Piano trio The Bad Plus have garnered glowing accolades with imaginative, jazzy renditions of Aphex Twin, Blondie, and Radiohead cuts -- and while their forthcoming record Prog caters tothe cover lovers (including "Everybody Wants To Rule The World," "Life On Mars," and a killer take on Rush's "Tom Sawyer"), their compositional (and comping) skills are impressing our ears this week. Take "Physical Cities," a nine-plus minute opus of ascending piano arpeggios; lush, slow-morphing tempo shifts; and balls-out open-hat rock grooves.
The Bad Plus - "Physical Cities" (MP3)
Chew on the displaced beats and odd-timed monotone vamps, and we'll get ya a listen of one of those covers soon.
Prog is out 5/8 on Heads Up.
