Crime in Choir - The Hoop. 2004 USA-California

San Francisco's Crime in Choir are like a number of bands to appear in the second millennial landscape. The music is exceptional, and the audience for it at the time was nil or fleeting. Especially here in America where creativity was at a high, but the data to find such gems was hard to filter. I only knew of the band because they wrote me directly to review their 3rd album Trumpery Metier, which impressed me on impact (2006). So a little exploration had me going back one album further, which would be The Hoop. This was many years ago that I bought the CD, probably for all of $2 on ebay or something similar. A quick look around suggests that a similar experience awaits the buyer.

As I arrive on RYM's entry, I see math rock as the genre. Crime in Choir is math rock in the same sense as an instrumental Soft Machine and Egg are. Don Caballero, Crime in Choir is not. And thus lies the problem with our modern situation. I can certainly understand the assertion (perhaps the band themselves made it for all I know), but for those of us raised in a different generation, instrumental progressive rock is what we would have thought on first listen. And so had it been marketed to such an audience, the end result would have probably been the same from a financial perspective. And totally different from an artistic one.

The music found on The Hoop is highly melodic, and keyboard driven. Even space rockish at times. No, Crime in Choir are not Canterbury, and they are certainly modern. And yet my comparisons hold. And my grade of 4 stars stands. So if you're a prog rock guy or gal, then perhaps the next $3 you spend could go to giving this one a whirl. Not much to lose, now is there?

Ownership: CD: 2004 Frenetic