Machine Mass - Inti

Now for me, I’ve always admired of what Michel Delville has done with bands and projects like; DouBt, The Wrong Object, and of course, Machine Mass. Well, the group are back for seconds with the follow up to 2011’s As Real as Thinking, to their new album Inti. Alongside with Michel Delville and drummer Tony Bianco, they brought along saxophonist Dave Liebman, who worked with jazz legends like; Chick Corea, Miles Davis, and Elvin Jones.

Once you put the album on, you are about to experience something magical and hypnotic at the same time the moment the opening title track begins. It has this wonderful improvisation between Bianco and Liebman as they pay homage to John Coltrane’s Acknowledgement from A Love Supreme for the first few seconds as Dave just takes it out of the ball park with his shining tribute to Coltrane himself by doing these insane improvisations as if the master himself is watching him and being proud of him before going into an ominous fusion-sque surrealism as Delville’s guitar fly into space in the styles of Robert Fripp.

Meanwhile on Centipede, Delville is doing this fast string bass walk along with the virtuoso guitar work as Liebman and Bianco go at it and at times its almost this bizarre combination of the Soft Machine’s Third-era by creating the tension and the vibrations as well. The band give a chance for Dave Liebman to take center stage as he does his solo work with fast-driven tempo as if they are performing it back in 1973 to a mind-blowing crowd with jaws dropped to see what would happen next.

They go into the sounds of ‘70s Funk-Fusion with some cool smoothing beats in the night-time sky for some relaxation on Lloyd while going into the sounds of the Indian and traditional Japanese music thanks to Delville’s Flute introduction on his take of Miles Davis’ In a Silent Way. Michel goes through the first two minutes and nineteen seconds for an ambient/atmospheric vibrations featuring sitar, middle-eastern guitar sound, swirling percussion touches, and the sax howling at the moon to play all through into the evening and straight for the sun coming up by the right moment.

The 12-minute avant and droning twists on Elisabeth and Utoma, is Tony Bianco’s chance to go hypnotic on the drums by going through various patterns as if it could have been used during the sessions for Pink Floyd’s Ummagumma and for The Grand Vizer’s Garden Party as the surrealism between woodwind and the electronics of spacey yet moody atmospheres, gets the solar systems all hooked into the controls towards the milky way.

Machine Mass have a relaxation to take a break from their loud compositions as guest vocalist Saba Tewelde, comes in with a gently yet calming voice with her vocalizations to give a relaxation, is a touching and innovative composition as Michel helps her out with some wonderful creative ideas on his guitar to follow her voice wherever he lands between the notes on The Secret Place.

The homage to the Mahavishnu Orchestra comes in full swing as Dave Libman and Michel go at it again on the ominous along with bass and synth booming sounds on the chord tones with A Sight. And then more of the same vibes of the threatening vibes come into full swing on the closer, Voice. This time, the band are combined into one as they go through into darker territories, shrieking voices in their instruments as Blanco is going into the city with the coolness on his drum patterns.

I have listened to Inti about four times already and I have to say, I’m impressed and pleased of what I was hearing. Machine Mass are one of my favorite bands from the Moonjune label. There’s a lot of Free-Jazz, Avant-Rock, Atmospheric sounds from what comes on here and they have come into the light and have shown a lot of what is about to come. I can’t wait to hear what Michel Delville has up his sleeves for the years to come with his other projects and this is a must have album if you admire the Soft Machine, King Crimson, Miles Davis, and John Coltrane, this is it!