Ampledeed - Byob

Ampledeed are one of the most mind-blowing Progressive Rock trio’s to come out of California that released their second album this year entitled Byob. I’ve always wanted to check their music out for a good while and I’ve heard some samples of their music and was completely blown away right from the very start. From the moment that my earbuds went into my ears, I knew straight away I had to buy some of the music right from the get-go.

The band formed back in 2011 that would perform late night jam sessions at Cal Arts College in Southern California which consider Aaron Goldich, Max Taylor, and Luis Flores. They would perform in various sections between the practice rooms, dance studios, art studios, or the main gallery in where the trio would get away to play obscene loud music and work on their skills. They released their debut album back in 2013 entitled A is for Ampledeed.

And soon, they received word-of-mouth and attention the prog community here in the States and around the world in different regions. As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve heard some of the samples of the music and I ordered it straight away from the Kinesis website. There are 11 tracks on here and it clocks in at 58 minutes. And from the moment I put the CD on for Byob on my old portable CD player, I knew it this was going to be one of my favorite bands right from the get-go. The album’s title means Bring Your Own Booze (BYOB)

Canterbury, Prog-Pop, Ascending Melodies, and at times Symphonic, it’s all there! And man can Ampledeed bring the music to a standstill. I can hear the twist between early Genesis, early Floyd, and Harry Nilsson through flowing beauty structure on Garden Gnomes. I love what Luis Flores brings into his guitar as he gives the soundscapes in the midsection in the realms of Dark Side of the Moon that comes to mind with a hope to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Opener, Triple Cancer Moon is a combination between male and female vocal arrangements in the styles of MoeTar’s music as tempos get mid-fast thanks to the keyboard styles between Organ and Synth. It changes as they go into time-changing rapid yet fierce midsection instrumental part as it goes through a speeding various momentum on where they would head into next.

It feels like we are inside the patient’s mind on what they are going through and the music and lyrics sets the tone of what is happening to them. At the end, it gets darker with heavy guitar riffs and synths setting to see what will happen next through the difficult time signatures in an ominous tone.  

My Plane sounds like a thumping piano rock up tempo groove in the styles of the Beatles Sgt. Pepper-era while I Wil Not Wait which features Ally Taylor on vocals, nailing those beautiful arrangements as the piece has some of the Canterbury elements thrown in there in the style of Egg’s Dave Stewart in which both Taylor and Goldich pay homage to.

But it’s On My Mind the Gap for Kids in the Hall of Fame by Fame in which Max Taylor goes into this soundscape on the Rhodes with a surreal eerie atmosphere. The closer Muffin Man, in which they pay tribute to John Howard’s Kid in a Big World-era with it’s late ‘60s psychedelic-pop and glam-like intro before delving into an orchestral adventure that show gentle and wonderful brainstorming ideas with the pop approach that nail down on what is on here.

I love what is on here. They bring onto the Kitchen table with the Progressive and Psychedelic approaches very well and I highly recommend checking their music. If you love bands like the Beatles, Genesis, Harry Nilsson, and MoeTar, Ampledeed is the band to explore through the cosmos.