Hanging Gardens

Fantastic group and equality amazing music. I do recommend to everyone who appreciate the musicdeep enough..

For the uninitiated, The Necks are an Australian trio of Chris Abrahams (keyboards), Tony Buck (drums) and Lloyd Swanton (bass) and this is their seventh album, but the first to be released in the UK. It was recorded in 1996 and released in Australia in 1999. The Necks specialise in hour-long improvised pieces, but unlike most improvised music there's a regular pulse, plenty of space and the harmonies are more 'in' than 'out'.Normally The Necks' pieces build up with one instrument joining in after the other. This one springs into life with a piano chord, 16-beat pattern on cymbals and hi-hat and a wheezing Hammond Organ in the background. Over the first 7 minutes various themes (a low piano motif, an echoing bass note) are introduced which are gradually played more and more frequently until the snare drum kicks in and the Hammond comes to the fore. Around the 20-minute mark first chord reappears in a new theme. It all seems so logical that it's hard to believe that this is improvised.Hanging Gardens ebbs and flows like an orchestral piece; halfway through they've stripped everything back to the bare minimum, yet within 10 minutes we're treated to a swirling organ solo and Abrahams' trade mark trilled single notes on the piano. The constant trance-like beat is reminiscent of Dance music, but all this is achieved without a click track or computer-generated loops.This music belies description as it works on so many levels. Initially the repetition can put the listener on edge, but gradually you get sucked in, and the tiniest changes sound like seismic shifts. It's not a difficult listen but does repay patience; there's nothing out there that sounds quite like this and each listen reveals something new. Totally recommended!

I came across the Necks CD rather belatedly, although I was familiar with Chis Abrahams , the bands keyboards player, who relased an album on Australian label Hot in the mid 80's.Put simply if you want 'A Silent Way' for the noughties, this is it! . The classic Miles Davis album, which to my ears was quite unlike anything he'd done before and certainly Miles never did anything quite like it again, is a stunning piece of music which sadly no one attempted to develop, until this album came along.Although the good folks at Wire magazine and their UK distributor and label ReR would cringe at the description this is some of the most amazinging chill out music I've ever heard, being both hypnotic and dream-like.Fans of The Cinematic Orchestra's new album (Everyday) should try this out immediately!

I saw the Necks in concert at a club in Leeds recently and this album sort of sums up the kind of experience you have when you listen to them. The music ebbs and flows and kind of goes out of your awareness from time to time but these guys are looking for small rewards in their audience. This is just good music which does not make a pretence to be political or revolutionary. It just is. The fact that this album is just one long track may make some think of prog rock or exprimental music or Tangerine Dream or whoever but it really is unlike all those things. Its jazz but played in an unassuming way - its not self referential or showing off. I think these guys are just trying to play at this moment in time and saying to the listener - if you like this appreciate it if not, then not.This music is a good reflection of what's missing from the mainstream at the moment. Just people in love with the idea of playing and wanting others to enjoy that. Very much recommended.