What is Fob? The name of the cat wearing a necktie pictured on the cover of this CD? (No, his name is Puck.) Let's try the dictionary...
fob
TRANSITIVE VERB:
Inflected forms:fobbed, fob·bing, fobs
Archaic To cheat or deceive (another).
You won't feel cheated or deceived my Mr. Brady (or Puck) as you listen to Fob, though. Instead, you will be captivated by this remarkably elusive, mercurial, and enigmatic musical personality.
Geoffrey Brady has performed in many varied groups over the years: from the manic klezmer-punk band Yid Vicious, to the laundromat-touring prog-rock/jazz collective Yammer, to the hedonistic sonic terrorists The Disposable Art Ensemble, to the (apparently) straight-laced Madison Symphony Orchestra. Fob, however, affords us a rare opportunity to hear Mr. Brady solo — and I mean completely solo: he composed all of the music and even plays all of the instruments.
Those instruments include keyboards, theremin, and drumset, but it's Geoffrey's vibraphone playing that impresses most and takes center stage here. While the vibes can sound tinny and bland in less skilled hands, Geoffrey coaxes rich, shimmering, expressive, and complex tones from his instrument - whether in dreamy, mysterious meditations such as "Dollars to Doinas" and "Re-Designed for Further Suffering" or playing restless, angular tunes like "Fly, Giant Robot, Fly!" and the title track (of sorts), "Fob, Fobbing, Fobbed." It goes without saying that Mr. Brady at the vibraphone is clearly a major force to be reckoned with.
Brady's compositional style seems to have absorbed influences as diverse as Varese, Coltrane, Sun Ra, and Led Zeppelin, yet he establishes an original voice while seamlessly alternating between "written out" and improvisational passages so well that you often can't distinguish between the two.
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