Royal Potato Family

For a band whose name forms the acronym of GAT (Garage a Trois), their latest release is shocking and forceful enough to bear the weight of that appropriately aggressive moniker. Always be Happy, But Stay Evil is Garage A Trois’ second release since the keyboard twisting skills of Brooklyn’s Marco Benevento joined the core trio of Seattle-based Skerik (saxophone), Texas’ own Mike Dillon (vibraphone and percussion), and New Orleans’ favorite drummer, Stanton Moore. Always be Happy, But Stay Evil finds the band congealed and working towards a cohesive (yet schizophrenically amazing) sound that may scare jazz purists; for that same reason, these guys are a band to absorb and love. Their need to color outside of prescribed musical lines is the band’s source of greatness, and the foursome’s ability to dive into untested musical pools is exactly what will act to propel them into music history’s kaleidoscopic pages.

The album’s opening track (“Omar”) lull’s the listener into a sense of comfort as Mike Dillon’s vibraphone picks at the song’s structure, but then the rest of the band jumps in and the track is shocked to life. “Omar” does a good job of showcasing the band’s ability to ride a musical wave that hits various tangents, from the opening easiness, into the previously mentioned shock, only to sedate itself once again. It’s a ride that isn’t always easy to make sound effortless; these guys seem to have no issues in this regard. This is an album full of side streets that the listener just cannot foresee. One simply has the pleasure of gripping tight to whatever “Oh Shit!” bar they can grab hold of and hanging on.

Two of the album’s most delectable nuggets grow right near to one another. Floating atop Benevento’s skilled keys, “Shooting Breaks” is a personal favorite. Hanging itself somewhere between organic jungle goodness and very futuristically aggressive poles, it offers pure auditory pleasure. “Swellage” strikes a playfully creative vein that sounds at times like a pack of elephants (Skerik) running through Quasimodo’s bell tower (Dillon); maybe you just have to hear it to fully understand, but it’s certainly worth your ear.

“The Drum Department” is less of an attempt to pedestal Stanton Moore’s skills on the skins than one might predict, but it’s a hit for its violently delightful approach. “Thumb” follows directly behind “The Drum Department” as a perfect cool down to the previously mentioned aggression. “Baby Mama Drama” swings its hips through jazzy undulations that are both psychedelic and signs of undeniably influential traditional roots; this is a song suited both for snobbish jazz lounges and the fields of summer’s festival circuits. “Chimp & Flower” is playful, while hinting that things are about to spin out of control at times, much as the name implies; it’s a track that plays off of those previously mentioned polarities that make Always be Happy, But Stay Evil an immense treat. This is one of those albums that someone is likely to leave in their car’s cd player for a week or two before remembering to switch discs, and the next time the disc hits the player, it’s likely to find itself in the same prison for another couple of weeks.

Risk is something that should always be considered before facing it head on, but in art, risk is one of the best tools of the trade. Revolutionary artists jump into realms not before traveled by their peers, and it is this need to jump that makes them truly matter and shine among the smattering of artists just trying to be okay. Garage A Trois’ roads as a band are proof of the power that a risk-infused effort can offer to the world, and Always be Happy, But Stay Evil is infused to the max!