The credits for
As Real as Thinking
proclaim that the album was "recorded live in the studio with no overdubs," although after listening to the leadoff track, the average listener might very well respond, "Really?"
Machine Mass Trio
are essentially a bass-less guitar-sax-drums electric jazz outfit, but "Cuckoo" sounds like a quartet at the very least, if not a quintet. Certainly, looping and electronics figure strongly in the group's approach, and yes, it's uncanny how a skilled group can use such devices these days to make itself seem larger than it really is. However, "Cuckoo" still remains a head scratcher given the band's lineup: guitarist
Michel Delville
, reedman
Jordi Grognard
, and drummer
Tony Bianco
. The tune stretches out to a nine-and-a-half-minute cruiser that remains subtly off-kilter given its ever-shifting bassline (but there is no bass, right?) and Rhodes-ish vamping (but there are no keyboards, right?), with enlivening, even agitated drumming from
Bianco
pushing the music ever forward. The underpinnings are both busy and electric
Miles
spacy, as
Grognard
blows strongly on tenor, his phrasing opening up to make room in the mix for the apparent rhythm section.
Delville
enters with a rock-ish solo, followed by some nice interplay with
as the number concludes -- and that rhythm section churns away throughout, or so it seems. Given the consistent backing behind the shifting engagements of
and
, amateur musical sleuths might conclude that drummer
's loops are responsible for the trio's mysterious lineup expansion; in any case, the results are far from repetitive, creating a flowing, full-band sound that seems remarkably organic.
The same approach is taken -- but with the bass sounding more synthy -- on "Hero," featuring
Hugh Hopper-esque
angularity and
facing off on bass clarinet against
's explorative soundscapes, and on "UFO-RA," whose inspiration seems obvious. The latter tune swings madly as guitarist
-- presumably -- makes like a crazed organist swirling around the keys and pitch bending with the start switch; the tune features a boppish head from
and unison guitar/sax work leading back to the theme's quick wrap-up. Notwithstanding these numbers, this group does not always mask its identity as a mere threesome, and indeed, the bass-less architecture of the
Paul Motian
/
Bill Frisell
Joe Lovano
trio would seem to inform "Knowledge" (with
asserting himself more like
Rashied Ali
than the subtle
Motian
), while the skronky "Let Go" could easily fit among the most heavy metal-ish tunes by
Hilmar Jensson
's guitar/sax/drums trio
Tyft
. And the lineup (but not the sound!) seems to shrink even further on the effects-laden 18-minute "Falling Up," at its core a guitar/drums duo improvisation with an antecedent in the
Nels Cline
Gregg Bendian
homage to
Coltrane
's (and
Ali
's)
Interstellar Space
. Meanwhile, "Khajurao" and "Palitana Mood" feature
playing bouzouki and
on bansuri flute over
's tumbling drums and the drone of
's "electronic tempura," offering interludes of pure cosmic float. ~ Dave Lynch