2014 marks rock-jazzers/post-jazzers Led Bib’s tenth anniversary as a going concern and three years since their Bring your Own album. It also sees the release of The People in your Neighbourhood: an album that in no way suggests a band that is merely marking time. Weird electronics rub up against psychedelic bebop and there are even hints of dub reggae on closing tune “Orphan Elephants”.
There are, however, still plenty of the pounding grooves and driving sax riffs that we have come to expect from Led Bib. Tracks like opener “New Teles”, “Giant Bean” and “Curly Kale” see them inhabit familiar territory and a sound not dissimilar to the fantastic Get the Blessing. However, there is also the mournful introspection of “Angry Waters (Lost to Sea)” and the dubby effects of “Orphan Elephants”, which even bring to mind some of Vin Gordon's work with the mighty Lee “Scratch” Perry.
But it's the psychedelic flavours found elsewhere that really catch the attention. Tony McLaren’s spaced-out organ provides the bedrock of “Plastic Lighthouse”, above which the saxophones of Pete Grogan and Chris Williams soar, before Liran Donin kicks in with some seriously funky bass. Chris Williams’s “Tastes So Central” suggests a kind of bebop psychedelia with its neatly flowing, shifting time signatures. While “At the Ant Farm” starts in a fairly hectic manner before becoming more spaced-out in a manner that admirers of early Pink Floyd might appreciate – but with added soaring sax.
Led Bib may have managed to retain the same line-up since 2004 but there is nothing jaded about this set. The People in your Neighbourhood introduces a wider sound-palette to their jazzy groove with plenty to keep long-term fans and the newly curious interested. In fact, there is also a limited edition live album available, The Good Egg, featuring three extended tunes from this set, such is their confidence.
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