Who would have thought that prog rock, noise and free jazz would fit together quite so well? SMTK is a four piece that mixes them together like the ingredients of a fusion recipe that doesn’t seem like it should work on paper, but absolutely does in practice.
The drums started solid and math-y, the guitar was steady and anchoring, the bass provided the funk and the sax was the free x-factor sprinkled on top. When the band leant into the music and let themselves get wild the whole thing really started to shine, the sax taking the place of wailing vocals and the rest of the instruments building to their own tumultuous crescendos and decrescendos. Chaos was beginning.

About halfway through the set the band unleashed their real secret sauce… losing the guitar and just going for pure pedal noise madness. Just when the band’s schtick was starting to feel too comfortable the addition of some pure noise pushed the whole experience to the next level, the whole thing sounding like it was teetering on the brink of falling apart and that that’s where they were supposed to be. Big horns, big drums, big crunchy bass and lots of noise.

At this point the groove pockets were warped but still groovy, the songs were still songs if fairly frayed at the edges, and the band happily trudged on. The guitar came back more as an effect driven squeal, and the drums more of a thunderous driving force, the bass still injecting punctuated grooves, and all watched over by the banshee sax. Madness, but orchestrated madness. One open note: don’t let vocalists tie you down, guys.