, falls squarely into the latter category.
Spaghetti Eastern Music is led by Sal Cataldi, guitarist and effects extraordinaire. The concept of the record is an interesting one: Two bass players — Tomaso Semioli and Jeff Keithline — interweave grooves that are built on by Cataldi or supported by Michael Drazen on drums.
Stick with the instrumental record for a bit and you’ll start hearing the chaos reveal itself as complex polyrhythms and organized jams. Each song at one point or another showcases every band member’s near-virtuosic level of playing.
The opening track, “Foster’s Phunk,” is hypnotic and swelling. There are times when the music feels a bit dizzying due to the sheer number of overlapping musical layers. Nevertheless, the band remains locked in as the grooves outlined by the basses and drums make for a solid foundation. Over this bedrock of sound, Cataldi takes frequent guitar solos.
This hypnotic sense is a throughline of the record. Tunes like “Dance of the Vampire Cheerleaders” help to establish a sinisterly lulling aesthetic to the soundscape, while “(Don’t Fear) The Weeper” creates a ballad texture that evokes sorrow in the listener. A lot of that texture is due to Cataldi’s use of the EBow.
One of the biggest changeups in sound occurs in the tune “Going to Goa,” track six. Cataldi utilizes an electric sitar — the sound that permeates countless hits of the ‘60s and ‘70s — to perform a series of blisteringly fast lead lines. It’s this particular listener’s highlight of the record.
Whether it’s Cataldi’s soaring guitar lines, Semioli’s and Keithline’s melodic bass lines or Drazen’s syncopated, locked-in drum grooves, there isn’t one player that takes a backseat. Each player sits perfectly within their own role.
Even if the jams do extend a bit long in places, there are several times throughout the record when the music creates an atmosphere that would serve as an excellent backdrop for a David Lynch flick. This record takes some investment to get to the heart of the creativity, but the passion produced by Spaghetti Eastern Music will be felt immediately.
To check out the album, click here.
