Review: Shadow Puppets by Instrumental Humans

My online acquaintance (via Instagram) was kind enough to send me a Bandcamp download code for his latest creation, Shadow Puppets.

As the band name may imply, this is an instrumental album. And that includes all types of instruments. The album falls into that progressive-but-avante garde window of music.

Busy compositions, but not sterile. Even though I assume, potentially incorrectly,  these are mostly computer-programmed compositions, they have a life all their own. I take no issue with that. Zappa did that way back in the day with the Synclavier. I guess that’s what you do when you can’t find musicians to play your work. Or more relevant, you can’t afford to pay musicians to play your compositions.

Shadow Puppets definitely has an upbeat feel due to some of the fast paced runs. I dig the way tracks are crafted with short bursts of notes that also give it a moderately sounding tempo. It creates an interesting rhythm and juxtaposition. It also has a crisp sound, as you can hear the instruments and nothing is out of place. I can contrast this with my music, as I will intentionally leave in noise that happens.

Sound is one of the main things for me. And this album kind of thumps the Zappa-esque button for me. It makes me think of The Big Squeeze or Basement Music #1. Nothing boring about it.