Grand Pianoramax is a Swiss duo of talented musicians (award-winning jazz piano player Leo Tardin and drummer Dominik Burkhalter) more often than not joined by an american MC for their live performances (Black Cracker most of the times, who rhymes on two of the tracks of the album; and sometimes Mike Ladd, who appears on one track).
If you are wondering what a drummer, a pianist and an MC could possibly do together and why it would fit the pages of Chain D.L.K., keep wondering because it sure is hard to describe, but somehow fits our readership more than you might think.
Tardin plays piano, rhodes, K-station, harmonium and philichorda while he accompanies himself with funky bass lines and effortlessly switches between all these instruments and their treated alter egos. All the while Burkhalter lays down a number of smoothly flowing broken beats rich with syncopation, fills and the occasional uneven counts. Stylistically you will hear Tardin's jazzy influence and he'll make your head bop along with his funky playing, but sometimes he will make you feel like you are in the middle of an arcade video game galactic battle; Burkhalter keeps you rocking out steadily with laser sharp precision and a kind of live drum'n'bass aesthetic even when the figures are far from your average dance floor 4-4 and even though there really isn't any d'n'b per say on this record. The two MCs flow on top of everything making what is already an exciting and original musical offering even more out there and at the same time even more approchable.
The album was recorded between Switzerland and India (and features Karsh Kale on tablas on two tracks) and mixed in Germany in an old radio station control room with some funky old-school gear. The sound of the album is great and the attention to detail shows.
I highly recommend checking out this album (out now in Europe and dropping in the US in May) and catching the trio live (some US dates are announced for the spring).