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“From the rich percussive grooves of the short opener Mo’ Drums, this live set from the Martha’s Vineyard-based sextet positively exudes energy and good vibes. The band has a big, joyous sound that reflects its underlying flair as reggae, Latin, and African rhythms find their way into a myriad of textures. Strong hooks are laced with great vocals and crisp guitar work, but it’s the band’s rhythmic power and vocals that are its strong points. They demonstrate this in the 11-minute Mother Street, which begins with an almost Bo Diddley beat before sauntering off into more complex textures. Other standouts on this vibrant album are the fast-paced Dancin’ in the Light and the infectious title cut with its jazz-meets-reggae groove.”
Mick Skidmore, , Relix Magazine
“Live: Volume 1, Rise Up is the first live release from the eclectic Entrain. Entrain already has five studio recordings to their credit and they continue to build their fan base by touring and via the Internet. Entrain’s live shows are consider events where dance and positive vibes rule. Each of the seven members of the group has rich musical experiences and has worked with variety of accomplished players. Each brings broad musical ideas to the stage and to their songs. Entrain is in sync and unified by their art. This Martha’s Vineyard-based band draws on a wide range of influences such as ska, reggae, calypso, jazz, blues, and world. They beautifully blend African, Latin, and Cajun sounds into their own unique style of music with heavy emphasis on drums. Entrain can be described as a jazz jam band, but their songs are diverse reflecting different moods and modes. Live: Volume 1, Rise Up is an energetic, eleven-track collection that has a party vibe. River Run flows on strong percussions, heavenly horns and positive upbeat vocals. Uncle Jolly has a funky foot tapping beat, proficient horns, wild guitars and catchy vocals. Cohiba opens with intriguing sounds and takes off on steady drums, it has a great world flavor spiced up by expert horns and great guitars. Entrain is a fun band of proficient players and Live: Volume 1, Rise Up captures their energy and diverse sound on one vibrant CD.”
Recommended Tracks: (2, 3, 4)
“(Dolphin Safe / Rounder Select) — The concept of ‘entrainment’ stems from Mickey Hart’s book, Drumming at the Edge of Magic. In it, Hart spoke of how he and fellow Grateful Dead drummer Billy Kreutzmann would get entirely synched into a groove, seeming to let the music play them, as they strove to bring ‘spirit into sound.’ Entrain sounds nothing like the Grateful Dead, but they do derive their name, and their ‘spirit into sound’ philosophy from this concept. Based in Martha’s Vineyard, Entrain has always been about locking the drummers and percussionists into tight, often Afro-Caribbean, grooves and taking the music forward from there. This live CD documents that, beginning with a solid percussion jam (Mo’ Drums) before exploding into the New Orleans meets the Caribbean groove of River Run. Along the way the sextet hits on the East Bay style funk of Uncle Jolly, the samba-ish grooves of Cohiba, the earthy, jam-band pop of Anyway, the ‘Who Do You Love’ heartbeat of Mother Street, the dancehall ska vocals of Dancin’ in the Light, and the goofy island grooves of Jeannie, which is based on the ‘I Dream of Jeannie’ television theme song. While the band can stretch out (several songs cross the eight-minute mark, and one reaches almost to twelve), the band can also play concisely in four and five minute segments. Add to those well-constructed songs some powerful vocals, dirty guitar, funky bass, punchy horns courtesy of sax and trombone, and thoroughly entrained percussion, and you find many of the reasons Entrain has been creating dance frenzies for the last ten years and will likely be ripping it up for the next ten as well.”
CDs of the Week, PauseRecord.com
“How many drums can one band possibly own? We’re not exactly sure, but we do know that you do require the bass turned up quite high for this album. The style is jamming reminiscent of the Grateful Dead and Phish, but the drums and beat are alive—insanely alive. Their drummers must be on some sort of drug to play this many beats, these elaborately.”
