About Flagpole. (Athens, Ga.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (May 25, 2011)
Let ounnst, actors teach you topaint uimg a step-by-step technique lch IS 'nspirmg people aII over the world to Pick up a paint brush 'and „ ? m$piri " 9 peo P le a " over the take home ^sjrsss 1 thev * ? . ^Cimnd Opening June 2, 2011!! Check out oar other special offerings! Private Parties BacHelorette Parties Birthday Parties Sorority Parties Kidz Art Camps Bridal Events Saturday Kidz Classes ' ; For more information, visit us onftn 3061 Atlanta Highway, Suite A Athens, GA 30606 (706) 208-7337 wmv.sipsnstrokes.com 'Conveniently located next to the Omni Club (Westsidc) abc I Package ! Liquor Store Your One-Stop Full Service Liquor Store MAKE THEIR DEBUT B altimore/Washington, DC-based trio Les Rhinoceros' debut record conjures impossible propositions: a Bengali caught in a whirlpool down the river Nile, floating; Mr. Bungle in a state of fugue, composing free-form jazz abstractions instead of ADD pop songs. Close your eyes and you may find yourself transported into a film noir where you are driven to madness by the incessant mew of a choo-choo train. However, one impossibil ity not conjured up in these 12 sophisticated tracks of rockist jazz is the image of the 18-year-old wunderkind making them. Just out of Maryland's Wooton High School, multi-instrumentalist Michael Colton is the creative center of what, thus far, has been a rotating cast of musical alchemists. Joined by Peter Tran, 20, on guitar, and John Burner, 21, on drums, this will be the trio's first tour with its current line-up, and Les Rhinos' first in two years. Making what could be called a type of gypsy jazz, Les Rhinos play with a wide expanse of ideas, mixing Afro-Brazilian polyrhythms, musique concrete, electronics, spoken word, Vaudeville and Middle-Eastern sounds. "Les Rhinoceros is a mix of world music, noise, ambient, groove and jazz. Or you could just call it experimental," Colton says. Using "junk drums" and toys, Les Rhinos' instruments are as experimental as their instrumentation. "Our drummer John likes to go to hardware stores. He uses a lot of PVC pipes and metal, and we just hit them with sticks. We're also into children's toys like toy pianos and trains, and we have this Mr. Rogers doll... Really, anything that makes sounds, we'll run it through effects to make noise," says Colton. However, the greatest coup for the band is that its first album—the self-titled opus coming out later this month—will be released on Tzadik, the curatorial experimental label of legendary avant-garde composer John Zorn. In fact, after the band sent out demo tapes to various labels, Zorn himself emailed Les Rhinos five days later with the message: "AMAZING... I LOVE the music... ALL OF IT..." Each song on the album tells its own story, and titles match the sound of each song. Album opener "Whispering Intro" begins mini mally, setting the tone with warm saxophone and a sample of bird chirping. Midway, poetry chimes in: "As I reached a certain age, I real ized a fear of stress/ My feet left the ground and I floated into the air with no control/ Claustrophobic, dream, fear, a choking bosom, fear, I'm alright/ I'm alright." These words more or less outline Rhinos' agenda in sound: a playful looseness, reverie, the feeling of floating in space. It might be reductive to say—or perhaps too complimen tary—but Les Rhinoceros recall the expansive suites of cult Norwegian jazz group Food, as if infiltrated by the raucous Bristolian septet Fuzz Against Junk. This is to say: wow. Starting out as a simple bass and sax duo of high school friends, it is apparent that the still very young band is playing to a world of possibilities. An exciting improvisational tor rent of whimsy and rock in a laboratory, Les Rhinoceros' innovative tunes are fated to blow your mind. Colton's vision of his band is as wide open as its music: "I see Les Rhinoceros as me add ing people or taking away people, but with me still being the basis of it, and working around that... I've been talking to a friend of mine [about] coming into the band to play Moog [synthesizer], or adding another percussionist or taking away some instruments." Christopher Joshua Benton Feast of Epiphany WHERE: Farm 255 HOW MUCH: FREE! 16 FLAGPOLE.COM-MAY25, 2011
