Customer Reviews

Process

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Process is an excellent pop album, slick, seamless, exquisitely produced, yet still containing the wild energy that characterizes all of Brave Combo's albums and live appearances. The Process is somewhat of a departure for Brave Combo, a band known for its incredible musical range and devotion to a variety of musical styles, including cha-cha, waltz, rhumba, cumbia, salsa, merengue, guaguanco, ska, conjunto, and, of course, polka. Those musical influences are still there, but sublimated. The song, not the style, has finally taken primacy.

The Process is further proof that Brave Combo and do anything, and is a good introduction to the fun and crazed world of Brave Combo.

Brave Combo is best known as a polka band on speed. They caught the main-stream polka world by storm with their first Grammy on their third nominations for Polkasonics. The Process is a departure from polka but thats ok because BC can do it all. Great album from a band that gives a new meaning to alternative. BC is one of the best live bands around today.

I don't normally think of Brave Combo as a popular music group, but one component of their musical genius is their ability to take a style and run with it -- playing music in any genre and making it sound as if this is their specialty. So it is with "The Process" -- lots of variety, trending towards pops, but all well-executed, all enjoyable. And, no, they didn't forget to throw in at least one "Tex-Mex" piece!

Most folks are familiar with Brave Combo as a modern-day accordion-driven polka-playing band: a cult band. On The Process, they have apparently joined the "re-engineering" movement, dropping the accordion and emphasizing their singing as much as their playing. The end result is something like They Might Be Giants, but without TMBG's manic, Pythonesque sense of humor. The net result is one of those CDs that sometimes sounds kind of fun, but at other times sounds kind of stupid. For this kind of music, I prefer TMBG, but still, The Process is kind of fun, even if it is kind of stupid. Sound quality is adequate but no better than that. A near-miss overall.