TheCelebrityCafe Top Albums Section: Live, The Celebrity Café
Author’s Product Rating:
*****
Pros:
fun and catchy beats
Cons:
word needs to spread about their talent
The Bottom Line:
Live: Volume 1, Rise Up is a great album from a band that is destined for more great things to come.
When one thinks about Martha’s Vineyard, images of a different style of living often come to mind. A life that is different than most of us is often associated with the island off the coast of Massachusetts and traditionally images of wealth and things associated with being rich are often conjured up.
Although the island is known for its aristocratic appeal, the island is also known for a band that calls it home. The parallel is somewhat remarkable. The musical sounds of Entrain carry a very rich sound and the music is much different than what could be considered traditional or mainstream. Although the music of Entrain is in no way aristocratic, perhaps the music could be classified as being a class above most other music. When one listens to Entrain, you can soon realize that many bourgeoisie sounding musical bands simply pale in comparison to the fine sounds of Entrain.
Focusing largely on smooth percussion sounds, Entrain has a sound that will keep your feet tapping throughout their songs. With a heavy emphasis on both a rock and roll sound mixed with heavy reggae underlying tunes, Entrain’s album Live: Volume 1, Rise Up is a great album by a band that is sure to beat their way into many stereos across the region. This album is a compilation of live tracks from three different venues in Massachusetts: Joker’s in New Bedford, Woods Hole Community Hall in Woods Hole, and Sit ‘n Bull in Maynard. Although the tracks are live recordings, the quality of each track is of the highest quality and I found the live tracks to be remarkably not-grainy, as so many live tracks tend to be.
The musicians within Entrain are Tom Major (drums, percussion, vocals), Brian Alex (guitar, lead vocal, timbales), Same Holmstock (trombone, djembe, congas, vocals, keyboard, Cajun rub board, percussion, talking drum), Klem Klimex (sax, vocals, keyboard, percussion), Lenny Bradford (bass, vocals, percussion), Francisco Rosado (congas, timbales, percussion), and Ray de Jesus (congas and percussion).
The album starts out right and is a great way to get the proverbial taste for what the album is going to offer by having the song Mo’ Drums start the album off. Based solely on the heavy beating of percussion sounds, Mo’ Drums gives the listener the notion that the rest of the live album is going to rely heavily upon the heavy beating of deep percussion sounds. The track is a deep and inviting track that shows the keen percussion work of Entrain and beautifully highlights the course that the album is bound to take.
One of the most musically impressive songs I have heard on an album in a long time comes on the track Mother Street. This song is eleven minutes thirty-eight seconds long and from the very beginning throughout the end of the track, the song is an amazing work of musical genius.
River Run is a musically interesting song that relies on a deep Calypso sound mixed with a feeling that is reminiscent of a jam band or a band such as Dispatch. This song conjures up imagery of sitting on deck of a cruise ship or sitting on a beach on Martha’s Vineyard, drinking a cool Margarita and tapping your feet to the beats.
Anyway is an interesting song that is somewhat slower in comparison to most of the songs on this album. The chorus lends itself to the possibility of having audience members chime in to the chorus at a live performance.
Mexican Bus is another marvelous track on the CD that relies heavily on the horn section of the band. The Mexican vibe is instantly felt and the tune is so musically diverse that it is a must listen to track.
Track listing:
1. Mo’ Drums
2. River Run
3. Uncle Jolly
4. Cohiba
5. Anyway
6. Mother Street
7. Shine On
8. Dancin’ in the Light
9. Jeannie
10. Rise Up
11. Mexican Bus
Live: Volume 1, Rise Up is a very well-produced album and falls within a genre of music that could be classified in simply one word, Entrain. The band has found a musical niche that is unique, while being well developed and fantastic sounding.
Live: Volume 1, Rise Up is manufactured by Dolphin-Safe Records out of Vineyard Haven, Massachusetts and is produced by Rounder Select.
For more information about the band, please check out their website www.entrain.com.
Recommended:
Yes
Great Music to Play While:
Hanging With Friends
Kevin Bligh, , Epinions.com,
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Rise Up: Live, Vol. 1
