Do you like Latin jazz? Reggae? Dub? Dub Reggae? If the answer is yes to two or more of any of these categories, then you would do well to check out De Facto’s album, Megaton Shotblast; what I can only describe as a flash funkedelic freeride through groovin’ beats laced with Latin pizzazz. If that description helps at all. Made up of members of the rock/techno group, The Mars Volta, plus a few friends, these guys define eclectic. That mother group was an already diverse and innovating band, and the member additions have only broadened De Facto’s horizons. The intersecting vectors of musical influence and cultural background form an impressive pedigree for the group, and the different styles blend together, if not completely seamlessly, enough so that Megaton Shotblast is a thumpingly fun listen.
Dropping names that are obvious influences isn’t easy, due to the unique style of the band, but vague parallels can be drawn. If Death in Vegas and Modesky, Marten and Wood got together and did the Bossa Nova, they’d be falling in step with Defacto. If The Buena Vista Social Club and The Philadelphia Experiment had an orgy of cross-cultural musicianship, De Facto would be the demented love child. Of course, none of that adequately describes the group’s style, but it’s a start. Nearly every song has electronic beats laid behind it, ranging from a drum n’ bass, to hip-hop, to a more house-ish sound, but the group also doesn’t shy from using organic instruments, inclraseg actual percussion instruments and bass. There are Dub aspects to the music, but the inside jacket makes a special case of mentioning that no samples are used on the album, so, every interlude, dub, break, weird instrument or distorted sound effect is pure De Facto. After one good listen to the album, one can understand that that is a decent accomplishment right there. But the range of additional instruments is impressive. It couldn’t be jazz-fusion without guitar, piano, and brass on top of the percussion and bass, now could it? But the wacky experimentation doesn’t end there. Yes, that is an accordion you will hear on several tracks, and there is a hint of mouth-harp (I’m pretty sure anyway) on “Manual Dexterity.” Combine this musical breadth with De Facto’s exemplary use of distortion and sound effects and you have an incredibly innovative group putting out some mind addling jams.
The best part is that the aesthetic quality of the music comes off smooth and natural, as if this music is just the logical extension of a few previous genres. The piano solos in a Central American Jazz vein on “Descarga De Facto” meld wonderfully with the funk inspired bass and the drumkit background beat for a refreshing taste of something old and new. “Fingertrap” does the same thing for brass solos and intricate conga beats obviously inspired by Latin jazz; they fade in and out with the groups DJ doing some hardcore experimentation with his toys. The real showpiece of the album is the ten minute second track, “Cordova,” where an ethereal electronic beginning leads to a dub reggae intro which ultimately gives way to a jazz/funk ride through the realm of psychedelia with outstandingly bumpin’ piano, bass, and guitar riffs as the conductors.
De Facto is not afraid to experiment electronically on this album, and that’s a mixed blessing. As I’ve been spewing so far, the strange effects, and intricate beats often gel with the other musical influences in a very pleasing fashion, but the last few tracks tend to favor weirdness over musicality, and the overall sound seems to suffer. The album seems to be a long conceptual jam session between several friends who all have their own projects, and it’s a damn good jam. But “Thick Vinyl Plate” and “Coaxial” sound like the creators kept their own creative endeavors in mind more than that of the listener. These last few songs shift between relatively uninspired electronic weirdness and beats or riffs that sounded cool when they occurred the first time or two on the album.
Even when this album is being stale, though, I’d still rather be listening to it than a lot of other stuff out there. The end of the album isn’t bad, just a little bland compared to the first half, but it’s at least suitable to turn on for background while on the computer or reading. Taking that into account with the extremely strong start of the album, and the redeeming last track, “Rodche Defects” (one of the only songs to demonstrate what are clearly lyrics), Megaton Shotblast is an original, fun, eclectic and soulful way to spend an hour. Anyone with a broad range of taste and an open mind to musical tradition meeting the new era head on ought to give this album a try.
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