Steve Kimock Band - Eudemonic CD

Posted by: leeway | September 7th, 2005

So, I like axe-welders…here’s one who can truly be called The Man! Well, there’s a reason he was nicknamed Eu De Mon by his late friend, Doug Greene. These nine tracks are the first studio excursions of the Steve Kimock Band. Hard to believe it’s been five and a half years for this lineup and nary a studio track: Kimock on guitar, steel guitar, mandolin, ukulele, Rodney Holmes on drums, Alphonso Johnson on bass, Mitch Stein on guitar and Jim Kost on keys. Holmes also serves as Kimock’s co-producer, occasional writing partner and persistent sonic foil on track after track where tone and colors are applied with equal feel towards improvisational eudemonica.

After over 25 years, Kimock is extremely adept at finding a route and floating in and out of focus while staying out of the way of his gifted band mates. Case in point: the very first track, "Eudemon," buzzes along at six and a half minutes and appears to float and rotate in your headphones while Holmes and Kost get very aggressive in the engine room.

"The Bronx Experiment" slows the pace to include some of Kimock's most poignant Eastern phrases before escalating into power crunch chords you can feel crawling up your back. The quartet from "Bouncer" to "Elmer's Revenge" plays as a brilliant film within a film and is easily the highlight of the studio instrumental year, thus far. "One For Brother Mike," in particular, is the most played track in the Ray Abode, late 2005: warm, confident, romantic, tasty, absolute perfection. PLAY IT LOUD. On the twelve minute "Elmer's Revenge," the quintet explores as many different moods and time/space continuums as their instruments will allow. The meaty sound gels into a final fifteen minutes of pure SKB on "Moon People" and "Tongue n' Groove." Melodies are offered and abandoned, jams lifted, tilted and distinguished--Kimock in his element: every sound in its right place, every note urging the others to take flight. And they do.

-- Randy ray