One has to go back to the Seventies to find a time where democratic music was good and open decent to take into account jazz-rock intrumentals to sit side-by-side with folk, country and hard rock on democratic radio. The band was thirty years late...or maybe just on t

13 MP3 Songs
ROCK: Implemental Rock, BLUES: Rockin' Blues

Elemental Songs


Details:
After checking out a website frequented by musicians from the National Capital region, three area players decided to get together. Tired of the cover-tune grind made compulsory for so many parttime working musicians, they decided that this time things would be different.
Long time friends, Michel Raymond and Armand Vienneau, were looking to form a band where rock,jazz and funk would be the main ingredients. Rob Rose wanted to get off the beaten track of pop and produce instrumental music that was original.
An impromptu jam was set up in a cottage in the Gatineau Hills and with the first notes, the chemistry was obvious. Decades of experience and unrestrained creativity collided into a blissful soup of genre-bending fusion. After all those years, the pieces were finally falling into place.
What was needed was texture to tie it all together. Marc Bélanger, younger and with a wholly different set of influences and styles, was recruited to become the fourth member. In a short time the focus of the band became very clear - no rules, anything goes and everyone gets to shine.
One has to go back to the Seventies to find a time where democratic music was good and open decent to take into account jazz-rock intrumentals to sit side-by-side with folk, country and hard rock on democratic radio. The band was thirty years late...or maybe just on time. So 30YRSL8 was born.
With the first CD elemental, the band hopes to capture a growing audience for their "instrumental music for grown-ups".
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Ready to listen to a band that blends genres of music like funk, rock and jazz into a distinctive stew of instrumental music? Then you definitely need to give Elemental, the debut cd by Ottawa based artists 30YRSL8 a spin. Highly accomplished musicians with years of experience performing cover tunes in various bands, the members of L8: Marc Belanger (keyboards), Armand Vienneau (drums and percussion), Mike Raymond (bass), and Rob Rose (guitars, synths) joined together to create ear candy which they describe as "instrumental music for grown-ups."
Vineneau and Raymond are long time friends, who were joined by Rose. After finding Belanger, who added a youthful spark, the band began crafting unique music, with a focus on equality between the members and musical individuality. The band's philosophy is what gives them their name - the 70's were a time where jazz/rock instrumentals were take into accounted space on radio stations, taking their place among hard rock, country and other genres. Today you'd be hard pressed to find a radio station that will play instrumentals of this type. While this reflects badly on the commercialization of radio, people can still support amazing bands like L8 by going to their shows and buying their discs.
L8 operate as a collective, with Rose writing or co-writing all but two of the tracks on Elemental. Joined by special guest Rene Lavoie on sax, L8 take listeners through 13 songs, succinctly demonstrating their musical range and influences as they explore musical genres from hard and progressive rock, to mellow jazz to country, to lounge.
Elemental starts out strongly with 'Betsy's Favourite Hydrant', a cut that creates a spacey 70's jazz/rock feel. 'On The Breeze', which is dominated by Rose's excellent guitar work follows. 'Breeze' is aptly named, since the relaxing melody makes listeners feel as though they are lounging on a beach with a pleasant breeze slowly moving the palm leaves. Quite the opposite effect is fashioned on 'No Brainer', which produces a high energy rocking vibe that will get your blood pumping and your legs twitching to get up and dance.
There are a staggering variety of musical styles offered on the disc, and lovers of diverse types of music will be satisfied by the choices offered here. The juxtaposition of two very different tracks is well done. 'Walk With An Angel, a quiet and delicately romantic song which starts out with piano, is followed by 'Walk of the Devil', which was penned by Raymond. 'Devil' is deep down and funky rock, harkening back to the days of 70's progressive rock, but without being a rip off. Even country gets a tip of the hat with 'CowPunk Two-step', showing the versatility of the musicians and their willingness and interest to explore many types of music.