There's not much I can tell you about this British duo with the weird name VIVAHEAD. On the handwritten note that came with this 9-track CD it says the line-up consists of one guy on a laptop and another on ‘vocal and bird calls'. This is probably not going to be your standard rock'n'roll record.

The first track called "Artism Part One (Away)" sounds like an intro to something by SOFT MACHINE. Of course I'm assuming they're really gonna cut loose on the following tracks but both track 2 and 3 sound like intros to something by GENTLE GIANT. Apparently VIVAHEAD play a kind of minimalist prog. A sound that's quite enjoyable once you get used to it. It isn't until track 4 that a dance beat and vocals set in and we get something that's pretty close to an actual song. The melodies are mostly very prog/jazz rock/fusion-orientated, which means they're too up-front for the music to become ambient or muzak. This strong emphasis on melody combined with a very limited instrumental vocabulary (i.e. a laptop) sometimes brings to mind the work of RYUICHI SAKAMOTO and his early band YELLOW MAGIC ORCHESTRA (for those who don't know ‘em, they were a kind of avant-garde KRAFTWERK).

Sometimes VIVAHEAD get a bit too weird for their own good I think. They probably had a lot of fun recording tracks like "Weird Goggles" and the goofy cartoon music of "Causeway Brigadiers", but I can't say I enjoy listening to all that blatant sonic silliness. The proggy stuff more than makes up for it though. An interesting little record for people who like their prog without Roger Dean and dry ice.

- Van Hoften

OFFICIAL SITE: myspace.com/vivahead

RELATED ITEMS: No related articles at this time.