Smack Band is far not a newcomer to the Ukrainian scene. It is worth mentioning, for example, that in 1993 in Ukraine Smack Band issued the first jazz disc. Or – our visitors may remember its joint experiment with
Kuzma Skryabin, which was embodied in the album
"Skryabinos Muchachos". Moreover, Smack Band offers the Latin American music that is its own, author-composed, and we don't have a lot of such jazz bands – the only one that immediately comes to mind is, probably,
Dislocados. Well, now for your attention – entirely new material. Good material – and not as ambiguous as one might have expected given the specialization. Actually, from the first seconds the strong stream of jazz-rock and fusion strikes – the Latin American component is first completely hidden. It emerges gradually, as if the balance is leveled – but folk-rock waves in the spirit of Jethro Tull also emerge, and then gestures toward the ambient and the Scandinavian electronic jazz, and that's far from being all... Everything together sounds, as we've said, rather ambiguous. But, actually, for this reason – it is definitely interesting to see the changes, development of the music in the album from one piece to another. For every next track – amazes with something new, makes one expect for continuation.
Vladislav Ponomarenko – bass, keyboards, vocals, percussion, programming
Liubov Belousova – vocals, percussion
Valery Ogorodnik – guitars
Anton Surmin – flute
Omar Belmonte – drums, percussion
David Fisher – trumpet, flugelhorn
Ignacio Montoya – trombone
Maximo Toffone – accordion
Inna Petliak – lead vocal (10)
Gena Ivchenko – flute, ney (13)
Pavel Bulak – organ (1)
