Artist: Liquid Casing
Title: A Separate/Divide
Label: self released
Genre: Rock/Progressive Rock/Post-Punk
Review by Dawoud Kringle
With the first chords of “A Path of Footprints Forged in the Midnight Sun,” the opening track of A Separate/Divide, Liquid Casing goes for the throat.
Liquid Casing is Alvaro Rodriguez (guitar and vocals), Jim Stettner (bass and vocals), Okikiolu Olufokunbi (sax, keys and percussion), and John Pitale (drums, gongs and sounds). Tracing their roots as a group to Corpus Christi, TX c. 1992, they released several albums since their humble beginnings (Void Lenses, 1997, Exiting the Infinite Corridor, 1999, The Sun, After the Great Uproar, 2001, Storm the Palace EP, 2004, How Do You Give a Name to the Unexplainable? 2004, and Empty Sparkling Light, 2007). The band survived years of gigs, lineup changes, and the usual trials and tribulations life tends to impose upon those chosen by fate to be musicians.
The next track, “Alambrista,” begins with backwards instrumentals that explodes into a jagged combination punch of riffs over which a saxophone takes a solo. This backs off into a syncopated groove that returns and releases its violence. All the time, the saxophone is floating above the maelstrom with an uncentered disregard for the syncopated chaos and ever changing landscape raging and dissolving around it. It all works quite well.
Other interesting offerings include “For a Memory Erased”, which leads the listener through a labyrinth of bravely confronted nightmarish imagery, “Non-Linear Solution” that guides along a slowly intensifying groove, and ends with spacey synth pads, “Checkpoints and Borders,” a dirge that fools you into thinking it will either become a ballad or blast into power chords, but evolves on its own moody introspection, “An End to a Means” with its occasional nods to free jazz (thanks to Okikiolu‘s deceptively incongruous saxophone solos) which ends with a ghostly sampled speech, and the title track which gives the impression of struggle with a variety of conflicting elements that wish to unite, and need these musicians to show them how it’s done.
To my ears, Liquid Casing has taken up the gauntlet that was thrown down by groups such as Tool, Godspeed You, The Mars Volta, and Rage Against the Machine; all the while disregarding the allure of following in any one’s footsteps. The fierce determination to forge their own unique musical path is obvious even to a casual listen. The tracks on this latest release all display a variety of compositional and performance skills; and each track offers something new and interesting. Their music does not follow the formulaic concept of metal/progressive rock/punk. They seem more concerned with drama, texture, and melodic inventiveness. Their veteran skills, determination, and world wisdom is evident in their music.
