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SurfGuitar101 Forums » Music Reviews »

Permalink Tikiyaki 5-O "Tone Control" EP review

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Tikiyaki 5-O
Tone Control EP

Tone Control is the second EP from Tikiyaki 5-O, the rock unit and more portable version of the Tikiyaki Orchestra. It’s all instrumental, and the guitar tones are clean and wet so it should appeal to fans of surf music, but this is not a surf album. The vibraphone and tropical percussion of the Orchestra are missing, but the juicy flavors in the chord progressions and atmospherics take the songs far beyond the pale. The EP has six songs and starts off with three originals.
I’ve probably listened to El Atacor a few hundred times at this point, and I’m still not sick of it. It’s the heaviest hitter here with a compact arrangement and a severe twang on the guitar. The verse alternates between staccato picking and legato vibrato dips. I can’t help but think about Jim Bacchi’s metal past as I listen to this one, though I know he’s really holding back from where he could have gone. He’s a “taste" guy now.
Sidewinder was written by Brian Kassan, the keyboard player, and starts with menace but the verse is singable and then the chorus turns round with a series of major 7th chords to lighten the mood. The bridge floats through an intricate dual guitar harmony and then rides the major 7ths through the outro.
Leave the Gun is the second Jim Bacchi original and as the name suggests, carries the intrigue of a spy on spy romantic interlude. There’s the moody set up, a hopeful turnaround, and then the ticking bomb throughout the breakdown reveals that the affair will be short lived. The ambivalence of the last chord leaves the story line hanging.
The last three songs are covers. John Barry’s theme for The Ipcress File is ripe for a Tikiyaki recipe, the spy sound owned by the harmonic minor scale which plays Jim’s chorused guitar melody against tense, modulation wheel heavy keyboards and chilling harpsichord backing. Laika & the Cosmonauts did a similar version, but T5O’s version is more focused.
Then they drop the bomb with a cover of McCartney’s “Eleanor Rigby” though it’s retitled and significantly reworked as Elenor Bigsby here. Vamping on the riff and groove to Pipeline, when the familiar and iconic melody comes in, it’s a jarring and perfect juxtaposition. Don’t most early surf bands site the emergence of the Beatles as the reason surf music died? Why not reclaim it, and add a little “Penetration” into the mix as well.
A taste of Exotica returns in the straight forward cover of Podolar’s “The Quiet Surf”. They’ve slowed it to a gentle crawl augmented with bongos, bird calls, crashing tides and cymbal swells for atmosphere. I keep thinking I’m having a reverie in an opium den, with an occasional lucid thought that I know I’ll never act on. If you loop this song, be prepared to spend afternoon doing nothing.
Jonpaul Balak and Pablo Baza are a tight and educated rhythm section. Brian Kassan's keyboard palette is varied and appropriate for each song (he also plays guitar.) Jim Bacchi is a fearless producer and this album is a satisfying diversion that will continue to surprise with repeated listenings.

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Great review Ferenc. Thank you.
These guys can do no wrong in my book.
Buy everything by them and the full orchestra.

Jeff(bigtikidude)

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