 

Stripsearch: Stripsearch(CD;48:11)

Stripsearch is a band on the Magna Carta label.
According to its press release, the band is comprised
of Mike Elizondo on bass, Josh Freese on drums, Michael
Ward on guitar, with Jason Freese on saxophone. When I
saw this CD in my review pile and saw the Magna Carta
label I figured - "Cool - progressive rock".

Imagine my surprise.  

Let's see - how shall I begin... What is the best way
 to describe this CD? The soundtrack to our sun going
nova? Dissonant, cacophonous - that comes to mind, but
that's just me. It was hard to tell one "song" from
another, much less find a coherent musical idea within.
In fact, some of their song names are rather descriptive
of the music ("El Terrible" and "Hands of Stone" come to
mind right away).  It's too bad I didn't have this CD
handy when I was destroying my old concrete walkway with
a sledgehammer; it would have fit right in! 

There were two songs I did grudgingly enjoy  - “The
Mongoose”, as it was the closest to fusion for me. In fact,
it actually reminded me of the Tony Williams Lifetime with
John McLaughlin - at times. The "Motor City Cobra" also
had that late sixties fusion vibe. Unfortunately these
moments were few and far between.

This CD is only for the musically adventurous who like
their music raw and unstructured.  Proceed with caution.

~Mark J. Rabuffo, EER-Music.com