Come in Red Dog, This Is Tango Leader [live]

by Sean WestergaardCome in Red Dog, This Is Tango Leader was the first recorded meeting of eight-string wunderkind Charlie Hunter and master drummer/composer Bobby Previte, but it went so well that they decided to make an ongoing project of it called Groundtruther where the two of them play with a rotating third member (similar to Samm Bennett and Tom Cora's Third Person). However, this is just the two of them and although the album was "recorded live as all get out, baby," it's sometimes difficult to believe. Charlie Hunter is pretty well known for sounding like more than one person on his eight-string guitar, but Bobby Previte's electronic hybrid drum set allows him to do much the same thing with triggered samples. Previte's got an unreal setup, with a wild set of assorted sounds and triggers, and apparently the ability to manipulate them on the fly while continuing to keep the beat! It's an odd and wonderful mixture of drums, cymbals, sampled vocals and who-knows-what that is both highly entertaining and highly musical. And once you latch on to Hunter's simultaneous basslines and leads, it's hard to fathom that Previte is totally responsible for the rest of the music. Charlie Hunter's various projects have always been fun, but Previte's palette of sounds substantially ups the loopy quotient and gives this project a charm all its own. Fans of either musician should check this out, as should anyone interested in a groovy, quirky good time.