Just a Vibration offers a unique blend of Indian music and traditional brass band. Featuring 27 members of the Huddersfield based Hammonds Saltaire Band, Shri Sriram on bass guitar and vocals, Jasdeep Singh Degun on sitar, Marc Layton-Bennett on drums, special guest Jason Yarde on baritone saxophone and conductor Morgan Griffiths...

Probably the best way of describing what Just a Vibration is all about should be left to Shri Sriram: "Just A Vibration uses a music vocabulary created out of brass and Indian classical concepts which has its own syntax, pronunciation and accent. One track on the album, 'Tanpura', is based on the tanpura itself: a four-stringed Indian drone instrument which is then translated to the four-part harmony of brass; another, 'Chakradhar for Brass', is based on a complex tabla piece and some filmic Wagner/Bollywood style drama. The sitar fits in as if it always belonged in a brass band."

What elevates this album is the way that Shri delivers so many genres with genres. We start off with something that shouldn't work; traditional Indian music mixed with the sound of the North of England (brass bands). This in itself is both a work of genius and a beautiful melding of two wonderful musical worlds. But not content with stopping there, Shri ensures that each track takes us on a completely new journey.

So we have the beautiful, almost meditative 'Tanpura'; the rock-based action adventure theme at the core of 'Urgency' (this is probably the best example of Indian instruments and a brass band working in harmony); the jazz-fuelled 'Gully Jazz'; and the laid back lounge music of 'Bass Melody'.

There's plenty to love here; this is not a throwaway novelty album, Shri's music will hypnotise you. If you're looking for a new sound then you've found it here.

10

Darren Rea