5 Style

5ive Style: Bill Dolan (guitar); Jeremy Jacobson (keyboards); Leroy Bach (bass); John Herndon (drums).
Personnel: Bill Dolan (guitar); Jeremy Jacobsen, Leroy Bach (keyboards); John Herndon (drums); Dan Bitney (percussion).
Audio Mixers: John McEntire; Casey Rice.
This is the debut by an instrumental ensemble that straddles several camps without falling squarely into any one. This Chicago quartet includes guitarist Bill Dolan, drummer John Herndon (also a member of Tortoise), bass player LeRoy Bach, and keyboardist Jeremy Jacobsen (who also performs and records as a one-man band under the Lonesome Organist moniker).
The 10 tracks are all heavily groove-oriented, but played in a very down-to-earth and rootsy manner. The songs also freely draw from assorted modernist sources, both in terms of compositional approaches and arrangement colors. 5ive Style's sound is like that of the Meters, but with more of a cosmic slant. The band also possesses a keen sense of dramatic tension that helps ensure that the set never falls into redundancy. What 5ive Style likes most to do is light a fire and run around it--"Hard Afro Rubalon" is driving and relentless, with "Deep Marsh" nipping at its heels.