The Necks – Chemist (2006)

The Necks‘ 2006 release Chemist is just like every other album the band has done. Then again, it’s completely original. Every release by this band is unmistakably The Necks. Each album completely improvised and organic.  
It just so happens that Chemist was my introduction and remains a personal favorite. The perfect safe-space to explore this bold, new and very human world.  

The Necks are a band addicted to the kind of innovation that other bands pretend to embrace, but they never seem to deliver. They dabble in a beautiful mix of jazz and avant-garde rock. These labels are somewhat helpful, but I could just as easily say that the record sounds like Steely Dan on a DMT-trip. Interesting to imagine, but what does the music sound like?! 

All three of the tracks here hover around the 20-minute mark. Giving the band ample opportunity to explore the motifs they have chosen to expand upon. At least that is what it would say in the instruction booklet. Because nothing really prepares for what is coming your way. The project starts to take a more unusual turn once the band members start along that chosen path. And the trio takes its time, letting you wait for the adventure to begin. 

It all starts with the buzz in the back of your neck. And then catch a glimpse to it in the corner of your eye. The hypontic rhythm of the music builds, but never as you would expect, instead, the structure of the music spirals and shifts around you. A blink of the eye later, and what you thought were repetitive musical constructs become complex staircases of swirling sound. Suddenly, this trio of musicians has turned into an enlightened voodoo orchestra of color and sound.
       
You should be prepared for the ride. On Chemist, the band explores beyond constraints of our conscious world, creating a magnificent, cinematic noise that isn’t jazz or space rock. The shading here is much more complex then these definitions allow. We are at the cross section of all styles and influences. Melding them together effortlessly with perfect flow and endless groove that is alive with ideas and innovation. Each track melting into the next. Effortlessly. Beautiful. Frightening. 

And if you listen closely you can hear some of the same explorative spirt that infused the 70s fusion via Herbie Hancock. Not in style or texture but in its willingness to challenge conformity and breakthrough orthodoxy. In the end all comparisons fall short and you are challenged to take your own trip on the vanguard. The Necks are far too fresh, original and progressive for any of those labels anyway. Chemist is a modern look into the possibilities of what music can become when music stops merely embracing multiple influences, styles or cultures. Instead creating new pathways into the real challenge of our world; creating music organically.
 
This is paramount; a spirit that can’t be created by the digital technology within your computer screen or cell phone. We surrender ourselves to those cold, oppressive tools every day. The Necks represent innovation with a bold human voice. Their music unfolds with genuine emotion that is conveying all of our humanity. Sometimes dark and foreboding. Other times joyous. This is a head-trip which reconnects with us intellectually, while maintaining our own soul and humanity. I really cannot imagine a more important goal for music in our time. 

Maybe you’re not sure modern music is capable of this lofty ambition? I challenge you to investigate The Necks discography. The evolution of music is an important part of human progress, our cognitive development. Even our sense of spirituality. Join the revolution.  

by Shawn Ciavattone